Covers- What do you put on them?

[alaingrey]

Before I get started this is NOT meant to be a 'share your covers' thread. Please do not share your covers unless you're sharing interesting processes. Thanks : )

How do you go about deciding what goes on a cover for a chapter/series? If your comic is meant to be online only, do you even bother? I personally print my comics and before I print them I always have a 'redo the cover' crisis. They never seem to express what's going on inside the chapter, aesthetically and characterwise. While posting chronologically online, it's usually wise to have the cover done first, but how can you predict what best belongs there if your chapters are prone to revisions and changes?

I've redone so many covers, I'd love a better process : D

[AnnaLandin]

I try to do something that symbolises the events of the chapter I'm drawing the cover of. So far, I've drawn, in turn, on my six covers: the main character's hand grasping the hilt of his sword, a bunch of writing tools surrounding another sword, a grinning demon, a bunch of secondary main characters against a rainy background, my main characters in a festival crowd, and a secondary main character dissolving into flames and ashes.

I plan my comic well ahead of time, and have roughly 2 chapters' worth of finished pages as well, so I even though I draw the cover right before I post it, I can look through the chapter itself and find something fitting to draw.

All the revisions and edits happen well before I have to draw the covers, because I'm so far ahead of my readers.

[shazzbaa]

My covers for printing are different from my online covers!

The online chapter cover is always just a tiny shot of the environment/major set piece of the chapter. It's set up like a title page -- just the chapter title with a tiny illustration; the rest of the chapter cover is just a textured colour. (Here's one in case I'm being unclear!) Because the image is so small, these don't take long to do.

The printed chapter cover is drawn after I finish the chapter, while I'm putting everything together for printing (designed in the grand comics tradition of depicting something exciting-looking that allllllmost happens but gives a good idea of what the chapter is actually about). This is the one where I spend a lot of time on the art, and the old chapter "cover" becomes a title page in the book!

So I guess my answer is, I found a way to put off drawing the cover that has to represent the chapter until after the chapter is done!

[WakaXO]

I don't stress too much about representing the chapter, if it works out that way great but I personally like comics that do random scenes/scenarios pictures in a chapter cover. Of course I didn't even bother to do chapter covers for my prologue and first chapter, if I was going to print and sell my comic I would probably go back and add in pictures.

[MissMagicGirl]

I never thought about doing a cover before I started with Magic Advisor. I will publish it next year though so then I must do a cover. I am at the moment having a big crisis about it XD

[joannekwan]

I tend to go the whole "less is more" route. So far my covers featured at most two people, usually the focus of the subsequent chapter.
I don't really mind if they don't show what's going on in the chapter, I just see them as extra bits of illustration.

[alaingrey]

hm. I don't really have a buffer because I eat them instantly in manic posting episodes : D and maybe it's hard for me but I feel like nothing happens enough in my comic to have a thrilling 'whats going to happen' kind of traditional cover. All mine end up being beauty shots of the whole cast which is relevant, just dull.

I wonder if its just the anxiety of 'judging by the cover' kind of things that have me all worked up about having something perfect.

[JessJackdaw]

They never seem to express what's going on inside the chapter, aesthetically and characterwise

I do see quite a few of those abstract covers you're talking about. I do quite like them, but I can never come up with anything creative that doesn't majorly spoil what's going to happen. XD

Personally though, the covers for my upcoming comic are just giant first panels of establishing shot. I mean first pages of chapters are usually fully of environment establishing shot anyway. Why not just cut out the middle man and make a giant painted panel showing the time of day and setting so the next page can actually get to some action? XD At least that's how I see it.

I dunno, maybe you can try that if you really don't like making symbolic or super mysterious covers. : > Although not sure how well that would do for print. The more abstract and aloof covers seem to do really well for printed comics, and they always seem to burn an impression in my mind. Hmm, a combo maybe? The band could be rocking so hard they make the stage they stand on bleed into the title of the comic? ;u; Sorry I tried.

