The phrase “Art is all around us” is true. It is no more apparent than in the cover. Design. Everything has a cover from movie boxes to board games. Companies spend millions of dollars each year paying both digital and traditional artists to create designs for them. They spend this money because the cover is the first thing you see and thus the first thing you judge when looking at and making an assessment about something. In comics this is no different.
In comics there are many ideas as to what makes a good cover but I find that the best covers reflect what happens inside of the comic. With a cover you can give an introduction to characters you will meet in the book as well as insight into the plot without having to read a thing. Often knowing where your comic is to be displayed is important in your design, especially the background. Generally light colored backgrounds are the norm because the are eye-catching. However, often if a cover designer knows his comic will be placed with a lot of light colored books they will use a dark background so as to stand out against that. In my own comic I try and take this approach as well. Take a look at some of the different designs for covers. Can you tell what might happen? And who the characters will be inside the book?
Madison Hawthorne is a comic enthusiast and writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. Madison’s comic “King of Sweden” is available at Amazon.com