How do people get custom covers for their novels?

[RhiiRhii]

Hi guys.

I'm a newbie in the writing world, especially on tapas. I'm looking through others novels and covers and some just completely blow me away. They're stunning and fab.

I was just wondering how people get custom covers done for their novels? I assume some people are gifted and talented, but alas I have no digital art skills

Is there a place to go to request commissions, or where people can reqest those who at training/practicing and wanting to brush up on their skills?

Cause ya gurl wants a decent cover, it draws more people in and just looks better than my free stock image created one.

While I'm here, if anyone likes fantasy, romance and elves pls like and subscribe to my book it'll mean the world to me. @me and i'll check out your work too if you send me links
https://tapas.io/series/The-Tower-Goddess-Within

[MeltingCORE]

I draw all the art for my novel but there are many people here who have commissioned novel covers from artists! There's many places you can find people to commission (basically any social media platform will have people with open commissions, just search up the art style you want and "commissions").

If you'd rather not pay for a cover presently, you could always whip up something simple if you know a bit about graphic design!

I hope this helps, I know it can be hard to create promo material.

[Penni]

I have either commissioned a cover from an artist or I've used Canva.

https://www.canva.com/

Unsplash has nice (free) photos too that could be used in combination with Canva.

Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash

You can request commissions here in the forums or look at places like Twitter, Instagram, Deviant art, etc. There are artists all over take commissions!

[ratscout]

I'm lucky enough to just have family members who are super talented and draw me stuff for free, but honestly, I would just invest in commissioning someone to do a cover for you. I think it's worth the investment to have a killer cover because it helps to do some of the advertising for you (plus it helps feed starving artists, haha). You can find pretty darned good artists for not too much money, too (I think I got a really good commission recently for just $25) you just need to do some searching.

[WolfUnderTheMoon89]

I uhm got mine from my friend who does it as a job

[surenlicious]

I draw my own stuff, but I would recommend commissioning an artist to help you out. PErhaps make a thread and see if you and an artist can come to a happy agreement?

I do like fantasy though, so I'll just shamelessly slap my own novel here too haha.

Jade Kingdoms | Tapas

[RhiiRhii]

I'm happy to pay ofc, depending on prices and the right artist etc. Love to help out anyone who is in need of a boost, deserves recognition or having a hard time promoting their work atm etc.
If people could link me to anyone, or link me to their own work so I can check them out I'd appriciate it alot <3

[RhiiRhii]

Yessssss I've seen your art and it's fab.
I've mentioned in a comment below that I'm more than happy to pay for the right person. So thats no problem.
Thank you that is a good shout. I feel awkward though on social media as it's personal account and I'm still too nervous to admit to my friends and fam that I'm writing. Not that I think they'll judge me but it's personal

[RhiiRhii]

Yaaaaasss promote yourself!
Tbf your art is insane, that is some talent!

[surenlicious]

Thank you so much! I truly hope you can find an artist that may give you a snazzy cover. I just read a little of your novel, I have an odd obsession with Jessica's pointy ears now, I want to poke them. XD

[therosesword]

I've done a few myself (usually involves photography, not drawing or painting) and I've used art from paintings that I've found at flea markets and thrift stores (see below: Dead Souls Doing the Samba) and I've hired an artist. Obviously hiring an artist can get pricey but because this was the beginning of a multiple book series I figured the cost would even out. That is for Bright Morn of Issareth.

Here are my covers and how they came about:

Hired an artist for this.

Bright Morn of Issareth | Tapas

Found this killer piece at Goodwill and then hired someone to do the lettering as I didn't have a program to give me what I wanted.

Dead Souls Doing the Samba | Tapas

This was a photo I took through a screen at the apt. building opposite mine and then diddled with the focus etc.
and did the lettering myself.

The Creature at the Door | Tapas

This is a photograph with red ink (yeah, I know, that's what it looks like... sigh) and a Santa carving that my uncle did. I did the lettering myself.

A Murder for Christmas | Tapas

This was a painting I found at a garage sale for twenty five cents!!! I did the lettering myself and I also played with the coloring a little on "Paint"

Five Levels of Fear | Tapas

This is a photo I took of a bunch of pink roses (the pink can be seen in the banner) and then I altered the color, obviously. The letter was me. I fail miserably at fonts... sigh I see that the pink banner is showing through and not the actual cover... oops but if you click on it you'll see.

Lila Lovely - Sipper of Souls | Tapas

Hope everyone's advice is giving you great ideas.

Write hard, write true.