[gateofselidor]

My chapter covers are super minimalist. I have a black background, the comic title and chapter number, and then a simple line drawing of an image that features in the chapter.

[AnnaLandin]

You don't have to do chapter-covers unless you really want to. You can save those for print, if you'd like, and just post the digital versions without covers.

I just do covers out of the sheer force of habit.

[alaingrey]

yeah I'm panicking because I'm printing for a convention this week, and just didn't like what I've made. I like the excitement of posting cover art, too, and I like the chance to take time to make a color picture for my black/white comic. I guess I'd just like to figure out a process for making a cover right the first time, so that I don't have to have the pre-printing panic.

[AnnaLandin]

I do, like, fifteen different thumbnails trying to figure out what I'm going to put on my covers. Doing them as small, fast thumbnails in my sketchbook helps me work through ideas faster without investing too much time in each one - I play with different layouts and ideas, scrap and rework stuff, etc., until I figure out which one fits best.

It's better than doing full-size versions and realising just as you're about to start shading that no, you really wanted something else instead.

[Shanny8]

I generally try to make my covers a reflection(or culmination) of the main subject of the story. For this series, however, I decided not to make any "cover art"(to post along with the pages)- that's is something that I will do once the particular chapter has ran its course, and I'm ready to convert it into a printed book. I will probably post layouts and production phases/notes on the cover art near the end of the chapter(s).

I do know I want the cover to be a gatefold of sorts, and like @AnnaLandin I'll probably rattle off a few thumbnails before I lock on to one that I like. I kind of sorta jumped the gun and already did a design for the interior credits page- but I'm pretty sure as I go along I may implement changes if I want.

[J.Z.Castillo]

I try to just put a snippet of what's to come. It's just that, lol. For Chapter 3: Full Moon all I'm doing is a full moon with a symbol on it, the symbol of something that will be revealed in the chapter and explained later on in Chapter 4: Vessel. It's like, giving a teaser, almost like a trailer, interesting enough to have people go "oh, what's that?" but also enigmatic enough to have people want to find out what it is.

[alaingrey]

I forgot to reply to this one --

I love symbolic/mysterious covers, I just don't think they're appropriate for this particular comic I'm making. There's no mystery about what happens inside, the story is very simple and slice of lifey so it always really gets me stuck.

Usually I can count on band glamour shots to kind of set the tone, that's what I'm doing for the latest print book, but the next chapter is very... aimless. Not in a bad way, I just am not sure how to summarize it and thus just can't figure out what the 'money shot' is, so to speak.

I feel like I've got nothing to spoil and nothing to allude to in this little story of mine, which maybe is just indicative of story problems in general, yikes : D

[JessJackdaw]

Hmm, yeah I understand a cover like that would miscommunicate the intention of the comic...

Wait! What if you treated the comic cover as the album covers for the band? That would be neat. : > Maybe use your favorite bands from that era as reference. I've never seen it done before, but I have faith you could pull it off!

[NickRowler]

OK, I'm not the best at designing covers, so for the most part, because my comics have no color, I use my covers to help establish what colors the characters are.

[goner]

It needs to be something that really catches your reader's attention, so I would say colors are really important, I'm pretty sure you've already done some sort of palette for your comic already, so you'll need to use something similar to color the cover, if the comic is "dark" you have to make sure you'll use dark colors and if the comic is "happy" then you need to use bright colors or pastel colors, as a reader, I really love when people use pastel colors.

[quietsnooze]

My webcomic features a rock band, so what I've been doing with my covers is parodying photoshoots of actual rock bands. It makes for some fun references and readers seem to enjoy it so far! (: I've done three, though I think my Pentatonix one is the most iconic, and it was recognized by the artist who designed that particular album cover, so that was a fun bonus!

[navyzerimar]

I love good covers for any comics, my cover sucks I'll say that right now lol
But I have seen so many people do amazing covers that I am inclined to try again and make mine even better XD