Me? Bashing graphic artists? Hell no!

For those of you who read my post on book covers sharing the same photos, I'd like to add a little here in respond to a message left to me about my brashness to put down cover book designers. *lol* For those of you who read the post thoroughly know I never bashed any cover artist for doing their job and for trying to do it right. Au contraire, I applaud the fact that they're willing to take such undertaking. I've seen the works of cover book designers such as April Martinez, Jax, Cathi Stevenson, Trace Edward Zaber, and Dawn Seewer just to name a few of the ones I hold nothing but respect for their works. I design images myself, for both websites and book covers, so I know how hard it is to create unique images. I've been known to spend weeks tweaking images, never being happy with the product. (What can I say? I'm a perfectionist. *lol*) At times my poor PC has collapse (even though it has 2GB of RAM) because it can't take the load of having PhotoShop and other programs opened while I work on an image (which is usually several MBs). (I thought about increasing the RAM, then I realize I might need an Apple Mac instead. Too expensive, so fat chance.) I've even used stock photos many times to create book covers. (Thank you for small favors!) But I'm also the owner of small publishing company (no, it's not an ebook publisher) for textbooks. As both graphic artist and publisher, I'm familiar with their prices of these stock photos, which aren't exactly cheap. And if you don't believe me check out their prices! Sometimes you have to pay a couple of hundred dollars for one photo. And even paying the high price for the high quality kind doesn't mean exclusivity. (Doesn't that suck? You betcha! Oh well... That's the game we must play with stock photos, people. *sighs*) Also I'm very much aware of how limited stock photos are. I mean there are so many images you can get. (Check out one of my favorite hunting places for stock photos, 1StopStock.) However, my understanding on these issues doesn't take away my concern about the uniqueness of a book cover when I'm working on one. As the owner of a publishing company, I know how tough the competition can be. A book cover can make or break a book. Authors, publishing companies, and graphic artists agree on this. So I'm aware that having 3 - 5 books with the same image in the cover in a bookshelf can be confusing for the consumer. It's a cold hard fact. Mind you, I'm not trashing graphic artists when I say that. I'm just simply saying that I put those who work for me in the graphic department to work hard and try to make covers as unique (and distiguishable) as possible. I myself spend hours, sometimes days, researching book covers among textbook companies to see what's out there. For instance, recently a colleague of mine wanted to put out her book on writing a paper for one of her courses. She wanted a photo of a bridge on the cover since the word "bridge" appears on the title. Fine. I searched for photos with bridges and found one that I worked fantastic for the cover. Perfect size and all. I just had to add the title and the author's name to it ...tah dah!... instant cover with little effort. I was in graphic artist heaven to say the least! I even did the Snoopy dance. Until...I did some research and found out that one of those big textbook companies (I'm not mentioning name out of respect to them) already used a photo that 95% similar to mine. It was the exact same bridge. The only difference was the angle the photo was taken. And even to the untrained eye you could tell that there wasn't much difference in that area. You might be wondering what I did. Well, after banging my head against the desk, cursing a bit, crying a lot, and eating two bags of M&Ms (which almost caused me a stint at the hospital 'coz the insuline shot to the roof), I deleted my work and started all over again. (I'm very serious about the work I do. Told you I'm a perfectionist. Sue me! *lol*) Another thing I'd like to point out is that creating an image of Poser or Daz 3-D doesn't mean it should look plastic or rubbery. Sadly, we, writers and readers, have been exposed to those types so we think that creating an image in one of those 2 porgrams is bad. *lol* Not true, my fellow writers and readers! Not true. *g* But if you all don't believe me, check out the DAZ 3-D gallery. You'll see some images that will astound you with their realism. Of course, I'd like to point out too that for those wonderful graphic artists to achieve such level of perfection, they must go beyond Poser and Daz 3-D. Notice that they usually clean and perfect their images using Photoshop and 3D Studio Max. There are those who use Paint Shop Pro. Not a big fan of the latter, but hey, it works for some, so who am I throw stones? *g* Oh, and add Bryce to the mix. Now, let me be very clear about the use of these programs. It's NOT easy to create an image on Poser or Daz 3D that looks "real." I know. I've worked with both. My images still look like plastic dolls. *rofl* I need to download some of the skin textures and stuff like that. And of course, I need more time to get acquiented with the software. But alas, the latter is almost impossible since I have a full-time job with a screwed-up schedule. *sighs* Anyway, my point here is if any of you think you can sit and pop one in a couple of hours, well, unless you're an super expert using the program, it might take you days. Richard, one of my fave graphic artists and friend, has worked for weeks on an image just to get it to look real. The last one he sent me took him 10 weeks to finish. At first I thought it was a photograph, so when he told me that it wasn't, I was like "Do I look like I have the word stupid tattoed on my forehead?" To make this short, it took me hours to finally realize it wasn't a photograph. Yet, it's true that I've seen many graphic artists who aren't too expert using Poser or DAZ 3D to create terribly looking book covers. And I know I'm not the only who agrees with this. Personally, I find that a very unbecoming behavior of the graphic artist. Second, such graphic artists undermine their credibility within their craft. And ultimately, such acts hurt the sales, which leads to hurting both the author (who won't get as much in royalties) and the publisher. Any graphic artists knows I'm not bashing anyone for saying this. It's the same with editors who do a lousy job editing a story and out it goes, mistakes and all. That's irresponsible behavior. Now getting back to the topic. As you all can see, I do know my way around book covers. I may not be at the same level and the caliber of the graphic artists mentioned above; however, I hate to speak in ignorance so I always try to learn things and be expose to things before I open my mouth. As I said before, I never meant to bash anyone's graphic work. If it sounded like I did, then please kindly re-read the post. Take notice that I asked fellow writers 1) how they felt if they found out the photo of their book was shared by 3 - 5 more books, 2) if they felt this could affect their sales or not and why, and 3) how they could try to avoid this problem if possible. If these questions sound like bashing someone's artwork, please feel free to email me and let me know. The truth is I hate to be misunderstood, or have my intentions misinterpreted. *g* To the authors and publishers: If I asked these questions and posted pics of the books covers (especially the one with the fireman), it wasn't done out of lack of professionalism. I feel that as writers we need to know how best to deal with problems that might affect the sales of our books, which not only affect us as writers but to the publishing companies too. So maybe next time an epublished author writes a story involving a fireman, instead of asking for one on the cover, knowing well there aren't many sexy half-naked fireman pics around, he/she will talk to their graphic artists, who are true experts on creating book covers, about other possible options.