12.1: Illustrations for Fantasy Novels
When writing in the fantasy genre we rely on the reader's imagination to come up with illustrations in their mind of the strange scenes we have conveyed to them. If we have too many illustrations we are telling them what to imagine and spoiling that part of the process for them, as well as taking away the need for us to painstakingly describe everyone's physical appearance. How many people hate the movie of a book they love because the characters are all different from how they imagined them to be? Some authors choose to have no illustrations of characters (or creatures) at all in order to protect their readers' imaginations. Think of George R.R. Martin's series of books, A Game of Thrones. He chose to have a simple symbol (for instance the iron throne, a crown, a chalice) as the cover page for each book. Tolkien also kept his covers very simple. Patrick Rothfuss usually uses some kind of dark outdoor scene with a caped faceless figure, again not giving too much away. Philip Pullman sticks to objects for the front cover of his fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials including a compass, a sword and a spyglass.
These authors have all managed to keep the cover art nice and simple without revealing anything about any of the characters. However their covers still manage to generate enough interest from readers for them to pick up and buy the books. But there are authors like Terry Pratchett who use their cover illustration to portray a particular scene from the book. Pratchett's Discworld series has lots of cute cartoon covers for readers to enjoy before starting the book and give them an idea of some of the action to follow.
Everyone knows the saying, 'Don't judge a book by its cover' which means that everyone certainly does even if they shouldn't. In order for you to pique readers' interest in your book so that they will pick it up in a bookshop it needs to be sufficiently attention-grabbing. If your book doesn't look good on the outside then people won't want to look on the inside either. After you have succeeded in getting their attention, it's over to the work of your first page to maintain it.
FACT
The average person will decide whether or not to buy your book within 8 seconds of seeing your
cover
Source: selfpublishedauthor.com - 2013
12.2: What Illustrations to Choose
If you've decided to go for a cover illustration then you'll need to choose exactly what you want. You'll need to decide whether you will go for a subtle symbol or object, a plain cover with nothing at all, or a detailed picture. It's important when thinking about genre that your cover portrays this genre, or more specifically your chosen subgenres. You need to be really careful as you want to attract your target audience so you need to appeal specifically to them. Before making any decisions you need to spend time
browsing bookshops and looking at many different examples of cover art.
Look at everything; what you like, what you don't like, what you're not offended by but are not particularly drawn to. Ask yourself questions about each one you look at. What do you like about it? What do you dislike? What would you change? What genre is it for? Does it suit the genre? Why/why not? Then head to the internet. Find and copy images of any covers you really liked that you saw when browsing through the bookshop. There are also tonnes of sites where you can browse different artwork and there are plenty of illustrations to be found in the fantasy genre. Copy any work that you particularly like and make a note of the artist's name. At the end you will have a portfolio of existing covers and artwork that you can show to prospective illustrators.
You'll soon start to piece together an idea of what your front cover and back cover will look like, what colours you want to use, and if you want to reveal what your main characters look like or not. You'll also have to think about adding your title, your name and anything else you want to include on the cover and back page.
12.3: How to go about Finding an Illustrator
There are many different types of illustrator so it can be really difficult to know how to choose. Recommendation and word of mouth amongst other authors is always a good way to start. Then there are plenty of online recruitment websites such as Upwork where you can set up a profile, enter all the relevant information about the job and then various freelancers will write back to you and make you an offer for the work involved. Be careful when choosing your artist that they will be available to communicate ideas, send drafts and rough copies and just to generally chat and discuss the project. Watch out for freelancers who live far away or in other countries as it can be difficult to get hold of them, especially when they live in a different time zone. Ideally you want to choose someone who you can meet up with in person.
There are also companies that provide illustrators but it's probably easier to find one independently rather than have a company come up with a best fit based on your description but who you haven't met or had any input choosing. If you have a publisher then you may end up getting no choice in the matter as they will likely choose a cover for you. However, with their experience it's generally better to leave it up to them. You can however provide them with your portfolio of work that you like in the hope that they will go for something similar. If you find a publisher to publish your work you will no doubt be over the moon and won't care less about your front cover anymore. Well you will, but you'll care more about having a publisher.
A lot of people nowadays are self-publishing, either hard copies going to bookshops or soft copies (e- books) from sites like Amazon. This is when you'll need to do all the hard work yourself in researching images, finding a suitable illustrator, and then paying them to create your artwork.
Another thing you should do when self-publishing is to arrange focus groups where you can show people a few options that you have chosen for your book and ask people what they think of each one. Or more specifically ask them whether or not they would buy the book and why or why not. It's not usually much help asking your family and friends as even though they may have been good at pointing out some errors in your writing, when it comes to pretty pictures they'll probably be full of praise and not very objective.
12.4: Including Maps and Illustrations throughout your Novel
Many fantasy books provide some kind of map of their new world and this is a nice touch as a lot of people love to study maps, and it's really useful when imagining where all the characters are, where they are travelling to, where that epic battle is taking place, etc. If you have created your own new world, planet or land, then you should think carefully about including a map as part of your novel. Some authors even go so far as to include multiple maps for different areas but it's really up to you as to how far you go with it. Tolkien included many maps in his books which he drew himself as well as some beautiful simple little images. These are a charming addition and can be added if you think it suits your style of book and genre.
For a serious dark fantasy book about an evil force taking over the world, cute cartoony images wouldn't really fit. But for a little hobbit travelling along cluelessly with his various companions it worked perfectly.
12.5: Employing and Working with an Illustrator
We already mentioned that there are several places to find good illustrators, but as well as online sites like Upwork you should also check out the advertisements in writing magazines. If you are part of a writing group or go to writing workshops regularly, you should also ask around here as people are bound to have recommendations to offer. When you've decided on a particular artist you need to finalise the details of the contract. You both need to agree on a cost for the work and exactly what it will include.
For instance do you want anything on the back cover and the spine as well as the front cover? Is it only going to be writing or images as well? You need to make sure you give them as detailed a description as possible as far as what you are looking for, and also make sure you can check the draft before you receive the finished product and it's too late to change anything. You should also check where and how to credit the illustrator's work as part of your first few pages.
It's a good idea to give a copy of your book to the illustrator. If they know the story they will be in better stead to create an illustration that suits the style and mood of the book and it's better than relying on a quick synopsis. Hopefully they will be willing to read at least some of it. You should insist from the start that you want as much contact as possible and that you want to see the ongoing progress so you can check it meets your requirements.
It is possible to employ a freelancer that you never end up meeting to illustrate your novel but it really depends how you work and if you feel comfortable with this. The online sites where you can hire freelancers work really well and you can often get work done a lot cheaper than if you went into a shop or art studio. It's completely safe as your money generally goes into a pot held by the company (for instance Upwork) and then only gets released to the client if the work has been completed and you are happy with it.
Module Summary
Lessons Learned
Whether you have a publisher that has agreed to publish your work or you have decided to self- publish choosing the correct image for your book when it appears in bookshops or online is mextremely important and will definitely have an impact on how many books you sell. Being involved in the process of selecting the perfect illustration and illustrator is a really fun part of the process so you should definitely try and be a part of it.
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