How to make a good cover art and how to find ideas for it?

[bloodstained.skies]

Hi
I'm trying to make a cover artwork for my future webtoon but I don't know how to do it. I have zero ideas how it could look like. I read the tapas tutorial but it didn't give me much inspiration, just some theory. Could you tell me how to make an interesting cover?
If that's important: my genre is sci-fi/action, like Halo, Star Wars, Warhammer, Dune, it's not finished but I know the 80% of the plot

[Lensing]

First collect reference.
Posters of scifi movies, cover art of scifi comics and novels.
Then try to copy some of them in your style, mix it up.
Use basic composition rules

Star Wars is a mash up of things GL loved.
He picked bits and pieces of already existing stories and made
something new. You can do the same with cover artwork

This quote is a bit provoking but there is much truth in it

[SleepingPoppy]

I totally agree with @Lensing- look at covers and posters in your genre(s), and use that as a spring board. You can also look at the "most popular" here on tapas and webtoons and see what those covers look like to get ideas. I feel like on tapas the covers that draw readers in do a good job featuring the main characters, so that is something to consider in your design.

And if you sketch some basic ideas, you can always bring that back here to get more feedback. =)

[darthmongoose]

I've always struggled with covers myself, so I collected some really great ones, (plus some good tutorials if you scroll down) on a pinterest here:

To me, some of the main guidelines I've learned for Tapas covers are:

• Make sure the cover conveys something about the tone or what your story is about. You could make it evoke iconic covers or movie posters of other things it's similar to, draw on genre cliches or make sure that key elements about your story are visible. If it's about superheroes, put somebody in a superhero costume on the cover, if it's about Romance, put the main pairing on the cover interacting with each other, if it's horror, have a character looking vulnerable in a scary environment, and if it's an action heist story, have a character running from pursuers etc. It sounds obvious, but a lot of people just don't think to do this.
• Bold and easy to read both the art and title even when the cover is displayed at like the size of a postage stamp (which it will be for most readers who browse on mobile devices). Use contrast or strong lighting to have key features and the title stand out, and avoid busy high-contrast backgrounds or having your characters too similar in tone to the background.
• The rule of Youtube thumbnails is true here too. Put at least one face on there and you'll get more clicks.
• Use diagonals and depth to create excitement and energy. Here's the best tutorial I've ever read about composition. It really helped me, so hopefully you learn some things too.

[system]

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