Furry Writers' Guild Forum

Graphic Design in Furry Lit

Publishing and Marketing
#1

I posted this in Marketing and Editing because I think book design is a component of these, although it is its own beast.

I want to preface this thread with the fact that I am professionally trained in:
-Graphic Design
-Photoshop
-InDesign
-Illustrator
-Color Theory
-Typography

Rechan posted this thread where design cover assistance was needed for, say, anthology covers that needed to look professional. Since I know that many editors are not trained in these important visual components, it can be a huge struggle for them if they aren’t working with a publisher that utilizes a graphic designer.

However, this is something I have the skills to do, and I know others on this forum do too. What I want to know is: is there a way we can get involved, and is there a way we can get paid a modest fee for providing these services?

I ask here for some resources or support for those of us who can actively help improve the look of published furry books, or perhaps a way to promote anthologies that need a designer and may be able to hire? This is something I’d be interested in getting involved with.

#2

If you are not creating art (actually digitally drawing it or whatever), what sort of graphic design can you do? I ask this just to get an idea of what the process would involve. My understanding of what happens with a cover is the publisher (or, in the case of no publisher, the author) commissions art. They get art piece. Someone then adds text to the cover in photoshop so you have the title.

If that’s not the case, what would be done?

I do not know how self-pub authors handle covers outside the fandom for instance.

#3

Right, so there are multiple ways we could go about this, but I’ll stick with just cover art:

I’ll go with the easy first step, where you the editor commission the piece of art you would like to use as a cover piece from an artist of choice. The image would have to be at at least 300 dpi resolution (just a large, high quality image file of the art, per usual, which the artist should know to be doing anyway.)

The graphic designer would then use the provided image to design several different layouts for you to choose from. A layout is just a simplified version of where the text and borders would be, and how the image will interactive with that spacing. (Sometimes when an image is too busy or ambiguous the cropping really helps.)

Once a layout is chosen, borders (if used) can be placed as either opaque or transparent boxes with line separations of various sizes, or something ornately detailed that can be created in adobe illustrator or photoshop.

After borders are finished, typography comes into play. This includes experimentation with high quality font, knowledge of spacing and kerning, color implementation, possible shadows, and the ability to make your font beautiful, clean and focused.

These things can be time intensive but well-worth the finished look.

Further options are:
-Consulting with the graphic designer before you consult your artist so that your cover image goes with a clear and transparent conveyed theme or tone for your book. This can be skipped if you hire an artist who is trained and willing to work with you on this, though.
-Cropping and relighting of the artist’s image without distorting the original art very much. This would include small touch-ups like improving the harmony of color on the cover or reducing brightness or intensity of the picture.

#4

This could be really useful.

Thought: how about advertising your services in Sean’s GoAL when it appears?

#5

Agreed with this.

Though a huge hurdle, especially within the fandom that you’ll find is this: are you going to find someone that would pay for this? Publishers will already do most (if not all) of this for you, and you may be hard-pressed to find someone that will want to pay for great, when good works well enough.

My two cents as someone who has dealt with such issues within the fandom for years.

#6

I’d be interested in this for my first novella. There were too many books in the fandom I didn’t look at the synopsis for because the cover was so unprofessional looking. There was nothing wrong with the art. The overall look was just meh at best. With a novella that I hope might possibly break into mainstream (or so a few folks have said stands a chance), this could help give it the boost it needs.

It might be something to test the waters for. Maybe give a discount for the first x-number of customers that mention the GoAL or for x-amount of time. That’ll give you the chance to really show your worth, get word of mouth working for you, and prove you’re worth every penny and then some.

#7

As a possible customer, I’d say one of the most important things would be having a website with a good portfolio of samples to look at. I’d be unlikely to hire anyone for cover design without being able to see a half dozen or so samples, whether they’re previous projects for other authors or (when starting out) just made up as examples, so I’d suggest that as a first step before doing any advertising.

#8

That’s definitely fair (and I used to have a portfolio back when I was more focused on design than my own writing.) I can put something together this week if you’d like to take a look. Currently, I just have my Blog where I designed the site’s banner and made a simple gallery on the right column with two recent designs that can be viewed in Carousel.

But I also wanted to press that the goal of this thread isn’t only to advertise myself. I think that I’m not the only one with these skills, and want to know if there’s some kind of support network we can set up for all of the potential designers who want to work with furry publishing (both independent and not.) This way we can help facilitate a working environment for the visual designers in Furry for books, too.

Though a huge hurdle, especially within the fandom that you'll find is this: are you going to find someone that would pay for this? Publishers will already do most (if not all) of this for you, and you may be hard-pressed to find someone that will want to pay for great, when good works well enough.

The idea is indeed for editors to have this option to pay for. My understanding is that some publishers in furry do not hire graphic designers specifically because of cost reasons, and sometimes the covers suffer. Sometimes you can find artists to do both art and design and will work with publishers to do this. However, not all of these artists and/or designers work with the guild specifically, and facilitating their presence could help. I am a designer and a writer who the guild has direct access to, however (as is Mr. Mandolino and several others) so there is skill to be tapped into here that may be underutilized.

I’d indeed to start cheaper, mostly because graphic design I think is a little underestimated (and because I think some might be hesitant to pay for it at all). However, I would love to work with you on your novella.

#9

I’ve done some semi-pro design and typeset stuff for professional training projects, but those require a far lower level of graphical finesse than most.

I’ve also done design and advertising for business clients, writing and designing brochures, pamphlets, etc.

