This is because the color-against-black-background thing I'm doing isn't as vibrant and eye-catching as other covers. You know, the ones using stock images of sexy half-naked models. My covers might even seem a bit unprofessional in fact. I have to confess: Aside from the actual character sketches, I do the design myself as best I can, and I'm definitely not an artist.
So why not use stock images?
First reason: it's very very difficult to get the exact image I want for my book covers. If I want to find the perfect build, pose, and outfit to capture one of the characters accurately, it's going to be really hard. Imagine trying to hunt down a stock image of an incubus for my Flesh and Fire covers. Usually the search just spits up images of guys wearing Halloween costumes or awful body paint. Yikes!
Second reason: Since I focus on writing serial works, I want some consistency between my book covers. Color, lighting, build, pose, and camerawork for stock images is going to be far from consistent. Working with the same artist for the covers? He's going to do his best to help me out in making an awesome cover.
The reason I use drawn images is not because it's cheaper or easier. Far from it! I have to work out a weekly schedule with Pockyrum, and I have to compensate him for his awesome, AWESOME work. But I feel that in return, I get amazing quality, consistency, and accuracy with the covers. Sure I can plop down 2 dollars for a stock image from http://www.canstockphoto.com/ , but am I going to be happy with it? Chances are, no.
Pockyrum does a really great job of capturing the characters perfectly. When I first asked him to do a piece for "The Scene," I was utterly amazed at the image he sent back to me of Jase. It was just so perfect! The pose, the hair, the look on his face, the body and build and outfit. So sexy! And more importantly, so accurate. Jase is a professional, and he definitely has that look about him.
Pockyrum has a very unique style that balances hard masculinity with a certain softness that women (and some men) find appealing. I know I do! What really amazes me about his work is that, unlike a lot of young artists these days, he doesn't fall into the trap of making things too cartoony and anime-ish. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's just not the image that I want to put forward as a writer.
Maybe someday I will move on to photographs for my covers (possibly using some of my sexier male friends as models). However, my point is that I'm looking for custom work (whether it's Pockyrum's art, or starting a sexy photo shoot and hope my guy friends don't blush too much) because I want to put forward the best books that I can. Maybe I'm overthinking this since granted, this stuff is just a few thousand words worth of spank material. Yet at the end of the day, I want to be proud of it.
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