I’m teaching myself digital art so I can illustrate my own dark fantasy cover. Would love some advice!
I’m working on a dark fantasy webnovel called Beloved Dawn, and I’ve decided I want to create the final cover artwork myself.
I’m still learning digital art and using Krita, so this is going to be a project... I’ve been collecting published covers that I love to study their composition, use of color, typography, and how they communicate “dark fantasy” without becoming visually overwhelming.
My story deals heavily with identity, trauma, manipulation, racism, abuse, and autonomy, so I want something beautiful and almost fairytale-like at first glance, but with an unsettling quality underneath.
For artists and cover designers: what would you recommend I pay particular attention to while designing it? Composition? Value? Typography? Thumbnail readability? Anything you wish you'd known when you started?
I'm not looking to copy any of these covers, just studying what makes them effective.
Update 1! I started sketching! It looks horrible, but you can find the rough sketch here! If it's not working, let me know... im still learning reddit.
update