Book Cover Illustration

Why Hire Me for Your Book Cover Artwork?

There are many book cover illustrators, but here’s why you should hire me to Illustrate your cover:

• I’m not just an illustrator, but I’m also a qualified graphic designer with over two decades of experience, so your book cover will also have beautiful typography, and be made correctly for digital and print.
• I’m a real illustrator which means that I actually physically paint and draw instead of using AI. I never use AI for any part of the process and you should not pay anyone for AI generated artwork because it is not even copyrightable, and is immediately recognisable to most artists and the younger generation. If your cover is AI, then people assume the text therein is also AI, and nobody wants to read AI slop.
• As a free added extra, I’ll also give you a 3D mockup of your book, so you can start marketing it even before you’ve received print copies. Example:

Book Cover Illustration Process

I break up my cover designing process into the following steps:

1. Book Cover Consult
   Before I start illustrating and designing, we’ll discuss your vision for the cover art. I’ll need descriptions of characters or scenes that need to appear on the cover and any reference pictures you feel are important. I’ll also need to know your stylistic preferences for the cover art, your book’s target market, and the dimensions of the book. I can assist with the later if you’re not sure how to work that out. Some authors supply reference photos and mood boards, while other authors just provide a text description of what they want. Either way, I will work around what you have.
2. Book Cover Rough Draft
   After I have the information, I’ll paint a rough sketch along with cover typography, and send it through to you for feedback. You might be happy for me to proceed, or you might need some alterations before you approve the sketch. There is no limit to the number of revisions you can request, so long as we are going forward and not in circles.
3. Book Cover Polished Version
   After sketch approval, I’ll paint the detailed version and I’ll also polish the cover typography. It’s usually at this point that the author also provides me with the blurb for the back cover, unless it’s an ebook, which doesn’t have a back cover. If a paperback or hard cover, this version will also contain the full cover, which I’ll send to you for feedback. If it is a complex scene, I will send regular progress updates to make sure the cover is still going in the right direction. At this point there should only be minor alterations, but again I don’t limit the number of changes so long as we are making progress. I don’t want you to merely like your cover art. I want you to love it.
4. Book Cover Finalization
   After approval of the polished version, I’ll provide the you with the book cover file/s in the appropriate sizes and formats needed by the publisher or publishing platform. I’ll also provide you with a high res version (in case you need posters printed). As an added bonus, my husband, who is a 3D artist, will also provide a 3D mockup of the cover applied to paperbacks &/ e-readers for marketing purposes.

Book Cover Copyright Information

I keep my terms very simple and easy to understand:

• You may print/reproduce the illustration for personal/commercial purposes, with exception of:
  • You may not use the illustrations as training material for generative AI.
  • You may not credit yourself/someone other than me (Roxane Lapa) as the original artist.
  • You may not resell the artwork (example: stock art / part of an asset bundle).
• Please credit me, Roxane Lapa, as the cover artist. You can do this within the book or list me as the illustrator on your book’s sales pages, or the book’s GoodReads.com page.
• I may use the design/illustration as part of my portfolio, but will also include a link to your sales page wherever possible.