I’m Mel, a writer living in the jungly mountains of Northern Thailand.
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I personally love how A looks and i'd pick it up so fast
Cover B is absolutely sad, I’m very much against the usage of AI for financial gain, It’s a husstle I guess, but I don’t respect it, since AI users don’t respect art and artists
I’m confused as to why people thought E was 10 dollars because it was “simple” and took less than 10 mins to make. E actually understood the assignment, and C didn’t. Why is it red with bats? It feels horror and not sci fi. It’s a really great cover. I really loved A. And whilst I got the love for D, the cabin looks like a UFO slash tent. Which could’ve been cool if that was in the brief but I personally don’t get it.
I think that cover A is stunning but i dont feel like it fits the demographic very well. To me it looks like a thriller i would see my mother read, not a soft scifi for teens. and on the other hand cover d does that perfectly and introduces the themes of scifi and nature in a very clear and inviting way
Okay, "A" looks the best imo, it's striking and dramatic, I would love to have a book with this cover and a poster. "B" gives off too much of AI vibes and also looks like some teenage dystopia novel "teens against aliens" or "Divergent in the woods". "C" is just Japanese vampires. "D" needs some color correction, but it looks interesting. "E" is actually more interesting the more you look at it. I personally would invert colors: cabin should be black, when lighter wood, then cityscape and the background as motherboard. My vote is for A Also, I don't know how did you get in my recs, but it looks fun
I like A but it gives off more of a thriller vibe to me honestly and seems more targeted towards adult. D is perfect for a young adult sci fi! I would just adjust the colours as they won’t look good printed
I could tell what the more expensive covers were pretty quickly. E is a beautiful design, so I'm pretty shocked at the perception. The AI cover is really bad. All of the characters are the same person.
I cant believe the Ai generated image went for $100 and it does not even look like anything that "designer" has in the portfolio, and that designer has a better fiverr score than the $300 designer whose art is amazing. $100 is just a scammer. How come they have that score?!
This video was recommended to me by yt. Sorry if you don't need my opinion lol I like "A", definitely would catch my eye. Cool design and suits the idea of the book. "B" reminded me of a "Maze Runner", similar vibes, but it does not catch my eye at all. I would skip this book. "C" looks like project in the process for me. Don't like the font used for the title. And overall I would think the book is about vampire/s who live in the woods near the city. "D" also very good! The designer understood the assigment, the idea, the colours. Very good. However, I think the colours would look this good only on digital cover. "E" not vibing with me at all, interesting design, but meh.
17:00 I wold pic eather on of the finalists (A and D) from the book store. But when i identify D as A.I. generated i would fink twice. I have to say tho, i like D better in a first glance
'A' is an amazing cover. Very impactful and eye catching. I will say, if I saw it on the shelf one of the first things I would be doing would be to look if books 1-4 were there, lol.
I really love D. It just tells a story itself c:
I can only identify D and B as having A.I images. And "A" really seams legit if it has A.I i cant see it
B and D are both AI-generated, imho (I use a variety of tools, so I recognize the shading and lighting styles of AI), possibly with some post-editing and repainting. This video is a great showcase that authors are not necessarily good designers, and I don't mean that in a bad way. We are storytellers; that's our craft. It's good to hire a professional for designing covers or at least listen to some advice from someone with skill and experience. I love how E layered the cabin, woods, and the sci-fi city-maybe not the best fit for YA, but definitely a thoughtful design. A seems like a mystery or crime novel. B is just trash, in my opinion. C gives off a creepy horror vibe, D is solid (but I dont like the colors much), and E is great. However, I don't think any of them fit the theme and genre very well. Great video, very educational for everyone with a bit of self-reflection. I personally struggle with listening to advice about designs and visual art (and I am beginner visual artist myself), especially font placement, because the initial idea I, as an author, have is not always as eye-catching and appealing as a cover should be.
You can listen to the full series here on KZread! Click here: kzread.info/head/PLTyGiKhfgmKxPmacQHu_dvqgIViUkcYDu
“A” is the best one
The Thumbnail is better than all those cover pages.
i think E is the best, i feel like the design itself is unique whereas i felt like A was generic with the random "sci fi lines". D is cool, but not my style.
I so want to be there and be able to share my opinion with yall I'm with you, D is my fav also, why did they like C that much???
Haha thanks for watching! To be fair maybe I was too harsh on C...
