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Genehunter Artwork: What Do You Think?

Tuesday, 24 January 2012

As you may know, one of the things I'm working on in a series of SF noir novellas about a genehunter, a 22nd century detective employed by collectors to track down the DNA of famous historical figures. For various reasons. These will be eBooks in their own right, but they've also been written with a view to creating characters and a world in which Rusty Axe games and I might want to set a computer game.

We shall see. Meantime, here's the cover artwork I've come up with for #1. What do you think? Eyecatching? Confusing?



 


Edit. Here's another version for comparison. Different subtitle and font:




Edit 2. And another go, with bigger writing and some colour ...



Edit 3. White instead of yellow text.




I plan to write three stories initially (I'm just polishing up #2) and to make the covers for all three similar so that they clearly belong together.

Posted by Simon Kewin at 13:58

18 comments:

  1. Madeline Mora-Summonte24 January 2012 at 14:42

    First off, I LOVE this concept. I don't read a lot of SF but this sounds so good. :)

    I like the cover except for the "Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll" part but I'm not exactly sure what about it is throwing me off. The font? The fact it's an older phrase with a modern title and illustration? I really don't know but again, I don't read a lot of SF, so take these observations for what they're worth. :)

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  2. Old Kitty24 January 2012 at 14:54

    I like the tagline best!!!
    :-)

    Take care
    x

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  3. Simon Kewin24 January 2012 at 15:23

    Madeline and Old Kitty: Interesting! A difference of opinion. Must admit I'm in two minds about that tagline. It seems a bit too obviously attention-grabbing to me. But then I am British ...

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  4. Karen Jones Gowen24 January 2012 at 16:40

    Like Madeline, I agree that the Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll part is off-putting. It's a highly cliched phrase that doesn't belong in a book, definitely not on a cover. Otherwise, I like the blue design and certainly like the story concept!

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  5. Simon Kewin24 January 2012 at 16:52

    Thanks, Karen. Your opinion is much appreciated.

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  6. Precy Larkins24 January 2012 at 17:49

    I lihe the second one better, maybe because the title and tag line are both easy to spot and read.

    Good luck! I think your concept is pretty clever, btw. ;)

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  7. Simon Kewin24 January 2012 at 17:52

    Thanks, Cherie - much appreciated.

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  8. Thomas Taylor24 January 2012 at 19:32

    Brilliant premise! Love the sound of these stories.

    My immediate reaction to the cover idea is to find it a bit dry and impersonal. This might be because of the schematic/diagram being shown, or perhaps it's just because it's all blue and white. Could another, hotter colour could be splashed in there somewhere? And/or some more relatable element? (and no, I don't mean a kitten:-)

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  9. Simon Kewin24 January 2012 at 19:45

    Thomas - Thanks; your opinions are much appreciatd. And I see what you mean. I did experiment with adding a central figure of some kind in there but, I must admit, struggled to make it look like it belonged.

    Hmm, more work needed ...

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  10. Anonymous25 January 2012 at 01:30

    Very cool, amigo!

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  11. Cate Gardner25 January 2012 at 07:56

    I prefer the third one but only if the yellow writing is white, the yellow doesn't fit (for me). Not keen on the 'Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll' either. :D

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  12. Deborah Walker25 January 2012 at 08:21

    I like sex, drugs and rock and roll. I like the design very much, but the colours aren't working for me.

    And I've had the pleasure of reading the first story, it really does rock.

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  13. Simon Kewin25 January 2012 at 09:02

    Thanks, Cate. I'm going to try it with white lettering and see how it looks.

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  14. Simon Kewin25 January 2012 at 09:03

    Deborah - thanks. Don't we all? I'm going to try it with just blue and white and see how that looks.

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  15. dolorah26 January 2012 at 08:29

    I like edit #2. Its totally catchy with that bit of off color (yellow), and I feel it portrays a character and not just a concept.

    All three look fabulous though.

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  16. Simon Kewin26 January 2012 at 08:48

    Thanks, Donna.

    Part of me is tempted to publish with various different covers just to see which one does best.

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  17. Stephanie Lorée31 January 2012 at 01:48

    Hi Simon! I finally got a chance to get around to Blogger and make a comment on this post.

    You know I love THE GENEHUNTER series, so I'm excited to see the cover art! I think, since you're publishing on ebook, that you need to make sure it stands out in a small thumbnail image. The blue backdrop has a lot going on, and then the font of the words has more going on, and it makes me feel like... too much.

    I definitely prefer THE WRONG TOM JACKS for the title. I prefer the white over yellow, and Edit #1 (though Edit #3 is a close second) is my favorite. I'd like to recommend that you adjust only the font of the title to a less embellished font, but keep the series/author names the same font.

    Hope that helps. Can't wait to see them on my Kindle!

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  18. Simon Kewin31 January 2012 at 13:45

    Thanks, Stephanie - very much appreciated. I think I'm going to go for some variant of #2.

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I'd love to know what you think.