I don’t think that my skills are good enough to do more than support my own business needs, but I’ll never turn down a “Hey, I’ll pay you money to make me a book cover” etc.

My two most recent design works:

Laika Dosha Pamphlet - (Web Edition, PDF.)

Cover design for From Winter’s Ashes

Both of which hit my “Good Enough” zone, but neither are my best work either.

#10

This stuff sounds like really useful. If/when I ever do any sort of self-pub thing, this is appealing.

That said, you also have to consider costs too. Let’s say that I am an author who wishes to self-pub. The things I probably should be paying someone to do:

[ol][li]Edit (possible to get someone to do this for free, but…)[/li]
[li]Formatting the ebook (possible to find ways around this, like with Scrivnor, but…) [/li]
[li]Cover artist.[/li][/ol]

As far as cover goes, you’re looking at $100-$300 because you have to pay for a normal commission AND the rights to reproduce that art as a cover piece. So in addition to all these other elements, now graphic design is important too? It’s just a lot of money to sink into something that may not return, or else learn to do it yourself. Very daunting and discouraging.

Now, one thing you may also want to consider are the other applications of graphic design. As you said, the banner on your sight was designed by you. My dad is a graphic designer/artist who pretty exclusively works with t-shirt designs. So doing more than just books may be one way to go if you are trying to organize and appeal to the fandom as a whole. As someone who has no web skills, someone who would make a website would be useful.

#11

I made four book covers just to show off what I can do with them. Some artist friends were very kind to give me the permission to play with some of their art and make them into fake book covers. I wanted to try out different styles! There’s also varying levels of complication:


17231342400-1438064178.jpg?w=370&h=&crop=1370×530


1440276857-hiccupby_wzl.jpg?w=370&h=&crop=1370×502

(The fake editors/writers are actually the credited artists!)

#12

Don’t ignore licensing, too, insofar as furry art goes. Tell an author “Hey, I’d like a non-exclusive license on your art piece so-and-so, I’ll give you 30$.” can get you pretty far for small press and casual artists. Most understand that if you’re asking for non-exclusive rights, it’s free money for them that costs them not one more iota of effort than to sign the contract.

I kind of cringe when I hear people talk about the “need” for a commission. No. Your story probably doesn’t need one. It might be nice, but it probably doesn’t need one.

#13

As pointed out in the cover thread, at least in this fandom, it’s visual. Not only is it visual, but it’s a fandom ABOUT furries. So people want to SEE furries on the cover. Without a commission, then what are you putting on there?

Or are you talking about asking an artist if you can pay them to use a pre-existing piece of art?

#14

Yes. There’s a ridiculous wealth of pre-existing art out there sitting around on FA or a dozen other sites that an artist would be delighted to be offered some cash for.

#15

Assuming one has hours to spend wading through all that pre-existing art to find something that 1) suits the project well enough to be used and 2) is of a high enough quality to not send readers running in the other direction.

As I’ve found with other aspects of self-publishing, it comes down to a choice between time/effort and money, and it wouldn’t surprise me if most writers who can afford it would think it easier to just pay for a commission and get something that suits their work exactly.

#16

nodI agree with PT. Networking and searching are in themselves are time consuming, which is why somebody who does that for you can be a sort of service.

#17

The way to start with that is, curate your Watchlists on FA appropriately, and definitely curate your Favorites list.

I almost never +Watch an artist who isn’t someone I want on a book cover. And covering the images that I’ve favorited in any given year by thumbnail is a 3-5 minute job, tops. Writing a letter to the author and drafting up a contract from template adds another 5-10 minutes. The rest is just hurry-up-and-wait. If they’re a popular artist, they may take up to 2 weeks to get back to you, assuming they respond. Have a backup image or two in mind.

If there’s an image that’s ~almost~ perfect for your story, you’ve got three options:

  1. Accept that it’s only going to be almost perfect, and move on. Most readers won’t care.
  2. Ask the artist if they’re willing to do up a variant for the project, for a few extra dollars. Most are, especially if the piece in question was digital.
  3. Adjust your story to fit the image, or earmark places to adjust it to fit, if the licensing works out. Then it makes those changes pretty easy to execute.

Commissioning a story might be your only option, but chances are that #1-#3 should see you through about 50% of your cover art needs. I’m not shy about writing works around other people’s art at this point; if it inspires me, why turn it down?

Most of the time, commissioning artwork is going to be more expensive than licensing it, so why not license?

#18

chuckle Well, I’ve been on FA for eight years, and I didn’t go there looking for book cover artists, so I’ve watched a lot of artists and faved a lot of art just for their own sake, without having a business plan in mind. :slight_smile: Still, one could always start a new account just for that, I guess.

#19

Honestly, it’s as easy as just keeping it in mind when you hit that +favorites button and browsing your own Favorites later.

For example, these are just some quick-and-dirties I knocked off from the current first page of my favorites:

http://i.imgur.com/II6zDBK.png
http://i.imgur.com/fFSfS5F.png
http://i.imgur.com/qIBnsYu.png
http://i.imgur.com/zvVN4eL.png

None of them would pass pro muster, but all of them I could take to a pro or spend a few hours on refining the design and have something that could sell. All of them too are easy images to write a story incorporating.

#20

I think in the end it comes down to two options if you are doing an anthology.

Either you let the publisher’s choose the artist and hope that the art’s quality is good as it will most likely be cost effective art.

OR

You shell out the money for a good artist who will give you the rights to the work.

At least that’s how it works in furry pub. Outside it, the debate you are having continues to be very valid. ;D