David Moody is a force. He originally self published this novel, determined to get it out. Later, the book was picked up not only by a publisher, but also by Guillermo Del Toro, the director of the Hellboy movies and the forth coming The Hobbit.
The story follows a blue collar working man trying to protect his family amidst a breakout of a mysterious violent impulse. Those that catch the condition are dubbed 'haters' and wander the streets preforming random acts of violence against anyone and everyone. It's somewhere between the apocalyptic zombie rage thriller 28 days later and the amoral vigilantism of Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men.
In the same do-it-all-yourself attitude that got this book into mass-distribution, David Moody went ahead and designed the cover himself as well. The splattered blood typography is expected, but the perfect execution is not, especially coming from the author himself. The incomplete letter A in the title, the delicate scratched feel to the author's name — it all works really well. The only area this design suffers is in the treatment of the cover lines, and probably in the production. It could have benefited from a matte finish with a light gloss over the blood. But overall, this is impressive, and the raw ability of the author to push his work toward excellence makes me want to read it.
It's not perfect, but it has a lot of charm alright.
Aside from the contrast and saturation disparities (drifting from crimson, to fire engine, to Persian red in various spots), it would benefit from a more uniform drip and text treatment. I'd like to see a version with the "novel" and by line text matching the title, for example. I made a similar blood-drip cover in college and I used both original and stock images in one space. The outcome was not ideal, for one could tell the differences between the separate sources.
Still, the Dexter feel this cover conveys is exciting. Reminds me of the back, spine, and flap of Stephen King's Everything's Eventual.
geez. I wish more authors did this. It would save me a hell of a lot of trouble.
—
Anonymous Coward
, 2009-08-02 17:34:21 -0400
The typography in this book not only displays the appropriate information. But also works as in image. The emphasise is put on the book title and not the author as in some covers designs it is. I think overall the cover works really well. It clearly displays the book title and strongly represents what the book is about. The title appear to written in blood splatters and displays the word “hater”, I very powerful image. The vibrant red not only jumps off the clean white background but also suggests something very sinister, enticing the viewer to pick up the book and find out where and who’s blood it is.
Wow! Thanks for the positive comments about the HATER cover. I really appreciate it. It was one of those rare occasions when everything fell into place - the concept and execution came together surprisingly quickly.
The US cover is an enhanced version of the design I originally put together for my self-published version of the book in 2006. I'm no artist, so I went for something simple, striking and easy to execute.
If anyone's interested, I've put a piece on my website today (www.djmoody.co.uk) about the genesis of the cover and how some of the other publishers of the book around the world have approached the design of their editions of HATER.
Dave covers the development of the cover of his book along a few international version on his blog. They all stray pretty far from the original design, but the Polish one is interesting. They replicated the design direction, although it isn't as elegant as Dave's original — it feels a little more finger-paint and less aggressive. Interesting to see a cover concept ported over to another language where the execution required that the whole thing be done over from scratch.
No offense to you Mr. Moody but this looks like a poor imitation of Ralph Steadman.
—
, 2009-08-21 09:05:21 -0400
Even if this was an amateur designer's work, it is still interesting. Definitely reminds me of abstract expressionism.
To be more engaging, the composition could activate the edges of the cover more by bleeding more off the edges. This is were the designer who "enhanced" the cover, could have brought some of their skills.
And the "Guillermo Del Toro" text is way too tight all around. On the other hand, that text could interact even more aggressively with the blood, but the publisher would probably have "Readability Issues". It looks like Helvetica Condensed Bold. That seems like a growing design trend on quote/review text (that is getting tired).
It looks too much like paint for my taste. If the red was all the same hue, it would be more convincing as blood. If the book was about an artist, I wouldn't mind. As for the author name having a different look that the title, I don't mind it. I actually like the contrast in style.
As for the overall cover. It would get my attention on the bookshelf. Well done!
Hater
David Moody is a force. He originally self published this novel, determined to get it out. Later, the book was picked up not only by a publisher, but also by Guillermo Del Toro, the director of the Hellboy movies and the forth coming The Hobbit.
The story follows a blue collar working man trying to protect his family amidst a breakout of a mysterious violent impulse. Those that catch the condition are dubbed 'haters' and wander the streets preforming random acts of violence against anyone and everyone. It's somewhere between the apocalyptic zombie rage thriller 28 days later and the amoral vigilantism of Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men.
