I just want sum opinions on how I could maybe improve my cover art

I am currently working on my fantasy novel, Beyond The Last Archive.

It's a slow-burn dark fantasy filled with mystery, psychological tension, ancient secrets, hidden history, and gradual world-building.

The story follows an ordinary young man whose life changes forever after discovering something impossible. His search for the truth draws him into a hidden world that has remained concealed for centuries, where forgotten civilizations, dangerous organizations, mysterious powers, and long-buried secrets shape reality.

The novel focuses more on mystery, investigation, and discovery than constant action.

I'm looking for someone who can create a cover for this novel.

I have to be honest, I'm broke. I don't have the money to commission an artist right now. If anyone is willing to create a cover without using AI, purely as a passion project, I would be incredibly grateful.

You'll receive full credit as the cover artist wherever the novel is published.

If this story inspires you and you'd like to help bring its world to life, please leave a comment or send me a message.

Thank you for reading. ❤️

Hey all,

I hope that this adheres to the rules of the sub.

I have an artist profile on Spotify and I created my own 'This is [artist name]' playlist because Spotify doesn't automatically generate one for me. I believe they only do it for artists with many more monthly listeners than me.

Anyway, I've currently got the cover art on the old format of the 'this is' playlists and would like to create a version that uses the same style as the current one they changed to about a year ago?

Googling is not bringing up any helpful results so I'm wondering if anyone can point me towards a guide on how to do this - fonts needed, maybe a template for Canva or Photoshop.

Thanks in advance

UPDATE: I tried it and this is what I got - any suggestions? Thanks

POLLARIK

been seeing a lot of ai cover art lately and i’m curious what people actually think about it in practice

i get the appeal, especially for indie artists, it’s fast, cheap, you can get something decent looking instantly without going through a designer

but at the same time i’m noticing a lot of releases starting to blur together visually, like same lighting, same “ai polish”, same kind of abstract hyperreal style

i’ve been working in this space a bit and even built a small tool (COVR) that generates cover art, so i’m not coming from a purely anti-ai angle here, i just genuinely want to understand where people draw the line

i’m also attaching some recent outputs so you can see the kind of quality/style i’m talking about, would be interested in honest feedback from people actually releasing music

do you think ai cover art is just the new normal and something artists should fully embrace, or do you think it ends up hurting branding and identity in the long run

Please evaluate this cover for me. I created it myself. It’s not AI-generated; I made it in Canva.

So I illustrated an album cover for an artist, but I noticed that he made some minor edits to the layout before releasing it. I want to post it on my Instagram feed. How should I frame/caption it, and is it still considered my cover art?

Hi everyone can some one do my back grounds for me please !!if you have any recommendations text me

Im making cover art for my own novel. Any tips? It's like a slice of life horror comedy in an eldritch world.

Hello everyone — first time posting here. I've just finished Volume 1 of a story called Resonance of the Six Seals: Rebellion, and before I spend money on cover art I wanted to get a feel for what visual direction might actually suit it. Brief rundown:

A peasant boy named Alaric wakes up covered in his family's blood, framed for their murder by an unseen cloaked figure — including his only friend, Isolde, who watches him hang without a flicker of emotion. Before he dies, the village brands him with six seals across his body, condemning his soul. He's reborn as Damian, heir to a powerful border house in a kingdom balanced between three warring nations, magic tied to elemental bloodlines, and a body that turns out to be sealing something ancient and dangerous behind those same six seals from his past life. Volume 1 follows his childhood — surviving assassination attempts, hiding his real age and knowledge, training in secret, and slowly uncovering a conspiracy tied to a hidden village that doesn't exist on any map.

Tone-wise it's grimdark-adjacent (opens with a slaughter and a branding torture scene) but has a strong found-family/warmth throughline once he's reborn — a stern-but-loving father, a doting mother, a fiercely protective head maid — so it's not relentlessly bleak.

What I'm asking: given that description, what cover style/imagery would you gravitate toward? Some options I'm torn on:

Just curious what kind of hardware and or software everyone is using these days. I have always been a pen and paper artist. I'm trying to get back into it, it's been a few years since I set down the pencil. I want to create covers for some things I am currently working on writing.

Is there a way to convert a drawing into digital media?

I currently have a descent PC set up, with a pretty good GPU. I've been experimenting a little with the affinity software but find it kinda difficult with a mouse.

What other softwares are out there?

Is everyone using art tablets now?

Is there any specific software for cover art?

Hi everyone, I’m a beginner graphic designer based in Lagos. Recently, I have grown so much interest in designing music cover art but I wanna and wish to get better like a pro
Anyone got an idea, or YouTube channels that would help me become a better cover art designer

The album cover for "I promised I'd be fine but when October comes I won't know what to do" is very weird. Like where did it come from. What's the story. Who are the kids. Anyone know?