yes but they are so damned purty!! sci-fi jacket design is in an sad state right now i think. many are either extremely ugly (i.e. newer p.k. dick covers, yikes!), craftless, seeming like a dime store afterthought (stephen baxter, robert sawyer, sterling, etc) or just poor imitations of the classic "heinlein-esque" stuff (dan simmons, etc). there are certainly some goodies out there, don't get me wrong. jeff vandermeer, new editions of lem, even those stark new delaney covers are somehow satisfying. it just seems like in most cases the overriding design concept is "make it look cheap" which is odd considering how jacket concept quality overall seems to have improved elsewhere. but hey, that's just the excitable graphic designer within me speaking. good post MrB.
Comments
I love these old school covers and illustrations. Thanks!
Posted by: orangeguru | February 5, 2005 10:10 AM
You're welcome. I like the way that the cover illustrations typically have absolutely nothing to do with what's inside the book.
Posted by: MrBaliHai | February 5, 2005 6:43 PM
yes but they are so damned purty!! sci-fi jacket design is in an sad state right now i think. many are either extremely ugly (i.e. newer p.k. dick covers, yikes!), craftless, seeming like a dime store afterthought (stephen baxter, robert sawyer, sterling, etc) or just poor imitations of the classic "heinlein-esque" stuff (dan simmons, etc). there are certainly some goodies out there, don't get me wrong. jeff vandermeer, new editions of lem, even those stark new delaney covers are somehow satisfying. it just seems like in most cases the overriding design concept is "make it look cheap" which is odd considering how jacket concept quality overall seems to have improved elsewhere. but hey, that's just the excitable graphic designer within me speaking. good post MrB.
Posted by: Jaime | February 6, 2005 9:43 AM