You’ve spent your blood, sweat, and tears, writing a magical tale that is going to make them weep. How do you tell them that is what you have?
You create a fantasy book cover that tells that story for you before they even turn a single page. You don’t have to give everything away at first.
Not sure where to start? Use these tips to guide you into weaving a magical tale on the very first page of your fantasy book covers.
The Best Fantasy Book Covers
When you are designing the best fantasy book covers, you need a cover that will tell your story. There are several ways that fantasy book covers can do this:
- Color
- Typography
- Characters
Color – Set the Mood
From books with white covers to dark fantasy book covers, it’s all about mood.
Dark fantasy book covers will create a sense of mystique and mystery, and help you to create the fantasy you want to create before the book synopsis is even peeked at. Other fantasy book covers will have hues of blue, green, red, and even silver or gold.
What you want to bring to the cover here is a palette that showcases the reader’s fantasy. Are you building a castle in the sky? An estate in the vineyards? Pick the color and create the fantasy from there.
Books with white covers can help you bring a sense of innocence and purity to your fantasy.
On the other hand, books with white covers can also scare you before you even pick the book up off the shelf. This technique plays on what the reader already feels about the color white, and makes them think about that color differently.
You stoke the reader’s curiosity here either way. They will think the author writes that way as well.
Typography – Evoke Magic Through Font
What are the best fonts to use on fantasy book covers?
To Serif or to Sans Serif? That is one question facing many that design fantasy book covers. It’s among the most common kinds. The Trajan typeface is another that catches the attention.
A font that brings a 3D effect to the cover will also jump out at the reader and ask them to read your story.
Cinzel Decorative is a beauty. This has made some of the best fantasy book covers of all time.
Yana works if you are getting a little romantic.
For short titles, use high fonts.
Characters – Whose Story Is This?
Whose story is your book about? Give your readers a hint on your fantasy book covers. Capes, swords, axes, or just a peek at their face can help you to bring the emotion of your protagonist to the page.
Creating Urban Fantasy Book Covers
Urban fantasy book covers are all about bringing a little more excitement to the top of the book. Here, you mix urban life with the paranormal in a way that makes the Big City look…so small.
Bring bridges, dirty streets, empowering towers, and lines of skyscrapers to your fantasy novel cover. Think Batman taking on Gotham.
Develop a background and put your main point or character in the front.
You can also use a face that is close-up to tell some of your stories. Some witch book covers for urban fantasy book covers do this.
Urban fantasy book covers can also be developed by using sci-fi book covers and their ideas. Many fantasy tales go that way. For sci-fi, you illustrate the difference between our world and theirs on the book cover.
So you might have an urban skyline in the background, with a UFO hovering above it in a uniquely beautiful way. You want to evoke the image of the faraway land that exists in the contemporary one.
Design Your Fantasy Book Covers Today
This should serve as inspiration to launch your next exciting masterpiece – your fantasy book cover. Before you didn’t know where to start.
Now, you don’t know where to start. With so many ideas now, which one will you start with?
Try every technique and then tell us how you did.
One last thing, before you start, check out these tips on the worst fantasy book covers so that you know what techniques to avoid.
