Fantasy Cover Evolution

Contrary to the oft-uttered phrase, you can sometimes tell a lot about the book you’re picking up based on the cover. For one thing, you might be able to guess at the genre. You may also have some idea of when the book was published. Over the last fifty years or so, book cover art has changed a lot. This is true across a wide mix of genres. A few years ago, we published a retrospective on the evolution of romance cover art. With the recent news that mass market paperbacks are facing extinction, we've decided to look into the cover art evolution of a few more of our favorite genres.

The origin story 

The roots of the fantasy genre can be seen in ancient myths and fairy tales from every culture throughout the world. But the modern fantasy literary genre started gaining a foothold in the early 20th century.

In 1937, J. R. R. Tolkien published The Hobbit to critical and popular acclaim. This novel was one of the first of its kind—a fantasy epic that imagined a wholly new world populated by a variety of fictional species, magical powers, and even complete languages. As with many of the multitalented author's subsequent works, the cover of this novel was graced by his own iconic artwork. His original design has informed many of the subsequent covers and a faithful reproduction of it was used for this 75th Anniversary edition.  

The rise of the mass market paperback 

The popularity of Tolkien's book is often credited with inspiring the modern fantasy genre, which has absolutely exploded in recent decades. This boom in sci-fi and fantasy fiction goes hand in hand with a revolution in bookselling—the mass market paperback. In 1939, Robert deGraff launched pocket books, small, cheaply produced paperbacks that were easy to take everywhere. It was a total game changer.

The popularity of these lightweight, inexpensive books surprised literary snobs who initially saw them as a vehicle for nothing but pulp fiction. Soon books were being sold alongside newspapers and magazines in drug stores, airports, and bodegas. Within a few decades, a mass market paperback was an essential edition for any major publication and these 4x7-inch covers became an essential canvas for publishing house art directors who wanted to attract new readers.

Abstract surrealism in 1960s and '70s cover art

In the 1960s and '70s, as the fantasy genre crossed over from niche to mainstream, publishing houses invested heavily in cover art that would stand out on the racks of mass market paperbacks found in airports, corner stores, and newsstands. 

The cover art for fantasy books from this era often had a surreal abstract style. There was a trippy, fever-dream quality to the artwork. Sometimes the images didn't seem to have much to do with the book, leaving them open to interpretation. This may have had something to do with the fact that the artists hadn't always read the books they were designing for.

Published in 1963, the mass market paperback of Hugo Award winner A Case of Conscience by James Blish features art from surrealist painter Max Ernst that seems to resemble the alien landscape described in the book.

In addition to the painterly style that was commonly favored, many of the cover artists of this time were known for using unconventional mixed media techniques like collage and woodcut prints. Here are some memorable fantasy covers from this era:

• The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander—art by Evaline Ness (1963 edition)
• Witch World by Andre Norton—art by H. Breslow (1963 edition)
• Nine Hundred Grandmothers by A. Lafferty—art by Diane and Leo Dillon (1970 edition)
• Timepivot by Brian N. Ball—art by Tom Adams (1970 edition)
• The Waters of Centaurus by Rosel George Brown—art by Gene Szafran (1970 edition)
• Bloodstone by Karl Edward Wagner—art by Frank Frazetta (1975 edition)
• Nine Princes in Amber by Roger Zelazny—art by Tim White (1977 edition)
• The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks—art by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt, aka the Brothers Hildebrandt (1977 edition)
• The White Dragon by Anne McCaffrey—art by Michael Whelan (1978 edition)

Epic drama of the 1980s

The Star Wars franchise was launched in 1977, firmly entrenching speculative entertainment into the mainstream media landscape. During the boom that followed—sometimes referred to as "The Star Wars Shift"—the cover art of science-fiction and fantasy novels took on a higher level of realistic detail. Artists were commissioned to create vibrant oil paintings depicting scenes from the stories.

