Share your Novel Covers!

[Not_A_Symphony]

Heya everyone, been a while hasn't it?

Yesterday I just finished doing a new cover for my novel and I ended up comparing it to my older versions... I like this one a lot but my second cover still rings quite deeply if you know what I mean and started to think if anyone can relate. Don't tell me I'm the only one that sometimes think their older covers were better

I thought it would be interesting to see your evolution of covers as well and hear the community input on this
So, if your novel has had many covers like mine, share them and tell me which one is your favorite and why!

Edit: Art that was done by you or commissioned to non-AI artists ?

Here's mine (going from 2021 to 2024! >)

 

[Rezcore]

First is Rise of a King which is your basic isekai Industrializing fantasy, though I've not finished the planning. The main figure on the cover is the Mc, was done with ai, then edited with filters. I'm seriously proud of it.
Rieze: Legacy of Tyranny is a reincarnation story about a man reborn in 1400s Brittany. It will be a multi-volume series with 6 volumes spanning 7 centuries and multiple main characters. The second cover is a combination of celtic imagery and early joseon imagery, and isn't that pretty

 

[theInmara]

Just sharing the covers that feature artwork we've made ourselves, not public domain clip art.

First trilogy (currently being published on Scribblehub):

Second trilogy (not yet planned to be published on Scribblehub):

Someday we may revise all of these covers, but for now these are all that we've done for each of these books. We know we can do better art when we have the spoons and time to do it, but we've so focused on writing that we are cutting corners.

 

[Rezcore]

Just sharing the covers that feature artwork we've made ourselves, not public domain clip art.

First trilogy (currently being published on Scribblehub):
View attachment 31565View attachment 31566View attachment 31567
Second trilogy (not yet planned to be published on Scribblehub):
View attachment 31568View attachment 31569View attachment 31570

Someday we may revise all of these covers, but for now these are all that we've done for each of these books. We know we can do better art when we have the spoons and time to do it, but we've so focused on writing that we are cutting corners.

Nice. They're beautiful

 

[Not_A_Symphony]

First is Rise of a King which is your basic isekai Industrializing fantasy, though I've not finished the planning. The main figure on the cover is the Mc, was done with ai, then edited with filters. I'm seriously proud of it.
Rieze: Legacy of Tyranny is a reincarnation story about a man reborn in 1400s Brittany. It will be a multi-volume series with 6 volumes spanning 7 centuries and multiple main characters. The second cover is a combination of celtic imagery and early joseon imagery, and isn't that pretty

While I understand the usage of AI and do not condone the ones that do use it (since not everyone can afford purchasing the services of artists), I created this thread more focused on off AI content. I do think you can see the Britain vibes from your MC though, all that's lacking is some fish and chips in one hand and some blue eyes About the symbols, it's really not my field of expertise but they look like a pretty cool pattern

Just sharing the covers that feature artwork we've made ourselves, not public domain clip art.

First trilogy (currently being published on Scribblehub):
View attachment 31565View attachment 31566View attachment 31567
Second trilogy (not yet planned to be published on Scribblehub):
View attachment 31568View attachment 31569View attachment 31570

Someday we may revise all of these covers, but for now these are all that we've done for each of these books. We know we can do better art when we have the spoons and time to do it, but we've so focused on writing that we are cutting corners.

And that's completely fine, to slowly improve and change! Prioritizing writting always comes first in these, I'd say since you are making the cover for the book, no book no need for cover I love the first one with the mouse in the skirt! It looks very cartoon-ish and to be fair, I'd click it if I saw it on my feed! Also the last one of the trilogy reminds me of the art in the movie "Bug's Life", something like that? It's giving me a massive throwback but it's cute nonetheless!

If I may offer a small piece of advice though, on the second trilogy, the last book, I cannot read the title very well so I'd suggest maybe changing the color or placing a border around just to improve the readability! (here's my two-cent that no one asked )
Thank you for sharing your work

 

[Representing_Tromba]

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

One of my earlier series went through a crap ton of different covers before I was finally satisfied.

