Greetings possums. I wonder if you could help me out?
I have an assignment to design a book cover. Could you please list what you feel makes a good fantasy book cover? Cheers.
nubile women laying seductively around a muscular sword and axe wielding hero, all standing on top of a pile of slain enemies.
or anything with rabbits, why who knows.
For me, the best thing a fantasy book could have, is to not have the words “Robert Jordan” on it… 
I’m still wondering - why possums…
GRRRRR!!! 
Dragons usually make good impression, though that assumes they are not on the cover only but also somewhere in text;-)))
Swords and axes are always good 
As well as ladies with long hair, wearing beautiful medieval dresses
Most of unusual creatures would look nice, well, unless they look extremely disgusting.
And a castle somewhere far on the background. If castle is inappropriate then any similar landscape detail that looks suitable in context.
I’m still wondering - why possums…[/quote]
Why not.
A good cover is not too cluttered, a cluster of ‘heros’ standing around in the front is a bit cliched.
I really like the original covers for Barbara Hambly’s books, they were beautiful scenes with the viewer set back someway from the action, wondering what the tower was, or why the dragon was holding the woman so tenderly in its claws, and who the chap with specs watching was. Also, they had a distinctive series layout with a vertical and a horizontal bar around the title, which made all her books stand out as something worth looking at.
I prefer my books to be plain. I like old hardbacks my self, with out those pesky colorful dust jackets. that way I get to use my imagination, rather than looking at some one else’s idea of how it should look.
R
Lots and lots of acutely animated people running away/to things. Maybe I just read too much Pratchett, could be the case.
The cover for “The Last Hero” is one of my favvys
I think a cover should catch you before you even read the synopsis, unfortunately you often pick up a book with a great cover and compelling synopsis and the book turns out to be mediocre.
How about something that is actually depicted in the story? The number of books I’ve read where the cover bears absolutely no resemblance to the events in the story…
A cover that actually relates to the story inside is good, for starters. And I like the characters to look fairly realistic.
David Cherry does a lot of cover pictures that I like. Except for the top one on the list, (terribly cliched) the characters look both pleasant and interesting, the scene is aesthetically pleasing, and there’s a hint of a story there.