@@MelTorrefranca nah I was with you, I was thinking the whole time it was a cool idea but poorly made because it looked way too much like the first results of a google image assets
$100 robbery. yes.
So you're telling me that people selling AI trash are making money, meanwhile real artists/ illustrators like me are struggling to find work? Wow, fantastic.
A. 100%. D would be great as a poster but A would be better for the cover. A captures the dark mood that was asked for, and D feels more 80s- which would be good for the going back in time element but feels less sci-fi. It's hard to get the balance right. And the colours just aren't really gripping, especially the faded black, it might look a bit off in physical print. Personally as a teenager, I probably would have walked past D but been really intrigued by A. It's what I lean more towards as an adult as well.
That's really interesting because D feels a bit more sci-fi to me haha. Thank you so much for watching!!
A. Period. [This might seem completely irrelevant to the video, but the second cover took me back to something and I'm sharing that here.] Oh, man, the second one reminded me of The Maze Runner series; the third FILM to be specific. 😅 I've read Books 1 & 2, and the first prequel. Book 1 was in the same year as my 10th Boards (Indian here; junior year basically), and I was hella excited when I read the news of a movie adaptation. But being a high schooler at the time, without a monthly allowance (and part-time jobs aren't as big here in the smaller towns, especially if you suck at time management), it was hard to get the others. Wouldn't be until after the last movie came out that I would end up at a Book Fair where I find that Book 2 and the first prequel are available at a sale price.
I'd go with D, but as an artist I would want the black to be more of a pure black and maybe change the color palette of the rest. Personally, I do not much like minimalist. Minimalist to me is for graphic design purposes, where is for a Sci-Fi book I as a consumer I would want something more like a painting which is maybe framed on the book cover by minimalist design. I feel the fad of minimalist covers these days have killed genres because unlike decades past you can't tell from the covers much anymore what genre the books belong to.
From least to most I would say: D, E, C, B, A...
Arif, if you’re reading this - you can charge a lot more my man
i saw the comments and i thought everyone’s favorite cover was the letter, “A”
Very interessting to see that AI is off the table from the start. Thanks, that makes me as an illustrator very happy.
Definitely A. I can immediately at a glance pick up sci fi, woods, and it's very striking with the contrast and makes you go back to reread it several times. While D is pretty as a poster, I think the font and description underneath it would definitely need edits for legibility, and I think there would need to be some edits to differentiate the planes of distance in the image because the trees are bleeding into the tent a little bit and distinguishing that more would help, and some of the vector lines are distracting to me as an artist because they are messy in a way that looks a little quick - specifically the foreground plant shapes. But I think with some more edits and work it could fit what you want for the mood better, as is at the moment it just falls a little short in my eyes. Saturation boost, up the contrast in some areas, clean up some elements and make it a little less messy for legibility of the 'layers', and maybe add a little more subtle texture to it (I recommend looking to some of the newer dune covers). Get some eyes from graphic designers on it for sure, they'll have some quick advice that will go a long way
With tweaks A. The "5" loses shape with the dark illustration against the dark background. But still not a cover design you could read from afar--but that is less necessary with so much commerce now online.
I failed the "guessing game" by swapping A and D so I also got confused there. Maybe I believe that D with maybe a more contrasting shade of brown would look great (but I know nothing about design so...). Also I hate when people use AI for something they sell you without saying they do so, I would be really disappointed to be honest.
I would pick D over A, I like how their is story/scene elements to it. I'd just take the colors from A to D lol.
I'm with you on liking D best (though I agree that it needs a little work done with the colors, everything feels so muted; even just changing the silhouette of the forest to black instead of that muddy grey would do a lot to start making it pop more I think), A is a close second but it feels like it's aiming towards the wrong audience. And it's really great for the price point, honestly if I got that back for $35 the first time I could afford it I'd be sending the artist more money because they're undervaluing themselves. Also, frankly, A being flagged for using AI would not only kick it out of the running for me, depending on the terms of service it might also have be seeking a refund unless they could show that either the use was minimal (like, if it was just filling in the sci-fisy detailing on the sides, or for color-adjusting), they used it to rough out the layout but otherwise pretty much fully did the art themselves, or they hadn't done do deliberately (the AI portions were something they'd gotten from a stock image site or something). If I'm paying someone $300 I'm expecting them not to throw my description into a plagiarism bot.
