Holding Stuff

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

Sorry to post twice in a row, but I stumbled across this when I was looking for a photo of the cover of The Thief for my previous post.

http://100scopenotes.com/2009/12/18/cover-controversy-holding-stuff/

An interesting blog about a fad in cover design that mentions The Thief and Twilight in the same breath. Not flattering, but interesting.

Comments

[wanderingdreamr.livejournal.com]

Erm, I think you posted way the wrong link there. XD

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

Oops, hm, no idea how that happened. I feel sheepish. Good lesson in checking links I guess.

Thanks!

[drashizu.livejournal.com]

I like the picture of the girl with henna holding the flower. Very pretty.

That's an interesting post. I like the remark that Allstate did it first, but they're in an entirely different industry, so it really doesn't count. I don't know that the people who designed the Thief or Twilight covers necessarily thought "Let's make it look like the Allstate logo!" when they were brainstorming. Holding your hands out and offering something is a culturally significant symbol in our society.

For instance, if you want to think about where Allstate might have got it from, there's an American Sign Language gesture that looks like that meaning "thank you"... I think? (Not an expert in ASL.)

The two-hands-slightly-overlapping gesture also appears in Korean culture, which I only know because of the martial art I practiced in high school. In Tang Soo Do, a Korean style, it is used in some kinds of junbi (the bow you make at the beginning of a performance) and has the symbolic meaning of peace or a peace-offering, and represents the martial artist's desire not to fight unless absolutely necessary.

Just a few thoughts. It's true, I hadn't noticed but there's a definite trend in book covers like this. Thanks for the link!

e.t.a. it reminds me of titles formulated like "The X's Y." The Magician's Apprentice, the Time Traveler's Wife, the Gravedigger's Daughter...

[keestone.livejournal.com]

I know that this is absolutely not what I was meant to get out of this, but I couldn't help but think . . . in no particular order . . . a) I still like the original cover art for The Thief best (and I know I'm in the minority); b) the hands on this cover of The Thief are the most interesting looking hands out of the lot (followed by the Toads and Diamonds hands); c) The Twilight cover hands look unnatural and photoshopped; and d) wow! the Twilight cover design is yonic. (Turn it upside down.) Um.


Somewhat more on topic, I'm curious about other people's preferences regarding cover art. I'm probably a product of my upbringing and showing my inner curmudgeonly old fogey, but I much prefer an illustrated look to a photographic look, and I don't like the close-up on a body part (hands, part of a face, etc.). I'm fine with minimalism, but my favorite book covers ever are Trina Schart Hyman's covers for the Enchanted Forest chronicles, which capture the characters perfectly.

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

I like the original cover for TT best too, (at least, it was original to me. It's the copy I bought when I was 12, with Gen looking back over his shoulder) but that may be mostly because it has sentimental value. Also, I have, hemhem, problems with inaccuracy in book covers, and I don't think the gift on the cover is at all how it is described in the book, and there is no way it would fit under his hair. But that's just me. I like the rest of the new covers, though I am partial to the "I'm on a boat" QoA cover, just cuz.

I'd never even seen those Enchanted forest chronicles covers. They look cool, and you're right that they capture the character really well. These are the ones I grew up with, and I love them. http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400085705

[keestone.livejournal.com]

I'm ancient or something. :) I got the first ed.hardback not too long before college because it was recced on the Bujold email list. This is what the original cover looked like, and a lot of people seem to think it's ugly:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688146279/gemotrack9-20/ref=nosim

I think it's a fantastic cover, and it really captures a feel, if not exactly the way I'd picture the statue of Hephestia. I've mellowed a tad bit when it comes to accuracy of book covers, but I agree that is not the way the stone is described.

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

I also like the "ugly Hephestia" cover the best. Actually, the first time I read TT, I somehow didn't even realize that it was a face. I just liked the colors and font and shtuff. Likewise, I also like the original QoA cover with the disembodied hand, even though it's ... extremely disturbing. And what is that building, anyway? It's just ... my earliest memories of the book.

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780688174231/The_Queen_of_Attolia/excerpt.aspx

[keestone.livejournal.com]

I love the original QoA cover so much/. I know I said earlier that I'm not a big fan of close ups of body parts on book covers, but this is the exception because it has so much meaning and the significance of that hand overshadows the entire book visually as well as in the text.

One of the things I like about that cover for TT is that it originally seemed to just be trying to represent the feel of the book, and I didn't feel like I had to figure out which character it was. Then I later realized that with the headband and the shadow of Gen's hand reaching out to grasp Hamiathes' Gift, that it was actually an accurate depiction of a moment in the book. This is the exact opposite of most of the book covers I grew up with, which mostly seemed to go, "Here! This is the main character! You are going to read about him/her and he/she looks like this (even if that's not how the character is described)! So what if what's happening in the picture never happens in the book!" It was often very obvious that the cover artist had never read more than a blurb, or that the publisher had just taken some random art and said, "here, this is good enough" (I'm looking at you, Baen).

I want my cover art to be an artistic extension of the book, not just a marketing ploy. Grumble.

[agh-4.livejournal.com]

I forgot about the reaching hand shadow, but you're so right about the lovely covers that capture moments. It's especially cool when they don't give anything away. If you EXPLAINED the cover of TT, or the cover of QoA, it would give everything away, but when you see the image, you just get the mood.

Thinking about it, 2 of the QoA covers (the hand one and the one with Attolia holding the hook/squirty bottle) are saying the same thing, just in a different way.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

Wow, I've seen that "Let It Snow" cover so many times, and I never even realized it was hands in mittens -- I thought it was just a red background. Guess I am not very observant.

[readingisgoodforyou.wordpress.com (from livejournal.com)]

It's funny that this has been brought up now, because I am currently working on a research paper on cover art design in young adult literature for my book history course. After looking at so many book covers, I've noticed that trends definitely do occur. One cover artist will come up with an idea, like the use of cupped hands in these covers, and everyone else will roll with it as well. Girls withe hair flowing in the wind seems to be a popular one now too.

I am partial to the hands portrayed in The Thief, as I think they have the most character. The dirt and scrapes tell a story about the character they are meant to represent. I also think that the fact that it looks like it's been done in oils sets it a part from its photographed counterparts.

I agree that the Twilight hands are creepy and unreal -- no one has hands that white and glowy. Definitely photo-shopped.

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

There is also a theme that I have seen in several series, though the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Philippa Gregory's books and QT, where the body, richly costumes, is shown, but the head is off the page. What does it mean?! :D

I guess the cover of Twilight reflects the contents: creepy, unreal, and photo-shopped.

[ballerina-222.livejournal.com]

That makes me think of the covers for the Once Upon a Time series. They all look like this: http://www.amazon.com/Before-Midnight-Retelling-Cinderella-Once/dp/1416934715/ref=cm_lmf_img_1

[mortalasabee.livejournal.com]

Exactly! How many others can we find?

[ballerina-222.livejournal.com]

Well, I know that the Gossip Girl series also used to do that with their covers.

[katecoombs.livejournal.com]

I know--I posted on my blog at one time about my dislike for the decapitation thing, which you saw EVERYWHERE about a year ago. Though someone did point out to me that at least it lets readers imagine the character's head and face however they want. Still bugs me. It's just... strange.

[philia-fan.livejournal.com]

But so often even the torsos are wrong, or wearing the wrong clothes! (I'm thinking specifically of Maureen's Johnson's books)