$160 cover - NO AI, NO EXCEPTIONS

[DismaiNaim]

Author Name: Dismai Naim
Profession Unpaid Hobby: Author
Preferred Art Style: something eye-catching. No sculptures; can't upload sculptures.
Story: A Place to Bloom
Taco: steak & cheese with guacamole and pico de gallo
Laundry: already done & folded

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THE RULES

Post a low-res image of your cover here [put your watermark on it so no one steals it], vote & comment on others. You don’t need to post to vote & comment.

I will pay $10 to each of the top 4, win or lose.

Winner will receive your choice of $160 OR $100 + 10% of profits from sales.

Use of generative tools will result in DQ.

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Background:

I’m not linking the current image I’m using for a cover because it’s AI generated, and I’m done with AI [insert two-hour political rant]. You’ll probably see it if you go to my profile page, though. But this is the scene I’m looking for in my mind: https://www.scribblehub.com/read/967246-a-place-to-bloom/chapter/1056446/

Genre is epic character-driven low fantasy with elements of steampunk [edit: also uncensored romance]. Starts off cozy and nice but later chapters turn toward grimdark - it’s not there yet, but in the coming chapters, it’ll get DARK. The scene for this volume is five men heading down from the mountain to face the unknown world. In the previous chapter, they arrive at the pass after having been told that the war they’re headed into is a death trap, and when they look out to see the place, it’s buried beneath the clouds [they’re standing at 18000 ft / 6000 m].


What I need from you:

1. A high-res cover image for online use (epub & web-series sites)
2. A full-size front & back for print publication (or at least help me design one)
3. As needed [Tapas] proof of human generation.
4. Cross promotion (I link to your portfolio, you link to my story)

* Proof of human generation in their words, not mine, "Proof can be anything from progress sketches, timelapse videos, screenshots of project files, or links to the image sources. We're looking for any information that can help us verify that no AI generation tools were used in the final images."

* I reserve the right to back out of this if I get nothing but chaff.

 

[Bimbanana]

I cannot join because i cant draw and can only do a mean laundry, which already done. So...
@Hans.Edward.Trondheim @DarkCrinkle Good luck guys

 

[Hans.Edward.Trondheim]

I cannot join because i cant draw and can only do laundry, which already done. So...
@Hans.Edward.Trondheim @DarkCrinkle Good luck guys

I have a current active commish right now, but will get back to this and try to understand the terms once done.

 

[LesserSarcasm]

something eye-catching. No sculptures; can't upload sculptures

Uh sure you can, a 3d scanner to convert physical scupture to a model or a digital sculpture are both valid and accessible these days.

 

[Kurayami]

* I reserve the right to back out of this if I get nothing but chaff.

Bro trying to get free art with no guarantee of anything. This is a bold strategy. If your profession is unpaid author, how are you going to pay a winner? Why not just commission an artist on Vgen? You could get a cover for less than 160$ without having to pay 4 other people.

 

[Corty]

Not to be rude, but you are asking artists to draw for you for free, and only pay them if you choose their work.

You are masking your desire for free art in the name of competition, not to mention having the luxury of even choosing between covers. Do you realize how much that you want costs, actually? Print covers for the back and front start way higher than $160 lol. Your prize money is 1/3 at the cheapest and 1/8 at the medium.

No artist will take this on.

 

[Kurayami]

Not to be rude, but you are asking artists to draw for you for free, and only pay them if you choose their work.

You are masking your desire for free art in the name of competition, not to mention having the luxury of even choosing between covers. Do you realize how much that you want costs, actually? Print covers for the back and front start way higher than $160 lol. Your prize money is 1/3 at the cheapest and 1/8 at the medium.

No artist will take this on.

I completely disregarded the print cover thing because my brain must have tuned it out. Thought it was just a regular ass cover for SH.

 

[Corty]

I completely disregarded the print cover thing because my brain must have tuned it out. Thought it was just a regular ass cover for SH.

As a devil’s advocate, I have learned to read the fine print

 

[Bimbanana]

*serious mode*

I think this is something that can be discuss or suggested nicely to the OP.

I dont know what his motivation or purpose, but I'm actually happy to see someone willing to spend their money for artist.
Because we know how struggling it is for artist to make money now since they have to compete with AI.

But why he/she made it into competition? Dunno, maybe he just want to have fun with his community also?

He already asked for low res & watermark so no one can steal it, including him. But sure, if it seems like a hardwork without any guarantee for reward, we can always suggest to OP to change the competitors to only submit a sketch or WIP for the voting and the winner can complete it after. And its normal to not getting anything when you lose in a competition. And its us who decide the winner, no? not OP.

Does $160 with 10% shared profit in the future sounds too small? dunno, maybe that's the amount of money that OP had? Because my freelance artist friends would be willing to do that for that amount for print cover. It might not enough in US and Europe, but that amount is okay in many asia countries especially if the artist is new and the client is also a new author.
And there's no push for anyone to join this game anyway.

