Hello! I’m dropping here with another cover. It’s for a request on WP but it seems a little bare (on the sides) and I find that it looks a little dull (PLEASE HELP, I have no motivation for this cover for some reason T^T):
Mood/Vibe: Dark, red, black, magical, mystical? (This is taken from the request)
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Erotic Romance (however a typography or an object-based cover was the request. if it was object-based, the requester asked for a necklace with ruby pendant + dagger )
Specific Questions: The main reason I wanted to drop this here was that I had no idea what to do with it, like what to add to make it feel less empty ( you know that feeling when it looks like the cover has too little stuff at the side ) so if you have any suggestions for this, feel free to tell me.
Or if you have any suggestions on how this cover could be redone, add those too. Thank you! 
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Mood/Vibe Fantastical, mysterious, interesting. Blues and greys.
Genre Epic Fantasy and Werewolf
Specific Questions* Nothing in particular would just like some feedback 
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First impression: That’s gorgeous! And I love that font. Ugh. The gold and red is so nice. But I get what you mean with the emptiness and not knowing what to do. I’ve had that 
To tackle that bothersome emptiness, here are two ideas I had:
Add fire sparks
How about some fire sparks?
Maybe something like this? (not my cover)
Add roses or vines
Another idea I have for the emptiness is roses or vines. Does the rose have to be white? The white rose is really standing out, but if the jewel and dagger is the centerpiece, what do you think about a different rose?
Not my cover, but this cover uses the red background like you did and while it is a little messy with the title (personally, a little hard to read for me. I like your version better), I think it gives you a sense of how to fill the empty space with golden roses and dark, vine-like things. Not sure if you can do gold. If not, maybe just add some dark brown branches with thorns around the objects to give contrast and make them stand out.
Think of it like you’re framing the objects in the middle. You already have the corner shadows in there. It needs some sort of border.
Here’s another one (not mine). While this one doesn’t have a dagger, maybe it’ll inspire you with the thorn vines.
You could add both if you want. If you do, probably focus on the vines more than the fire sparks. The fire sparks will be gently sprinkled in. For a little drama. A little spice 
Last little critique:
The jewel
If the jewel is the centerpiece, you might want to shade it’s background a little to give some contrast and make it stand out more. Right now it’s a little to matchy with the red background. Make it pop 
That’s the end of my critiques These are all suggestions not "have-to"s, so take it all with a grain of salt. Also, feel free to ask any questions if you need. And if you want, you can come back again with the same cover or a different one as many times as you like
Good luck on your cover and have fun with it
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First impression: What are you doing here? That’s a beautiful cover. I have nothing to say XD Well 
actually… 
I do have a few things now that I look at the genre. But it is a nicely put-together cover. Pat yourself on the back
Critique 1: Genre representation
Is this epic fantasy? The genre I get from this is, it’s probably werewolf. Maybe some fairytale whimsy, but not as magical as epic fantasy. But don’t worry, I have a suggestion which you can take if you want.
Adding sparkles suggestion
What do you think about adding a little more magic to the cover? Some sparkles, perhaps? This is an old cover of mine and the sparkles are a little bit much, but maybe something like this?
If you call my sparkles as giant, prominent sparkles, the ones that I think are good for your simplistic cover is finer, white sparkles. Tiny sparkles like the milky way, coming down from the fairy and going across the werewolf and disappearing off the right side of the cover near the author name.
Critique 2: The author name placement
And one last thing I have to say is to maybe move the author name up a tad. If you look at my covers in the first post of this thread, you’ll see the author name is a little bit higher than what you have. Professional cover creators have said this is the professional way and I can see why. It balances out the text placement on the cover.
That’s all I have for your cover It’s so pretty. I really didn’t have much to say. Take all my suggestions with a grain of salt. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. And you are more than welcome to come back with the new version or another cover any time and as many times as you want.
Good luck on your cover and have fun with it
Thank you for the lovely advice! I’ll see what I can do and then show you the final product ( if you don’t mind ).
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You’re welcome And you can come back with as many versions as you want.
After much consideration, this is what I’ve decided to settle on. It’s not necessarily perfect, but I think I’m pretty satisfied with this version. I’m just dropping this to ask for your impression of this cover, critiques if any, etc.
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As someone who just stalks this thread for the pretty graphics. This is a much better version in my opinion and I’d love to read this book based on the cover. 
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It’s so beautiful! 