The ai one for 100 dollars was a goddamn robbery
Cover A looks very cool but I feel it doesn't fit the target audience. Also (this is going to sound stupid but you would be surprised how often it happens), some people might actually miss the 5 and just read CABIN. As a graphic designer, I always remind myself that no amount of coolness is enough to sacrifice legibility. Cover D is almost perfect. I would only change two things. I would turn the dark grey into black, and make the city in the distance more distinct (I'm assuming those are skyscrapers...)
I'm glad you validated this as a designer because it's been a concern of mine...! Thanks for watching, and especially for the tips!
6:31 oh that sarcasm didn’t come through with that cover 😭 i genuinely thought you were being serious too! i think your voice might just make you always sound like you mean exactly what you say! i have the opposite issue, where i can be saying something genuinely but it sounds sarcastic (so i often have to clarify 😅)
Haha we're both struggling then, always got to explain myself as well haha
I work in illustration and I can safely tell you that both your final choices are fully made with AI. I dont know if that would change anything, I just wanted to point it out.
And how do you know?
I like cover "D". It reads more YA. I would adjust the colors for print purposes. Maybe have different colors be different textures matte vs satin vs gloss. Sprayed edges are recommended, even just a solid pop of red would work.
Oooh great ideas, will look into all of this!
In C's defense, reading the whole blurb you gave the designers, it definitely read as horror to me at first glance. Primarily horror with scifi elements. Based on the rest of the video, I guess it's supposed to be more mystery than anything - but maybe C's designer also thought it was supposed to be horror
Fair point! My adjectives leaned a bit more into horror...
I definitely prefer the A cover. It really speaks directly on its own. I mean, as soon as you see the cover, you immediately have a spark of an idea of what the book is all about.
I actually do think artists are the only people who, through their works, give meaning not only to their own lives, but also to other people's own. I can't imagine a World without artists (and this's not because I'm an artist). Be sure of one thing Mel, I'm gonna read your book. Why ? Because you're an excellent author and for artist solidarity 😉. I believe we, artists should support each other. 😊
Aw thank you so much-I hope you enjoy my book! Love your perspective on artists by the way, that's a great way of thinking :))
I’m mostly an E-book lover but for a D cover I would buy a physical version too. Love the colours and the retro vibes it’s giving. Have a nice day :)
Glad you like it! Still leaning in that direction.
i absolutely loved e (and at a first glance was sure it would be either the 200 or the 300 one) i got so confused by y'alls reactions about that one😭😭😭😭😭😭 personally my fav was e and then d and a
as a Designer and Illustrator, I reccomend using **D** design, you can adjust the Contrast and Values to pop a bit more in photoshop so it'll look more eye catching on a shelf💕
Awesome, it's great to get advice from designers...! Thanks for the tips
funny how they all back down after she said they will like cover 3 and then clarified it was sarcastic lol especially Sebastian agrees with everything and then takes it back when he realized the others disagree (200/300$ cover) someone like that imo is just not productive or helpful if he can’t stand with his decisions and instead wants to please the group and especially Mel 😂
I love A and D equally! But if I had to choose, I would say D
Your friend looks pretty chill. You should give me their number
the E slander is crazy :,(
Agreed, maybe it's not the best choice for this book, but it's a nice piece! And it was fully illustrated. The artist showed me the sketches and the step-by-step process which was really cool. Would work with him again!
I think A is really good, but for other demographic. With the same story, but for the adult target audience it would be perfect. D is already perfect for teenagers and young adults, and that's why I would choose it. But the colors would need more contrast for the printed version, and change the saturation, the digital version would not be a problem.
Agreed! A is a bit more mature and might not be the best vibe for a YA audience. I think D would attract the right people. Also thanks for the color adjustment tips!
Honestly tho as a teen A is my favourite 😭
Idk why everyone is hating on E lol it's may favorite. I love how it incorporated the trees to show nature and the sci-fi esque structures to show it was also sci-fi and the color pallet is good for a creepier vibe. And it looks soft sci-fi to me. But A isn't that bad. It would be my second choice.
It's very artistic-I like it too! I think it just takes an extra moment to figure out what's going on, which isn't great for a book cover where you need to make a quick and strong impression. It's a nice piece of art though and the illustrator is lovely!
It’s my favorite too and the one I’d read just from the cover.