bloodyrosemccoy: (Bookstore Belle)
bloodyrosemccoy ([personal profile] bloodyrosemccoy) wrote2013-05-08 11:46 am

Seriously, Why Feet?

Here's an entertaining experiment: Maureen Johnson asked her Twitter followers to reimagine book covers after swapping the authors' genders. Some of them are painfully funny.

Of course, this just brings home to me that most book covers, aside from being gendered as FUCK, are also terrible. I remember getting fairly grumpy as I shelved books at the library: all the male authors got Jackson Pollock ink splats, and the female authors got random fruit, random flowers, or, for some reason, feet. And then of course there's the Angsty YA: dudes get monochromatic silhouettes, and the ladies get monochromatic greyscale soft-focus girls looking thoughtfully away, possibly at the wind machine that seems to be blowing their hair all over the place.

But then, y'all know my take on covers. I like covers that are splashy and pretty and brightly colored and goddamn LITERAL. Like these Alanna covers. Or any of these. That's the kind of book cover that makes me want to read the contents. I'm not so sure I'd want to read any of the books with whatever the hell is going on here.*

Probably this goes along with the simple principle that if you really CAN'T squeeze an exciting and dynamic scene out of your book to put on the cover, I probably don't want to read it. If your cover has someone chucking a spear at a dragon, or flying a spaceship over a mysterious planet, I get pretty interested pretty fast. If, on the other hand, your cover has, say, a pair of shoes and some doodles on it, I will assume your character's head is so far up her own ass that she never manages to accomplish anything interesting at all. The problem, as illustrated above, is when the books that DO have awesome scenes get stuck with shoes or mooning teenagers. Why the hell would you even PUT that on there when you could have somebody do a Drew Struzan-like splash of awesome?

Listen, publishers: unless your book is a picture book, I get exactly ONE illustration per volume. MAKE IT A GOOD ONE.


*I know I've used this comparison before, but I don't care because it's still a perfect one.

[identity profile] gryphart.livejournal.com 2013-05-08 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
Yup. But Struzan mostly retired early due to his commission load dropping to about a third of what it was at its height, and that was probably a decade ago now. (Also, dude has more than made his money, and deserves it.) His son runs a studio that produces pretty standard shopped movie posters and does a brisk business, so... you go where the money is, or you leave, pretty much.

[identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com 2013-05-08 08:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I just wish the money was with the splashy stuff I grew up with and love so much.

[identity profile] gryphart.livejournal.com 2013-05-08 08:11 pm (UTC)(link)
If you check out video game concept art, there is some truly gorgeous stuff out there; Guild Wars 2 and Bastion's concept art would probably be right up your alley, actually.

[identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com 2013-05-09 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
i did get myself a copy of the Hyrule Historia the instant the English translation came out, too. It's gorgeous.

I also have the Art of Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's magnificent.

[identity profile] marsdejahthoris.livejournal.com 2013-05-09 07:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Where'd you get Hyrule Historia from? Amazon? ... I really, really don't need to spend more money right now, but HYRULE HISTORIA. Legend of Zelda was my first Nintendo game EVER! Legend of Zelda is why I bought an N64! With my first paycheck ever! Legend of Zelda is why I bought a Wii! And discovered that huh, a 20 year old TV can't actually connect to modern technology! ... Ahem. Um. Yes. Zelda nerd.

[identity profile] stormteller.livejournal.com 2013-05-09 08:42 pm (UTC)(link)
It's cheapest on Amazon, or was when last I checked, because Barnes and Noble didn't put their usual 30% new arrival discount on it. It's not a new arrival now in any case. Most stores in my area don't carry it, to my extreme confusion, so I had to order the thing one way or the other.

[identity profile] padparadscha.livejournal.com 2013-05-10 01:18 am (UTC)(link)
Amazon might be your best bet. And yes, the art is GORGEOUS. It focuses largely on Skyward Sword, but it also delves into all the other games. I think it's worth it.