Cover pics : what do you like?

Back to the topic, I tend to do my covers to reflect the mood and tone of my story. Given that people are visually oriented as well as intellectually stimulated, if my cover picture conveys the mood, tone, and setting decently, then they'll know, in an instant, if the story piques their interest. At least, I hope so. For example, my last three competition stories have vastly different moods, tones, and narrative voices: me in the first person going through an emotional time, a Hollywood-style rip-roaring adventure, and dark, abysmal noir.

Of course, I also sneak myself onto the occasional cover picture just to see if anyone notices (they don't)

I tend to go for different styles of cover depending on the story... often moody black and whites, sometimes with a splash of colour but I try to convey a part of the story but not always show gratuitous amounts of flesh

The Virginal Bride, The Cliched Marriage and BMX Boys

Well if we're doing show n tell, here are three of mine I'm quite pleased with. They normally have elements of the story or at least represent the idea behind the piece. I try to also pick the font and placement to indicate the mood. Featured:

Living Art

Sit

Daddy, Let Me

Quote by deviantsusie

I tend to go for different styles of cover depending on the story... often moody black and whites, sometimes with a splash of colour but I try to convey a part of the story but not always show gratuitous amounts of flesh

I've always admired your covers.

Since I no longer subscribe and am no longer allowed to upload photos I have tapped out my resources thus no more cover photos, possibly no more stories...this likely will come as a relief to my diminishing fan base.

My stories are usually set in mid-20th century, and a picture goes a long way in setting the atmosphere and showing fashion and hairstyle. I really like stories where a grown woman meets a teen lad, so I can post a picture for the woman no problem. This is what I did for "Pinot Grigio" where the lovely neighbour is portrayed by Audrey Hepburn at 25. When the girl is under 18, I use a description model and simply can't post it.

The picture I used as a model for description in "Maria" shows a girl who indeed looks like she could portray a teen. In that picture, actress Marigold Russell stands in front of the Big Ben (under repairs from WW2 damages) in 1956. She was born in... 1933! I feel OK showing it since the girl was 23 on that pic which also presents a historical interest.

For the actual story, where the actress really portrays Maria, I went with a 1940's school bus for my cover since it reflects the male character's occupation. This is a good example for what to do when your main character is 16 or 17.

Where do you get your cover photos?

Quote by Sandra47

Where do you get your cover photos?

Internet has a ton of old pictures. For the bus, I started by googling "school bus history" with 1940s and found plenty of images of different models, almost always in B&W. For the girl, I started with "teenage girl Italian" 1950s and I eventually found a picture of a girl who looked 17-18 but turned out to be that 23-yo actress (Marigold Russell is 90 now). I had a very clear image of Maria in my mind. Maria in my story is described as "lithe"; she's even slimmer and probably a bit shorter, standing about 4-11 or 5-0 feet tall.

Women were about two inches shorter back then in average, so I will never say "average height" since today's reader will think of a woman who's 5-4 or 5-5. I will think of actress Elizabeth Sellars*, who was 5-2, when describing a woman who was average in height back then and will often describe her as "dainty" with "perky charms" and "not very tall". *In a 1953 movie, The Broken Horseshoe, the police describe her as "very attractive, average height".

Quote by HistBuff

Internet has a ton of old pictures.

Thank you!

I’m only just getting started using images, but I’ve been managing to find suitable clean images on creazilla.com, which gives you legal right to use them, or imagefap.com for the sexual ones. The latter can be a real black-hole waste of time looking for what you need, but I guess that’s why it is called that.

Quote by joe71
I’m only just getting started using images

Are you using the Lush cover designer, just out of curiosity?

No, just adding text in MacOS’ Preview app, which is about as primitive as it gets. Will have to try the cover designer soon.

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Are you using the Lush cover designer, just out of curiosity?

I need to fiddle with it more. I have a couple sources, then use Paint 3D or similar to do crops and simple edits but if I can do more with the onsite tools, that would be nice.

The Lush cover designer works really well. There is a good range of fonts and the drop shadow and lift options really help the text stand out.

Quote by joe71
Will have to try the cover designer soon.

It's definitely worth a look, as Susie says. And I think the eventual aim is to increase the available stock image pool.

I have just a few media items I can use thus am unable to be creative with my covers due to so few choices. I have reached my limit of media items since I am not a member.

Can't judge a story by the cover...

Quote by Icarus4

I have just a few media items I can use thus am unable to be creative with my covers due to so few choices. I have reached my limit of media items since I am not a member.

With the lush cover editor, you can use the external link to link to the url of an image not in your media library and then add the text over the top

Quote by deviantsusie

With the lush cover editor, you can use the external link to link to the url of an image not in your media library and then add the text over the top

True. But I think if you try and save the cover to add it to your story, it won't work if it would exceed the number of images in your membership tier. Not sure.

I think cover pictures definitely help the reader. It sets the scene or idea before they’ve even read the first word. It really doesn’t need to be two people in the thrust of passion, but it serves as a teaser, a spark of curiosity. Finding pictures for my story, for me, is part of the fun. Happy Viewing!

Quote by WannabeWordsmith

Well if we're doing show n tell, here are three of mine I'm quite pleased with. They normally have elements of the story or at least represent the idea behind the piece. I try to also pick the font and placement to indicate the mood. Featured:

Living Art

Sit

Daddy, Let Me

Those are great covers. I admit I spend almost no time on my covers. Perhaps I should.

I try to make covers for my micros that give me extra words, so to speak, to set or emphasize the theme, time, mood, whatever. Given that no one saw them unless they already decided to open the story, I'm not sure how useful they actually were.

Those are great covers, Kistin. I expect the team will eventually roll out covers more widely across the site... assuming authors adopt them enough to make it worthwhile not looking at a sea of your image here placeholders on story list pages.

I do a cover image because I love to look at pictures that inspire me to write. I have about ten stories written because of this. So I do add a cover image because I hope it helps readers visualise a character or a scene from it.

I can recommend Canva because as a free app, it can do enough to create something that fits the requirement. I love the carousel idea too. I have included some of my favourites.

We are enjoying our annual holiday right now, but it is very tempting to write just to see this in action.

Well done mods and techies, I think it really adds to the site.