I did the covers for my two current stories. It was so much effort at one point, that if I had the money, I'd hire a professional.
Sketching, inking and scanning was the easy part. Trying different colors, textures and filters was exhausting to the point I was struggling to finish them. By the time I had to test hundreds of fonts my mental strength was gone. Still, I'm satisfied with the result, though next time I'll do something easier. But I'm crazy, so maybe next time I'll torture myself with something more complex.

Wow, you put a lot of work into them. That's a +rep from me. I put together my cover, but I didn't make the image. Instead, I used Shutterstock to license a royalty free image, from there I went and altered the image by using filters, adding text, adjusting the text, etc. All told it probably took about 2-3 hours. (Not counting the time I spent looking for the RIGHT image. Imo, I don't really know how long I spent looking in their database.)

After a couple of iterations, I ended with what I did, and I think it's fine for this story. But I'm right there with you- hiring a professional to put together an e-book cover from scratch is definitely worth it, especially since you get the copyright license for it. 

However, sometimes it can be a little pricy. If you were to self-pub to amazon though, I'd say it would be worth it, since a better cover just ups the chance of remaking your out of pocket costs and maybe a profit. 

I hired a group that does professional cover designs. Even if I wanted to design my own covers, I'm neither an artist nor a designer. Plus, I wanted something that would fit in with published novels on Amazon.

I did my covers in Photoshop. They're a mixture of Shutterstock images and pictures I put together. I really enjoyed putting them together. Your cover came out very well. I'd say it was well worth the effort you put into it.

Wow, those covers are really awesome Moctemma! I wish I could rep you more than just 1 point for those. 

I did my cover as well as covers for these great people:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/32090/righteous-sovereign-shameless-rogue
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31281/where-is-my-head-haro
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/34443/eightfold-invasion

I had a great time doing it and when I have a bit of free time, I'll offer my services again. I know how difficult it is to draw everything by hand. I used photomanipulation heavily on all pieces but still had to re-draw and color many by hand (I am liking at you, Eightfold Invasion xD). Naturally, I would be very happy to have a professional do my cover, but for now, my creation does the job well enough. 

I put together my own, was a half fun experience, and fiddled up a lot of (better) illustrations and sketches for characters, so on, that I don't share here as it requires posting to an intermediary open art server and I don't want to free-board my work in that way.  Not great cover art, or my best examples, but good enough to cover the nakedness of the manuscripts to spec.  I'll say worth every penny you paid to see it, as appropriate. On the other hand, I'm not here to further my background in commercial art, or practice that,  but to post my writing. If the writing ever succeeds in capturing a contract somehow, Ill let the publisher create his own, as is usually the case.

Maybe something by Hildebrand. I like Hildebrand.

Ariana Wrote: I did my cover as well as covers for these great people:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/32090/righteous-sovereign-shameless-rogue
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/31281/where-is-my-head-haro
https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/34443/eightfold-invasion

I had a great time doing it and when I have a bit of free time, I'll offer my services again. I know how difficult it is to draw everything by hand. I used photomanipulation heavily on all pieces but still had to re-draw and color many by hand (I am liking at you, Eightfold Invasion xD). Naturally, I would be very happy to have a professional do my cover, but for now, my creation does the job well enough.

Nice covers

I make my own covers but I paid someone to do the title design.


Here is my first chapter cover.



Then second chapter 

As of recent, I've been drawing all of my own covers since, well, it's pretty easy and quick. I used to only do it for the fics I actually put time into, but now that I put time and effort into all of my fics, all of my recent stories have covers. The most fun aspect of doing your own covers is being able to change them however often you want. I had a fic a few months ago where every time the main character evolved, the cover would change to fit their current evolution. It was really fun, and it really let me design my characters, but the downside was that my readers couldn't easily find the old covers and see what the old evolutions looked like. 

...Now that I think about it, the fic I had before that one also had art that did that. But drawing that guy had been much harder and I put hours of effort into it, heh. I only changed it once, though I had planned to change it again. 

Really, I just love drawing covers. It's fun! Sometime, I should probably advertise my services...

I draw my own covers. It's just easier for me to do with the hardest part is always the lettering. The drawing and coloring the enjoyable parts.

It shouldn't be so hard and yet it is. I can spend hours trying to get the color and size of the typeset correct to the point it's often irritating than fun.
I've never offered my abilities to anyone else. I'm not a fast enough artist to do commissions.

I did my cover. It barely counts as an illustration since it's mostly graphic design. I decided on that approach considering the small size a cover would be seen on RR. If there was a chance the cover would ever been seen at a larger size I'd probably break down and do a properly painted illustration.

I do all my own covers, mostly photomanipulation from free stock images with some minor paintover and heavy focus on font and layout. I have done a few for others as well, but it's a lot harder to get the feel of a story from a description than when it's so intimately mine so i haven't had as much luck with that.
Someday, if I ever start making money as a writer, I'll have to hire someone to make proper ones, but that's surely a long way off.

Asviloka Wrote: I do all my own covers, mostly photomanipulation from free stock images with some minor paintover and heavy focus on font and layout. I have done a few for others as well, but it's a lot harder to get the feel of a story from a description than when it's so intimately mine so i haven't had as much luck with that.
Someday, if I ever start making money as a writer, I'll have to hire someone to make proper ones, but that's surely a long way off.

I'm impressed by how good your choice of fonts is.

Moctemma Wrote: I'm impressed by how good your choice of fonts is.

Thank you! I've spent years honing my font-selecting skills in hopes of one day becoming a font-choosing master! So far, I'm only a purple belt font-picker, but I hope to attain the elusive platinum someday!

I did both my covers in photoshop; you can find them both in my signature. I'm just a lowly amateur, but I think I've improved with the newest one.

I've put together another cover since my first post here, with a lotta help from Asviloka in the art direction. I'll just throw out here too. 

ZachSkye Wrote: I've put together another cover since my first post here, with a lotta help from Asviloka in the art direction. I'll just throw out here too. 

I love the texture.

Sometimes I just come up with a book tittle and edit a free stock photo until it looks like something cool. No writing or story involved. Most are really simple but I like simple covers more than big complex ones. 

then when I want to write something or I already have written something and I need a cover for it I just go back to all the work I've done and pick one that would fit.

ahem... sometimes it works... but sometimes the book and tittle don't fit anything I have so I have to settle. like the book I've posted on this site. I might like simple covers but not so simple they look bland. 

I would make up something better for it... but I don't have the inspiration I need right now. 


still I take pride in the Great covers I have made, they are sort of like my art. Some of them look top notch. And whenever i look at them i get this feeling in my stomach that i need to write the novel that this cover is for.

I use royalty-free pictures and this site to edit them. It has enough font options to do pretty much anything I want, and the editing tools are cool.