RS, Author, Novelist, Prosaist<p><span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://writing.exchange/@orionkidder" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>orionkidder</span></a></span> <br>We hear the term body image, how it affects the self-worth and health of women and men. Is that affecting cover art and authors now?</p><p>When I look at covers, I see lots of fantasy-perfect people who are sexy or dangerous as the genre demands, or Michael Whelan grand landscapes of lands or space vistas that fire the imagination with incredible intricacies. Plenty of great artists do both, mind you. I've commissioned art. </p><p>What other authors (or marketers) see, sadly is a resource out of reach financially, out of budget, or a waste of their money when it's "free" and you don't have to interact with <em>ugh</em> people. </p><p>I <em>miss</em> the great covers of old, sometimes abstract, sometimes simple photography, sometimes pastiche, often art differently talented people can do without becoming a Rembrandt, which arguably might be more affordable for demand or creation effort. Or authors (assuming indie here) could simply learn to use stock art and try composting images and titles themselves. Creating covers from found materials can be powerful and can hint at and support narratives.</p><p>AI art is lazy. I agree it's a criterion for not buying a book.</p><p>I don't consider myself an artist, but the cover below is in lieu of a handsome bare-chested stereotypical bearded male with outstretched white angel wings on which the forward margin of his primary feathers are ruby-edged and look sharp. Didn't know angels can have razor wings, did you? Considering the feminist subject matter of the story, I'm not sure I'd want the artist's impression of ethnicity or masculinity. My first cover was for a story that took place in Japan and I got a Vogue model; marketing </p><p>Sometimes simple can be evocative. </p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/BoostingIsSharing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BoostingIsSharing</span></a> </p><p><a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Author" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Author</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/Writer" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Writer</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AI</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/genAI" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>genAI</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/AIArt" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AIArt</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritingCommunity" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritingCommunity</span></a> <a href="https://eldritch.cafe/tags/WritersOfMastodon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WritersOfMastodon</span></a></p>