The darker background really highlights the middle dagger and ruby. I love how it gives this mysterious, magical vibe.
I have to go to bed now, so I’ll return with anything else tomorrow. I might have something to say, but I might just also be tired 
See you later.
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Yes, do stalk. There’s lots of great creations coming in here
So, I have nothing else to add. I think you did a really good job!
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I’m back with this cover now revised. I decided on lighter shadows but I guess there is now an obvious direction for the lighting so I put them side by side for comparison. The bright tone of the second cover is a little muted and looks more greyish btw.
I didn’t want the cover to look overly dark or overly bright so I just decided to keep the opacity of the lighting down so that it looks more pleasing to the eye ( since the original concept for this cover was to not have something that had a high contrast as the previous covers. designed for this book had ).
I also added blood to the hand that is holding the sword although it isn’t too noticeable so I wanted to ask what you thought of it. I didn’t want to find another hand stock that resembles the one in that drawing you showed me so that’s why the blood is there.
Also, there’s a name change for the book so I kind of had to change a few things like shifting the sword + hand just slightly to the left.
A few things I’d like to know: your first impression, the typography, the mood, and anything else worth noting.
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First impression:
Be prepared!
The light on her face looks natural and I think you got what it means to have a light source 
The sword handle by her face needs shadow on the left half. The rest of it looks great! But I have no idea what it says. Slay All EvlB? EVLD? EVIB EVID?
I do actually like the tagline of the previous one because it reveals something about the story and isn’t generic, not that generic is bad. But that’s just my thought that has nothing to do with design Take with a grain of salt.
So, let me say, I think the lighting looks beautiful especially on the sword. And that light source on her face, well done! 
You totally got it.
Now to break down my First Impressions into further critiques…
About the sword
As I said in my First Impression, it needs shadow on the top handle part on the left side to match with how the shadows are on the rest of it. Looks a bit odd right now, but an easy fix
About the blood
I didn’t notice it until I started staring at the title, but I think it’s fine. You don’t want it to stick out too much like some horror cover. It’s a nice touch, I think.
About the title design
As for the title, I said it bluntly in my First Impression, but I have no idea what it says It’s pretty, but I can’t read the last word and even pausing on it doesn’t help for figuring it out. I’m guessing that it’s Slay All Evil? But because the last letter is so swirly it looks like it’s EVLD or EVLB or EVLP.
stares really hard Hold on…is it backwards? Is it a backwards “L”? Is that it? Because the, what I’m assuming is the “I” and “L” are so close together unlike the other letters, it looks like it’s supposed to be something else. You should probably flip it and move that extra swirl somewhere else.
Anyway, I would say a few little fixes and your cover is good to go
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First off, thank you for the advice, it’s always so helpful!
Second, about this:
I had no idea that the flipped ‘L’ on the word ‘Evil’ would actually look like a ‘B’ lol, gotta fix that somehow. Thank you for pointing that out. As for the tagline, I was considering whether to keep the old one or use the new one or change it to a different one. I guess I might change it back lol.
Third, I will work on the shadow on the sword. Still not all great at the lighting and didn’t really catch on to this mistake lol.
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Okay, so revised vers:
I think there’s a visible shadow for the left side of the sword hilt that wasn’t there before (?) so I think I’ve nailed the lighting part. And I’ve revised the typography and layout of the title so there shouldn’t be any legibility issues now. Is there anything else worth noting that I might’ve missed?
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Nothing missing! It’s beautiful!
And you’ll get a hang of lighting with practice
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Hello! I’m back again with a pair of covers!
I thought I would drop them here to ask if you think they look matching enough and also for your impressions of this. I decided to go with a blue-green, black and white color palette for them:
Tysm!
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Those are gorgeous!
Aaand, here are three little pointers Take from it whatever you want, of course. Ask any questions.
Text Spotlight
The darker one, the text is a little hard to read. If you are going for a pair of covers that go together, what do you think about making the text a little more brighter? Maybe add more of a white light kind of glow behind it? There is a little spotlight so maybe just make that a little brighter?
Contrast for the Dark One
Also, if the white marble one is dark green on white, what about making the decorations on the dark one the same kind of glassy see-through look? It’ll give some good contrast I think. Make the decorations pop more.
Text Readability
Idk if you need to know this but a little hard to read: Sea Glass and… Uhm Lode Star? If that’s actually what it says, then don’t worry about it.
And that’s all I have for you
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