[rajillustration]

I cheat because I'm an artist so I just painted my own--and if commissioning is too expensive (because doing a cover does mean that it costs more--especially if you want it to go to print. There's copyright reasons for that. ) you can also get licensing for existing artwork by asking the artist directly. If it's original art they aren't using for anything else, they may be willing to license it for much less, especially if it's for a webnovel you just started and if you aren't well known yet (licensing does have an expiration date, and it does mean you'd have to make a new contract for if you print it, but for web only books, it can be a great thing)

[RhiiRhii]

I'm actually just about to dive into yours! And tell me about it! Sighhhhh my dream is to just poke pointy ears all day long.
Please, no one judge my weird dreams.
And thank you I hope so too!

[therosesword]

sooooo, am I screwed picking up weird, unsigned pieces at garage sales (my book 5 Levels of Fear, and the book Dead Souls Doing the Samba), goodwill and thrift stores? like the picture here, I want to use this eventually. I have gone over it and over it and found no signature anywhere.

I know I sound like I'm being facetious, but I have thought about that a few times. But here are these fun pieces (quite often very good or very strange) with no names or any identifying marks. I wonder what would happen if an artist recognized their work and came forward.

Oooh, that opens a new and potentially scary discussion, doesn't it? I never use art that is signed.

[rajillustration]

Oh that is a really cool piece. And yeah, I wouldn't use it if you didn't know the artist, because they may still be kicking around, youknow? Even if they sold the physical painting, they still retain the rights to reproducing it in publishing unless it's stated in legal writing (at least as far as I know in America, it's probably different in different countries) Have you tried a reverse google search? I mean I don't know if anything would come up but maybe? Possibly?

[therosesword]

I have tried finding the painter for about 5 years. In addition to everything else I do I also am a vintage/antique dealer. Some art but mostly jewelry. You wouldn't believe the stuff I've gotten at good will, thrift stores garage sales, estate sales etc. Blessed are those who haven't got a clue how much Great Aunt Betty's christmas ornaments from the 50's are worth... Ka-ching.

Anyway, I've picked up art by well known artists and a lot that has no signature, no marking, no nothing on it. I have had this conversation with so many other vintage/antique people about artists not signing their work... I usually, if I find something from someone local and still around, will actually get hold of them and return it if I haven't paid much for it (otherwise I sell it). The piece here I got for $2.50. I'll go ahead and use it and as far as I'm concerned, it's up to the painter to prove it's his. I've done my due diligence. I've taken that thing to two different galleries and shown it to a couple of appraisers. I've had it under black light, LED and anything else I could think of. We dealers are always looking for that big score so...

I once bought a piece of art from an artist and asked him about using it for a poster for a play and what he would want. He said that now that I owned the piece it was no longer his and I could do anything I wanted with it as long a I gave him credit. I was really surprised with that because, with my writing and selling my writing I'm big on the copyright thing. .

[rajillustration]

oh then you would know way more than me on how to find the artist! Yeah, you can do what you want with it, I mean it is so abstract that they may not even recognize their piece (hell they may have died.) If they get upset then...they'd have to prove it and that would be difficult to prove if there's no photo evidence anywhere.

It is interesting how in art, we often don't sign our work because it's just a study, and then someone will show up at my little nook and be like "Can I buy that?" And I'll just give it to them. I usaully sign, but I can definitely see how artists with full studios might do big ol sales and not follow up ever, or just drop paintings off at Goodwill to get it out of their house.

Like part of the reason to go digital (I had many reasons) is that it's just too much of a pain the ass to store them after I'm done!

[therosesword]

The top photo I got from an artist cleaning out her studio. It is closest to the door of my apartment over the cat's carrier and it is the piece that, when there's a fire alarm, gets grabbed with the cat.

The bottom picture is one wall of my apartment. The rest of the walls look the same although I have a wall for etchings, etc.Some of the pieces the painter is known one of them (tiny little piece of a big headed girl next to the redhead) is a painter I've wanted for a long time so I didn't call her, I'm keeping it. But most of them are unknown except the two cat portraits that a cousin did for me.

[Panpan]

You have some options if you can't draw your own!

Canva - If you don't have money for a commission, many artists/writers use this to make a simple cover. You can add pictures of nature/animals (some are premium but many are free) and good quality text!

Commissions - This is the route I went with since I had a vision in my head for a cover to which Canva couldn't provide me. It'll take some 'shopping' to find what style you want. There are some great websites out there for artists who do commissions such as Etsy (this is what I used and I paid the same artist to make my thumbnails later on since I loved her quality), Fiverr, Instagram, etc. Prices can range $20-$50, but it's so worth it and it's supporting small artists! The only thing for this is that if your work ever gets published (like, into a hard copy for profit), you'll have to contact the artist to pay the extra fee to use the copyright.

[domisotto]

Some of my covers was done by people on Wattpad who traded it for reads and critique of their work.

The rest is pixabay + Canva