Designing "spec" covers is an interesting project. Basically, you're making images which are the covers for books that haven't been written yet -- or, if they have been written, you don't know what they are!
The covers are "off the peg" artwork which is the answer to a prayer for writers who're self-marketing on a budget. They couldn't afford to get into the rarefied atmosphere where the big-time artists live, and would have a hard time affording the price of a commission even with a jobbing artist, like myself. (A commission involves a heck of a lot of work, and frequently demands props and so forth which have to be bought specially for the job. So commissions are usually double to triple the price of art that can be offered on an "off the peg" basis...)
But there's no reason "off the peg" covers, done on spec, can't be pretty. In fact, they can be halfway to astonishing.
Here are five which fall into the "erotic science fiction" bracket. I'm working on a suite of spec covers which spans abstract, inspirational, travel, spiritual, fantasy, science fiction, romance, and the ever-popular erotica. I won't bore you with pictures of flowers and landscapes and ocean waves ... but I thought you might enjoy something like this!
Jade, 10 June
