Illustration vs. Photography

Which will make your cover shine

Image copyright the author

This is a bit nitpicky, but it’s still something to think about. Some genres tend to have book covers that are photographic and some illustrated. That’s cool, but some have a mix. Science Fiction and Romance (two high selling genres with Romance being the clear winner) tend to have a mix.

When you are deciding which one to use there are a number of factors to keep in mind. So, for example, I’m doing an Urban Fantasy/Horror series right now. I have two books written and I need to do covers for them. I had an illustrator do covers for both, but I’m not going to use her work. I’m going to use the concepts and general layout with some modifications. Her work is decent but off genre… I would use her for other kinds of books.

Now I have to decide if I’m going to use an illustrator who is more photorealistic or modified photographs.

Illustration

Pros

• Access to your models — If you are using illustration even if the original model for the story moves on your illustrator can probably recreate them — you can even get another illustrator to recreate the look, even if there is a small difference in style it won’t be too much for readers.
• Easy to recreate the same look — Photos are reliant on the setting, light, etc. With illustration, you have control over all of that. You are creating from whole cloth
• Can look more professional — A good illustration can look incredible. That look can really boost your book. Make it look like a high-end product.
• Can look like whatever you want — There is no constraint on the appearance of your character. They don’t have to look like anyone that exists

Cons

• Cost — Illustration can be expensive. It depends on how good the illustrator is, but you will have to pay for each one separately
• Time — Illustration takes time. It will vary by the complexity of the piece and the person you hire, but you can’t batch it
• Might not look as good as you want — Good illustration looks amazing, bad illustration looks cheap. Cheap is not what you want

Photography