In the same do-it-all-yourself attitude that got this book into mass-distribution, David Moody went ahead and designed the cover himself as well. The splattered blood typography is expected, but the perfect execution is not, especially coming from the author himself. The incomplete letter A in the title, the delicate scratched feel to the author's name — it all works really well. The only area this design suffers is in the treatment of the cover lines, and probably in the production. It could have benefited from a matte finish with a light gloss over the blood. But overall, this is impressive, and the raw ability of the author to push his work toward excellence makes me want to read it.
— Fwis , 2009-08-01 16:54:48 -0400
Congrats to Mr. Moody.
It's not perfect, but it has a lot of charm alright.
Aside from the contrast and saturation disparities (drifting from crimson, to fire engine, to Persian red in various spots), it would benefit from a more uniform drip and text treatment. I'd like to see a version with the "novel" and by line text matching the title, for example. I made a similar blood-drip cover in college and I used both original and stock images in one space. The outcome was not ideal, for one could tell the differences between the separate sources.
Still, the Dexter feel this cover conveys is exciting. Reminds me of the back, spine, and flap of Stephen King's Everything's Eventual.
— Chad , 2009-08-02 09:28:14 -0400
geez. I wish more authors did this. It would save me a hell of a lot of trouble.
— Anonymous Coward , 2009-08-02 17:34:21 -0400
The typography in this book not only displays the appropriate information. But also works as in image. The emphasise is put on the book title and not the author as in some covers designs it is. I think overall the cover works really well. It clearly displays the book title and strongly represents what the book is about. The title appear to written in blood splatters and displays the word “hater”, I very powerful image. The vibrant red not only jumps off the clean white background but also suggests something very sinister, enticing the viewer to pick up the book and find out where and who’s blood it is.
— Anonymous Coward , 2009-08-02 21:12:42 -0400
Here is the cover of the UK release. I am definitely a fan of the US version myself.
— Fwis, 2009-08-03 10:46:48 -0400
Wow! Thanks for the positive comments about the HATER cover. I really appreciate it. It was one of those rare occasions when everything fell into place - the concept and execution came together surprisingly quickly.
The US cover is an enhanced version of the design I originally put together for my self-published version of the book in 2006. I'm no artist, so I went for something simple, striking and easy to execute.
If anyone's interested, I've put a piece on my website today (www.djmoody.co.uk) about the genesis of the cover and how some of the other publishers of the book around the world have approached the design of their editions of HATER.
Thanks again for the positive comments.
— David Moody , 2009-08-03 11:19:16 -0400
Dave covers the development of the cover of his book along a few international version on his blog. They all stray pretty far from the original design, but the Polish one is interesting. They replicated the design direction, although it isn't as elegant as Dave's original — it feels a little more finger-paint and less aggressive. Interesting to see a cover concept ported over to another language where the execution required that the whole thing be done over from scratch.
Check out the Polish cover here.
— Fwis, 2009-08-06 15:04:41 -0400
No offense to you Mr. Moody but this looks like a poor imitation of Ralph Steadman.
— , 2009-08-21 09:05:21 -0400
Even if this was an amateur designer's work, it is still interesting. Definitely reminds me of abstract expressionism.
To be more engaging, the composition could activate the edges of the cover more by bleeding more off the edges. This is were the designer who "enhanced" the cover, could have brought some of their skills.
And the "Guillermo Del Toro" text is way too tight all around. On the other hand, that text could interact even more aggressively with the blood, but the publisher would probably have "Readability Issues". It looks like Helvetica Condensed Bold. That seems like a growing design trend on quote/review text (that is getting tired).
It looks too much like paint for my taste. If the red was all the same hue, it would be more convincing as blood. If the book was about an artist, I wouldn't mind. As for the author name having a different look that the title, I don't mind it. I actually like the contrast in style.
As for the overall cover. It would get my attention on the bookshelf. Well done!
— Andrew Jackson , 2009-09-29 02:13:29 -0400
re the Steadman comment, I wouldn't say it was a POOR imitation. As a bookcover it works very well.
— Anonymous Coward , 2009-11-15 11:32:42 -0500
hater ne la
— yapay havuz , 2009-12-03 09:42:05 -0500
garlica
— garlica , 2010-01-20 07:41:17 -0500
biber hapi
fx15
lida
rent a car
magna rx
penis büyütücü
elektronik sigara
— red pepper , 2010-01-28 06:23:57 -0500