Cover Likenesses

In the comments to my last post about cover art, Dena asked how I felt about my covers and whether they'd been true likenesses to my characters. (She didn't ask that exactly, but her comment led me to that question.) I decided to put my 14 covers to date into one image and in the long, fiddly process--graphic artist, I am not!--thought about that question.

I haven't had any real shockers, in terms of wrong hair colour etc although when I analyse them one by one I see how few matched the image in my head. My first cover, In Bed With The Boss's Daughter, is still one of my favourite covers even though the cover model is too elegant and not brawny enough for how I imagined my slightly-rough-around-the-edges Jack Manning. But I love the cover because of its subtle sensuality.

The best likeness, by far, is A Tempting Engagement. That is Mitch and Emily, just as I pictured them. The worst? Zane is absolutely not right -- he has longer, lighter hair and is NOT Mr Clean Cut. The title is Zane: The Wild One, after all. Most of the others are, to quote Randy Jackson, "just okay" as far as character likenesses go.

The only cover that I hated on sight and still despise. The Rugged Shadow. Is that ugly or what?

To counteract that *shudder* horror, two of my all-time favourite covers are for foreign editions of The Rugged Loner. The character likenesses in these two are perfect for Tomas and Angie, yet I imagine they came out of the stock file. I wonder if they got it right by chance, or if they read the character descriptions?

Labels: covers

posted by Bronwyn Jameson @ 9:31 AM

Comments:

*snicker* The Rugged Shadow *snicker*

You know, I don't think it's uuuuuuuuuuuugly--just has nothing all to do with the actual book.

posted by

azteclady : 12:23 PM

Seems you been pretty lucky with the covers. I really love your most recent ones.

posted by

Jane : 4:00 PM

I think the cover is just plain, the rest of covers sort of give an insight to the book, that one does not. All the covers have the hero in brown hair, is that by chance or do you prefer the hero with that colour hair.

posted by

Avi J : 12:49 AM

colour me strange but I kind of like a cover where the reader totally imagines the H and is not influenced by a picture of him on the cover.

posted by

Christa : 1:47 AM

I think my perception of that cover is coloured by the shadow itself. It looks like a cowboy toy, not an outback cattleman and I was very specific in my AFS instructions about the difference. And the ornagy/tan colour of the shed/barn clashes awfully with the rich Desire red.

Re darker-haired heroes: Avi, yes, most of my heroes have been dark-haired except for Zane...who is pictured with dark hair. I remember the senior editor at the time telling me that they have very few blonde cover models. :-/

Christa, I like some of the covers without characters as well. Love The Rich Stranger, for example, and The Headless Groom. :-) I can't draw a correlation based on covers -- so many things influence sales -- but in that trilogy, The Ruthless Groom outsold the The Rich Stranger which outsold The Rugged Loner.

Bron

posted by

Bronwyn Jameson : 9:03 AM

Your covers are really delightful and enticing. Thanks for the entire array.

posted by

diane : 2:16 AM