 

[Not_A_Symphony]

View attachment 31573

Uhhh I remember your old cover and let me tell you the improvement is amazing! Definitely prefer this cover over your older one, I think it has a lot more depth to it! May I question what the figures surrounding the circle are? They remind me a little bit of Lord of the Rings soldiers, the ones working under Sauron (the big eye that sees everything and everyone)

One of my earlier series went through a crap ton of different covers before I was finally satisfied.
View attachment 31577View attachment 31578View attachment 31579View attachment 31580View attachment 31581View attachment 31582

Well, well, well, what have we here, another fellow writer who is never truly content with his covers (just like me ). I must say that the improvement is real! To be far I do think the 5th cover is quite nice (the only thing that I'd probably change would be the title's choice of lettering) but it's nice and the 6th cover is absolutely stunning. I'd say the final two are your strongest covers because the others are a bit dark and just remind me of older times, like ancient greek or old egypt (even if that sounds a bit crazy).
I do want to ask, however, what brought so many title changes? I also changed the name of my novel twice in order to try to make it a bit more marketable I guess - what about you? What was the reasoning behind it?
And I'm also extremely curious to know what type of animal-woman your character is? It reminds me of something but I honestly cannot put my finger on it and it's freaking me out because I feel the word on the tip of my tongue

 

[Representing_Tromba]

Uhhh I remember your old cover and let me tell you the improvement is amazing! Definitely prefer this cover over your older one, I think it has a lot more depth to it! May I question what the figures surrounding the circle are? They remind me a little bit of Lord of the Rings soldiers, the ones working under Sauron (the big eye that sees everything and everyone)

Thank you. On left is a willowisp and zombie. Right is dragon, Fae, and werewolf.

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

I do want to ask, however, what brought so many title changes?

I didn't change the titles, there's just more than one book. At first it was going to be a trilogy (Slayer/Sphinx, Convict/Captive, Protector/Peacemaker) but I eventually just merged books 2 and 3 together into one book.

And I'm also extremely curious to know what type of animal-woman your character is?

She's a sphinx.

 

[theInmara]

If I may offer a small piece of advice though, on the second trilogy, the last book, I cannot read the title very well so I'd suggest maybe changing the color or placing a border around just to improve the readability! (here's my two-cent that no one asked )

Yeah, that's definitely going to have to be fixed before it goes to print. It's been bothering the heck out of us as well. Book one of that trilogy is the only one that's finished yet. The other two covered haven't had their final pass.

Thank you!

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

These are the covers I used in Honeyfeed. The Saint Series eventually ended with 20 books, and a corresponding number of artworks.

These are the covers I used for my novel's version here in ScribbleHub. As I uploaded it here by 'arc,' I'm still working on this particular series of illustrations...I'm already in 5th and final arc's artwork.

I have other stories, which are still in the works, like Paulina Rex. Paulina Rex is an alternate reality/history novel set in the future, in the Philippines, which is my country of origin.

The Ballad of School Hallways is a semi-autobio about my experiences in my old school, which I originally wrote to deal with the 'unfinished stuff' I had in that place.

Lovette is a short story I entered in YOASOBI x HoneyFeed contest. Since it didn't win, I plan to continue it as an anthology of stories...

DECK is the oldest novel I wrote, dating back to 2008. It was originally a manga, but because I find it hard to continue drawing chapters without an assistant, I switched to novel format. As of now, it's currently in hiatus, but I do plan to continue writing it come 2025.

I drew these covers via pen and pencil, which were also traditionally inked. The only digital in these artworks are the colors, which I did using Photoshop. If you'll also notice, there is a wide range of artwork quality, as these works came from 2021 up to present.

