choose one (1) best type of cover art for this children's fantasy series

(i *really* hate the font for the author's name in the first one)

voted 2

I like #3

3 is obviously the best but I will respect 2 as a choice.

who will step up for #4

3 easily, will respect 2 and 4. won't the pictures go away when the poll ends, or did that get fixed?

kinda sick of the aesthetic of 6 even if its heart's in the right place. the ersatz Victorian kid-lit vibe of 1 is fine but yah the letter-forms just take it WAY too far. 5 isn't even that bad style-wise but it's just such a boring image.

1 and 6 terrible modern nonsense.
2 and 4 charmingly inept.
5 boringly competent.
3 is the throwback goods.

I don't hate any of them but 3 is absolutely head and shoulders above the rest.

yeah that

3. The others are a bit too busy, except for 4 which doesn't give a strong enough idea of what the book's about. 6 might have won it for me if the text had been restricted to the author's name and the book title, with the latter in smaller text. The foreground to background composition is really nice though.

I feel I'm unfairly biased against 6 because it's in a style that is overexposed right now.

Pergaos this belief is out of fashion but I am leery of books with detailed illustrations of main characters. Tends to impair the reader's imagination.

Now that you don't have to construct in your head what that character looks like, the rest of your mental picture suffers by comparison. OR you have to consciously resist that image.

Same trouble as "now a major motion picture" covers where now you've got some actor in your head doing stuff, instead of having to do the work yourself.

So 5, 6, maaaybe 1.

4 is just a terrible composition, the style could be ok otherwise.

Cole Palmer in #2, MJ in #4. #3 will win this at a canter.

2-5 are good and I can't choose, I like them in different ways.

4 is just a terrible composition, the style could be ok otherwise.

― ledge

I've definitely seen a few books with this sort of style, and I can't get past the humans. It's far too uncanny valley for me. I actually love the general busy weird composition and the cat! But I don't want to look at that person, ever.

Joining the masses in voting #3 which is fantastic, but I’ll throw a little love to #5 for mostly nostalgia purposes, very evocative stylistically of countless covers from the 80s, puts me right back in my elementary school library

3 is a bit too pastichey for me. Yeah it's good pastiche but y'know

5 looks a bit AI but it's also probably my favourite depiction - has the most mystery and understatedness to it, and as Lavator implies there's pastiche going on here but it's not hamming it up. If I vote for it, it's cos I trust it couldn't be reapproximated by a bot

2 is good

4 has the best typography and the worst art

1 and 6 are dreck ofc

okay the art in 4 isn't worse than 1 and 6

Toss up between 2 and 3.

I quite like 5 in that it's ambiguous but also welcoming/foreboding. What is it about this rather ordinary entranceway that I need to know about?

1 and 6 definitely the worst. Something about the fonts and the cheapy Y2K aesthetics. 1 is mildly better.

No idea what is going on with 4. Makes me think of Tim Curry in the Worst Witch

Went with 2. It has this interesting retro stained glass feel that makes me want to read it whereas 3 looks very cool but more like a cheap sci fi novel

in fact I'd go as far as to say that if someone asked 'aesthetically speaking, why is the world bad', you could do worse than pointing at 1 and 6 here and saying 'everything is this now'

Voted 4 for its unflinching depiction of Christopher's craniodiaphyseal dysplasia.

tough choice between 3 and 4!

i think the art is better at 4, but i prefer 3 for a book cover, since i prefer not to have too-clear images of characters' faces on book art, especially for fantasy stuff

I asked my partner who's a little younger than me and would have been around the right age to read books like this c2000, and she picked 1! Eeewwww

Surprised there's not much love for 2. The bowl cut. The cat. It has a medieval old magic Puddle Lane charm to it and the font is very pleasing for me

I genuinely don't think there's anything wrong with 1 and 6 aside from the fact that the styles are trendy atm. We've seen those styles too much and they seem characterless to us, but the art itself is fine - I can see future generations being v nostalgic about books that look like these.

Oh for sure

It's definitely the aesthetic and the fonts I feel a bit biased against. The art itself is okay. I don't know of either of them really intrigue or tell me enough to want to read then though

2 and 4 are both awkward but also the most distinctive and memorable.

Lol DL i also asked my partner (who is in the kids team at the local library) and she was, like you, attracted by the bowl cut! She was giggling a bit tho.

Only just noticed but that cat's expression in #2 rules.

The cat's expression in #4 is great too!

Voted #3 - reminds me of this other DWJ:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/69/Cover_Of_Dogsbody.jpg

Soft spot for #2 and #4 which I own, and evocative of 80s Margaret Mahy covers.

I have a copy of #1, but it's my least favourite of these covers

The best type of cover for a children's fantasy series probably doesn't include a quote from Neil Gaiman these days.

I like the art on #1, somewhat Matt Wagneresque, but the typography is awful. 1 and 3 are my favorites probably.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

destroyed

More cover polls! Have there been many album cover polls?