Will the OP really gonna do all what he said and not trying to scam? That's beyond us.

Why I'm writing this much?
Because seeing how this thread developed have the potential to discourage anyone who had some spare money and considering about using real artist for their book in the future.
It had potential to make them think "I'd rather save my money and stick with AI. Its good, its fast, its free, and zero drama"

*back to normal mode*

Sh*t... I got involved again... I'm outta here

 

[DarkCrinkle]

But why he/she made it into competition? Dunno, maybe he just want to have fun with his community also?

He already asked for low res & watermark so no one can steal it, including him. But sure, if it seems like a hardwork without any guarantee for reward, we can always suggest to OP to change the competitors to only submit a sketch or WIP for the voting and the winner can complete it after. And its normal to not getting anything when you lose in a competition. And its us who decide the winner, no? not OP.

Does $160 with 10% shared profit in the future sounds too small? dunno, maybe that's the amount of money that OP had? Because my freelance artist friends would be willing to do that for that amount for print cover. It might not enough in US and Europe, but that amount is okay in many asia countries especially if the artist is new and the client is also a new author.
And there's no push for anyone to join this game anyway.

Yeash I agree. Ngl 160 bucks is delicious in my broke aaa pocket xD but that's only gonna happen if I get chosen

Anyway I would consider it even just for funsies. But I'll just lurk around and see if anyone joins as well...

 

[Hans.Edward.Trondheim]

Yeash I agree. Ngl 160 bucks is delicious in my broke aaa pocket xD but that's only gonna happen if I get chosen

Anyway I would consider it even just for funsies. But I'll just lurk around and see if anyone joins as well...

I'll include you in my recoms next time.

 

[DarkCrinkle]

I'll include you in my recoms next time.

Thank yooouuu Hansss

 

[DismaiNaim]

Not to be rude, but you are asking artists to draw for you for free, and only pay them if you choose their work.

I'm seeing covers advertised for 50-100. I don't want a crappy cover. 160 (+40) felt like a premium, for me. If that's not premium enough, sorry because that's all I got.

You are masking your desire for free art in the name of competition,

If I were asking for free art, I wouldn't be paying for it.

not to mention having the luxury of even choosing between covers.

Why is that a bad thing?

Do you realize how much that you want costs, actually? Print covers for the back and front start way higher than $160 lol. Your prize money is 1/3 at the cheapest and 1/8 at the medium.

TF do I know? The print cover I have now is the same AI image uploaded to D2D. It looks and feels amateur.

No artist will take this on.

You could also look at this from my perspective. I go on {site} and find {artist}. After paying {money} I get something that... sucks. Then what?

I dont know what his motivation or purpose

It's simple: extermination of the human race. Humans are a cancer upon the Earth. Some of us make decent tacos, but I can't think of anything else RN.

To everyone:
I'm not afraid of drama; we artists are a dramatic breed. Such is life. Given a choice between A) a dramatic rollercoaster of conflicting emotions and accusations that results in something evocative and beautiful and B) a professional, courteous engagement that produces something nice

I will choose A every time and love the process. B is AI; I can produce that myself.

 

[Corty]

I'm seeing covers advertised for 50-100. I don't want a crappy cover. 160 (+40) felt like a premium, for me. If that's not premium enough, sorry because that's all I got.

Yes. You hire someone who has a portfolio, and you can check their work. $160 is a premium price indeed for a webnovel cover. Not for the whole package you listed.

If I were asking for free art, I wouldn't be paying for it.

You asked authors to post their works for your book. Those whom you don't choose just wasted day(s) of work that could have gone into actual, paying commissions.

Why is that a bad thing?

Because the post reads like you want others to work for you for a possibility of getting paid. That is not how this works. I get that you may have been scammed before, but this reads like a scam itself. I don't know how you don't see that. Let's say 5 people contribute, and you don't like any of the 5. Now there are 5 people who wasted their time on nothing. Then don't enter, you may say. And we arrived at what I had written: They won't, and you will end up with 0 commissions.

TF do I know? The print cover I have now is the same AI image uploaded to D2D. It looks and feels amateur.

Print covers usually start from $500 and upwards to $1,200-1500

You could also look at this from my perspective. I go on {site} and find {artist}. After paying {money} I get something that... sucks. Then what?

My first point.


Look, I'm not trying to bash you, but simply put, the approach was weird. You can do nothing but check the artists' work and hire one who has work that is up to your taste. From there, you can contact them, whatever site they use to advertise their portfolio, and discuss your requests in DMs and see if you can work together.

It is a working-together thing anyway. A proper artist will get back to you step by step and discuss whether they need to make any changes or not.

The price you offered was good; the competition part wasn't. What you are willing to pay for a cover is more than fair if you don't look for one for physical copies, because that part, well, it is missing a zero at the end.