 

[Rezcore]

While I understand the usage of AI and do not condone the ones that do use it (since not everyone can afford purchasing the services of artists), I created this thread more focused on off AI content. I do think you can see the Britain vibes from your MC though, all that's lacking is some fish and chips in one hand and some blue eyes About the symbols, it's really not my field of expertise but they look like a pretty cool pattern

The current images are place holders, as I write I hope to commission a remake with human made art, but due my insistence on non anime art I'm hamstrung. I want picture based solely of high quality, but that's expensive

 

[tiaf]

Ancient

Old

WIP

The covers are not for the same story, but the last one is a spin-off from the first one (not the same characters).

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Ancient

Old

WIP

The covers are not for the same story, but the last one is a spin-off from the first one (not the same characters).

Look really good!

 

[tiaf]

Look really good!

Thanks! I really want to change the old covers, but then I would need to update...

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Thanks! I really want to change the old covers, but then I would need to update...

Spoiler: Welp...

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Rejected first try (too risque) for Strange Awakening (heavily edited AI image)

Current covers for stories on this site (all heavily edited from initial AI images):

Current cover for story only posted on Royal Road (made from clip art):

Stories not posted anywhere yet: (mostly composed from clip art)

And there are the few I've begun with either no idea what the covers would look like

• Stranded (About a shape shifting alien separated from the hive-mind that controlled him, trying to understand Earth - and warn it that his former people are poised to invade soon)
• Out of Time (Two beings from Ancient Egypt brought together to clash in the modern world, with a pair of FBI agents caught in the mix)
• A Subtle Distortion (Time travel story, sort of; so far having a kind of Orphan Black moment - if you've heard the story the guys behind that show tell, they were brainstorming ideas for a show when they got the call to pitch a pilot. All they had was a title (Orphan Black) and an opening scene (girl sees herself commit suicide on the subway), and no idea where to go from that ... but were given funding for a pilot and 45 days to come up with something; allegedly they had five characters written and three scenes when Tatiana Maslany read for the leads and asked: "So, what's their story, are these girls clones or something?" and that was the push they needed to build an epic from... just waiting for that push here)
• Blood Diamond (sequel to Diamond in the Rough, so want something noir-ish but keep waffling on what I want to include)

Or where I know what I want but have no clue how to build it without shelling out a big commission;

• The Grey Files (would want something like half a modern city scape, half a "traditional fantasy" city in the background with a gold 1970s Chevy Imapala airborne and passing through the "blur" between them)

 

[greyblob]

These are the covers I used in Honeyfeed. The Saint Series eventually ended with 20 books, and a corresponding number of artworks.
View attachment 31586View attachment 31587View attachment 31588View attachment 31589
View attachment 31590View attachment 31591View attachment 31592View attachment 31593View attachment 31594View attachment 31595
View attachment 31596View attachment 31597View attachment 31598View attachment 31599View attachment 31600View attachment 31601View attachment 31602View attachment 31604View attachment 31605View attachment 31606

These are the covers I used for my novel's version here in ScribbleHub. As I uploaded it here by 'arc,' I'm still working on this particular series of illustrations...I'm already in 5th and final arc's artwork.
View attachment 31607View attachment 31608View attachment 31609View attachment 31610

I have other stories, which are still in the works, like Paulina Rex. Paulina Rex is an alternate reality/history novel set in the future, in the Philippines, which is my country of origin.
View attachment 31613

The Ballad of School Hallways is a semi-autobio about my experiences in my old school, which I originally wrote to deal with the 'unfinished stuff' I had in that place.
View attachment 31614View attachment 31615

Lovette is a short story I entered in YOASOBI x HoneyFeed contest. Since it didn't win, I plan to continue it as an anthology of stories...
View attachment 31616

DECK is the oldest novel I wrote, dating back to 2008. It was originally a manga, but because I find it hard to continue drawing chapters without an assistant, I switched to novel format. As of now, it's currently in hiatus, but I do plan to continue writing it come 2025.
View attachment 31617

I drew these covers via pen and pencil, which were also traditionally inked. The only digital in these artworks are the colors, which I did using Photoshop. If you'll also notice, there is a wide range of artwork quality, as these works came from 2021 up to present.

vol16 cover

 

[ThisAdamGuy]

Here are my other covers. Just cuz I like showing them off.