Popular covers of the time gravitated toward dramatic scenes involving ferocious dragons, sword-wielding warriors, and cloaked wizards—often evoking a medieval style. From the colors to the fonts to the epic scenes, these tableaus employ an ornate, vibrant grandeur designed to attract a growing segment of teens obsessed with computer games, space operas, and world-building via role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons. Here are some great examples of this era's covers:

• The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe—art by Don Maitz (1980 edition)
• The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley—art by Braldt Bralds (1982 edition)
• The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett—art by Josh Kirby (1983 edition)
• The Sleeping Dragon by Joel Rosenberg—art by Darrell K. Sweet (1983 edition)
• The Black Company by Glen Cook—art by Keith Berdak (1984 edition)
• Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly—art by Michael Whelan (1985 edition)
• Dragons of the Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman—art by Larry Elmore (1985 edition)
• The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley—art by Kinuko Y. Craft (1986 edition)
• Sheepfarmer's Daughter by Elizabeth Moon—art by Ken W. Kelly (1988 edition)
• The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge—art by Michael Whelan (1989 edition)

Michael Whelan gets his own section!

Over the last five decades, Michael Whelan has been the artist behind some of the most compelling covers of contemporary fantasy. His paintings have appeared on the covers of more than 350 books and magazines. His work was instrumental in the transition from the abstract surrealism of the '60s and '70s to a more realistic style that accurately reflects the book's story. When commissioned, Whelan has said he made a practice of reading the entire book that he sought to illustrate, usually twice. "I try to let the book I'm illustrating determine the approach and subject matter."

Adding to covers in previous sections, here are a few more of Whelan's memorable covers:

• Stormbringer (1977 edition) by Michael Moorcock
• Crystal Singer (1982 edition) by Anne McCaffrey—Whelan cites his 1978 cover of McCaffrey's The White Dragon as a turning point in his career.
• The Gunslinger (1988 edition) by Stephen King —Whelan says he modeled this image of King's protagonist, Roland, after the author.
• Illusion (1992 edition) by Paula Volsky
• This Alien Shore (1998 edition) by C. S. Friedman
• The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (2010 edition)—Sanderson has credited Whelan's cover art for Barbara Hambly's Dragonsbane (1985 edition) as what attracted him to fantasy literature in the first place.

1990s

Many of the eighties trends of fantasy cover art continued into the 1990s including an old-world style and epic grandeur as in the original cover of Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, another cover by Darrell K. Sweet.

As the decade progressed, the popular cover art style grew less realistic and began to take on a more stylized, graphic quality as exemplified by the 1997 cover art of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by  (artist Mary GrandPré). Another gorgeous example of this is 1995's Sabriel by Garth Nix, which was designed by veteran cover artist Leo and Diane Dillon.

Another notable trend of this decade was an uptick in computer-generated digital art as technological capabilities progressed rapidly. David Mattingly is the artist behind the YA Animorphs series, creating surreal, haunting images like the 1997 cover of The Stranger by K. A. Applegate.  

2000s to today

These days fantasy literature is more popular than ever reaching a wider swath of the population. As we entered our current era of online shopping and eBooks, book production companies began to focus more on simpler, stylistic cover designs and larger text so that titles and images popped in a digital format. Here are some of the 21st-century cover designs that we love. As you can see, the types of artwork represented are varied and beautiful, from bold graphic designs to evocative painterly scenes. 

• Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris—art by Lisa Desimini (2001 edition)
• The Thousand Orcs by R. A. Salvatore—art by Todd Lockwood (2002 edition)
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini—art by John Jude Palencar (2002 edition)
• Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson—art by Jon Foster (2006 edition)
• The Stone Sky by N. K. Jemisin—art by Lauren Panepinto (2017 edition)
• Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James—art by Pablo Gerardo Camacho (2019 edition)
• The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon—art by Ivan Belikov (2019 edition)
• The Burning God by F. Kuang—art by Jung Shan Chang (2020 edition)
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow—art by Rovina Cai (2020 edition)
• The Book That Wouldn't Burn by Mark Lawrence—art by Tom Roberts (2021 edition)
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty—art by Ivan Belikov (2022 edition)

We’ve had a blast unpacking the details of the fantasy cover evolution. We hope you've enjoyed it too! We're looking forward to adding to the series in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned for the cover art evolution of mystery and science fiction literature.

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Read more by Ashly Moore Sheldon