Inspired by the Art of Book Covers

In response to Dancing Elephants prompt 3 of 52

I went to lots of museums as a kid, as part of my parents’ endless endeavor to raise well-rounded children. I looked at lots of art. Most of it had little or no impact on me. I was never a visually oriented person.

Do you know what art did make an impact on me? Book covers.

I quickly learned the secrets of color used by cover designers, and how they could target an audience by including (or excluding) certain colors.

Blue, black, and purple were likely to be a book involving an exciting adventure, magic, and/or science fiction. Pastels were “girly” books, and probably included boring descriptions of clothes and boys. Although, if there was a horse on the cover, it was probably still okay.

At first, I looked for children on the covers, indicating that they were books for or about children. Then, as I grew older, I looked for dragons, unicorns, and men in armor indicating that they were fantasy books.

Horses were always a good sign, although cats were iffy. An awful lot of mysteries featured cats on the cover, even though the story wasn’t actually about the cat. If the cat was accompanied by either a quilt or a tea kettle, the book was a hard pass.

You know what I didn’t expect from book cover art? Anything resembling actual art.

Especially in science fiction and fantasy, the people tended to look like caricatures more than actual people. They were recognizably supposed to be human beings, although they might bear little or no resemblance to the characters in the story. Same with the animals or starships.

Not only did the people on his covers actually look like the characters, but they had expressions! You could see their emotions, their conflict, and their inner selves.

You could tell at a glance, not only what the book was supposed to be about, but whether or not you’d enjoy spending the time reading it in the company of these people.

I wasn’t the only one who thought so. According to his website:

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