[philospher77]

raymondluxuryyacht;110504 said:

It seems that cover art rarely is completely accurate. From what I hear, most authors have very little say in what the art is like, and many publishers go for a picture that represents the whole book, the theme, or many important parts of the book instead of a exact snapshot of any part of the book. Still, there are some inacurracies here that don't seem to have any explanation. Oh well. That'll do, pig.

From what I hear out on recs.art.written.sf, covers are pretty much random luck. Unless you are an established author, and can get it written into your contract, they are the publishers property, and the publishers choice. Which is why they can seem very random, and how the same cover can be used for different books. There's an interesting one where the cover for one of Cherryh's Chanur books (which feature an all-female feline crew and human male) was used for a Kzinti book (where all the cat-creatures are male). If you are lucky, there's an artist that has been given a bit of the book to read, or at least a general outline of the story. If you are unlucky, or very new in the field, you'll get stock art.

[vahlar]

nice picture, but there are no elves here!

so,when do can we expect a Reapers Gale cover?

[Dagger]

I like it. No, it ain't perfect but anything and I mean ANYTHING is better than the damn GotM US cover. I see that spine poking out of my bookshelf everyday and cringe.

[Abyss]

It's good art. I have some of the same thoughts others expressed re: accuracy, but we're all used to that.

- Abyss, would have made the dragon head WAY bigger.

[Tattooed Hand]

It's better than the Bone hunter's cover art, which is such a lame rendition of the awesome scene at the end of the bool.

[McLovin]

I can live with it. Better than the UK cover, frankly.

[Brys]

This is the first decent US Malazan cover IMO (with the exception of DG, which was the same as the UK version). It's very well done and get's across the feel of the book. I have a slight preference for the UK version with its more distinctive Edur, but this one isn't bad.

[Aptorian]

Very cool cover. Besides Scabbys head being smaller then I imagine even small Soletaken Eleint to be, I wonder at all the skulls lying around in the stonebowl.

Some seem demonic others look like huge gorilla skulls. I'm guessing that the last ones could be K'Chain skulls... hmm.

[Morgoth]

Brys;110881 said:

This is the first decent US Malazan cover IMO (with the exception of DG, which was the same as the UK version). It's very well done and get's across the feel of the book. I have a slight preference for the UK version with its more distinctive Edur, but this one isn't bad.

I thought the uk cover of HoC was pretty good too.. Fairly accurate if the statues were a bit big, but that was just cool

[Loki]

I just can't get past the fact that the dragon's head isn't smashed in...

[Folken]

its smashed...just not completely and not at the right spot...oh but who cares...goshers all so picky!...then again im one to talk:p

[Loki]

Jen said:

its smashed...just not completely and not at the right spot...oh but who cares...goshers all so picky!...then again im one to talk:p

I like the picture, I just wonder if the people who do the cover art actually read the books or just get told a vague description.

The Recluse series and Wheel of Time series are great examples of covers not matching the actual story/scene.

[Orfantal]

Absolutely .. .the picture's good but it just doesn't match up and of course it's easy to blame the poor artist but it happens so often that you do wonder what broief they get. Loved the GOTM cover.. but hate the Midnight Tides and Memories OF Ice covers in particular with a passion - not cos the pictures are crap the just don't correlate with how I imagine the scenes.

[Dolorous Menhir]

Orfantal;111560 said:

Absolutely .. .the picture's good but it just doesn't match up and of course it's easy to blame the poor artist but it happens so often that you do wonder what broief they get. Loved the GOTM cover.. but hate the Midnight Tides and Memories OF Ice covers in particular with a passion - not cos the pictures are crap the just don't correlate with how I imagine the scenes.

Well, the GotM cover didn't correlate with any scene in the book either, so I'm not sure why you prefer it to the other two, which seemed to at least feature real characters and events from the respective books.

[Loki]

Dolorous Menhir;111634 said:

Well, the GotM cover didn't correlate with any scene in the book either, so I'm not sure why you prefer it to the other two, which seemed to at least feature real characters and events from the respective books.

Perhaps it's because it DID'T happen that makes it less of an evil then a bad portrayal of an actual scene.

[Brys]

Morgoth;111147 said:

I thought the uk cover of HoC was pretty good too.. Fairly accurate if the statues were a bit big, but that was just cool

I take it you mean US cover - I like all of the UK covers, and UK HoC cover was one of the best. The US HoC cover was definitely an improvement on the previous few, but I didn't think it was nearly as good as the UK version.

[Sir Thursday]

Morgoth said:

I thought the uk cover of HoC was pretty good too.. Fairly accurate if the statues were a bit big, but that was just cool

Brys;111689 said:

I take it you mean US cover - I like all of the UK covers, and UK HoC cover was one of the best. The US HoC cover was definitely an improvement on the previous few, but I didn't think it was nearly as good as the UK version.

@Brys:There were statues on the UK cover too...

@Morgoth: I'd have to agree with you on the size of the statues...that one jarred with the other ones a bit, I'm not sure why.

Sir Thursday

[Folken]

@Loki - well they don't as admitted by Todd himself. They really dont have the time to do anything...hence the faces in the Rocks for the House of Chains cover became giant dogs...lol. But during our conversation, before he started MT, I suggested that he drop by the forum when he did start to get ideas on the physical characteristics of characters and such. He did drop by and I know a few people provided helpful descriptions of the Edur and such...but...that didn't really follow through on the cover as they are clearly not grey:p

But initially he wanted to do the scene with Udinass puting the gold coins on Rhulad's body.

[Dark Mac]

Jen said:

@Loki - well they don't as admitted by Todd himself. They really dont have the time to do anything...hence the faces in the Rocks for the House of Chains cover became giant dogs...lol.

Those are the Face in the Rock? Really? I thought they were supposed to be the giant statues of the Hounds of Darkness...

[Karsa Orlong]

Dark Mac;111750 said:

Those are the Face in the Rock? Really? I thought they were supposed to be the giant statues of the Hounds of Darkness...

Yes, Todd confirmed, that the scene shows Karsa in front of his Gods, which means he should have painted faces and not hounds... oh well