Cover differs from actual comic panels

[ylldre]

Hi this is weird but do you think if a comic has a cover that is completely different in quality whether it’s coloring or lineart than the actual comic for example the cover is exponentially better in quality than the actual panels people will get angry? Example of this is a cover in painting style but the actual panels are not. I might be weird because sometimes i feel a bit of letdown when i discover the cover of a comic i like and the comics panel quality differ drastically, but hey that’s just me. Do you think the cover should reflect the actual panel? I noticed that most of the featured contents don’t have drastically different quality between the cover/thumbnail than the panels themselves.

[BlairFujin]

If it's a matter of different style of shading, giving the cover more polish, I'm fine with that. When the cover looks like it was done by another person whatsoever, that's when I feel like I got cheated (I remember buying some issue of a marvel superhero comic on a comic festival, I was like, I like this character, the artstyle on the cover looks neat, it's not too expensive - marvel/dc comics are mostly being sold in those pricey hard cover collections here, let' buy it and then I open it and see that the artstyle of the comic book itself is absolutely different and really not appealing to me...)

[VibrantFox]

One bit of advice I remember from a Tapas article is that it's best for the cover art, banner or thumbnail to reflect the comic style. If the cover has more rendering but the style is the same then I'd think that's fine too since you can usually tell when somethings made by the same person.

If it's in an entirely different style then I think it ought to be made clear if it's a guest cover or bonus illustration or something like that. Like I've read Sonic comics for a long time and I'm used to the interiors differing from the cover but that's because they've got specific folks doing the cover art than the pencils and inks and colors for the comic pages themselves.

It can be misleading but that's where communication between creator and reader becomes really necessary cause if you're just putting out a shiny cover and no info as to why it's totally different from the content itself then it kinda feels like lying or pulling a really bad bait and switch.

[Kaydreamer]

So long as they're not too different, I'm fine with it; your cover is a first impression, it has to be polished in order for potential readers to click on it. I'm fine with the cover being a nicely rendered illustration while the comic itself is made with a more time-effective style. That's normal, and to be expected.

That said, if they look like they were done by two totally different artists, that will throw me off. If I don't like the art style of the comic itself, it doesn't really matter how pretty the cover is. I'm unlikely to subscribe.

[ylldre]

That said, if they look like they were done by two totally different artists, that will throw me off.

I agreed. But what if they’re made from the same artist but the cover is in painting style and the panels are not. Do you think i should stick to better rendered version of the panel art?

[Kaydreamer]

Is there a middle ground you can strike? Say, using lineart with a more rendered shading style, rather than a painting?

There are other things which can tie the styles together as well. For instance, you could ensure the way you use light and shadow is similar between your rendered painting style and your comic style. Lineart is another, which is why I suggested it. Along with colour choice and overall drawing style.

[ylldre]

That is enlightening. The only thing similar between my painting style and cel shading style is the lineart, everything else is so different but i guess i need to learn cel shading better to reach that middle ground level lol. Thank you

[darthmongoose]

My ideal is that the cover is like the regular art, but with a little more care and polish because it's a standalone illo that's meant to be looked at for a lot longer than a panel and seen in isolation. So same artist, same pipeline but maybe the inks are neater, the shading is a little more detailed and careful, that kind of thing.

Of course, in Marvel comics it's pretty common, and certainly was even more common in the 2000s, to have a completely different interior and exterior artist. I get the logic behind this, since I'd happily admit I think I'm a better visual storyteller than standalone illustrator, so in some ways it makes sense to have an artist who draws great standalone illustrations do the cover and an artist who does great pages do the interiors... but it always felt wrong to me; there's often little consistency in how the two artists draw the same character, the tone can come across very differently, which is pretty jarring.

I personally wouldn't want somebody to click my work's cover and then for their feeling on seeing the actual interior art to be disappointment or confusion.

[summermcallen]

It's pretty normal that the cover looks a bit better than the panels. You can invest more time in it. Of course it shouldn't be a complete different art style.
Sometimes, you may think that it's different when you only look at the first episodes. The art style could also develop a lot

[DualDragons]

Like @summermcallen said, the cover can be very different from the first episodes.
If you are like me and have a art style that developed radically through the comic, chances are your cover looks way different from the first couple of chapters.

I do think you should try to make the cover reflect your art style so people can atleast expect how the current pages will look, and I'd probably be annoyed as well if the cover of a comic is godly rendered and the current pages turn out to be sketches or something. But I won't get angry at comics whose first episodes don't match the cover. It's a sign that the art style has matured from then.

[spike_lxed]

The cover can absolutely be rendered/painted while the pages are flat colored or in black and white, and still have the cover style look similar to what's inside. I would recommend at least keeping your lineart style the same and not going overboard with the rendering, though.

[rajillustration]

Gonna be the minority here and say it should look way, way, way more polished than your interiors. Your cover art should be your best art, it should be so good that it looks completely different. I was raised with covers like that, I have no qualms with them. I actually really appreciate it when a webcomic artists makes these types of covers (because hell knows they don't have to) so I can see them actually flex. You can't flex your skills that much in the comic itself because of a time budget--but your cover? Go ham on that thing, because that is the first impression you get, and so it should show how good of an artist you really are.

[Mallory]

Like @rajillustration I expect the cover to be nicer than the interior - at least in SOME way. Maybe the composition is more careful, greater variety in use of color, whatever. But I expect the comic itself to look less nice than the cover just because of the time constraint.

Personally, I chose to render my cover (half because I wasn't sure if I wanted to render or cel-shade my comic) but use the same style of lineart. I think it does a pretty good job of being more "interesting" without being completely unlike the comic itself. (That being said, I think I will cel shade the next iteration of the cover... maybe).

And the American comic industry is still very much practicing the thing where the cover artists are different from the interior artists and I HATE it. Variant covers are fun and collectable and I get it, but when your main cover is beautiful realistic render and the inside is a cartoony style that I don't care for, like... what's the point? (Or vice versa. Captain Marvel for a while had a very interesting cartoon style but the covers were boring renders with boring use of color. Wouldn't have known to pick up the comic just based on the cover).

[Tanako]

it depends. if there is a huge difference as in, you can tell its a different artist then I'll DEFIANTLY pass. that's a scam right there I'd rather it be the same artist unless its different artist with the same similar style where it isn't too different.