moniaqua wrote: ↑July 21st, 2019, 10:12 pm
Michele, I see that you love the pixabay images but I don't see a need to defend them against me, if you post intended to
It's a matter of
my taste that I prefer pictures from the books or from the time. And I don't think Availle intended to be rude; I am sure you just missed the smiley. She uses pictures from a similar site, you know
First, I am not "defending" any choice of images, just trying not to let Librivox be steered unnecessarily away from any legitimate opportunities we have at our fingertips to illustrate. If they are truly not legitimate, that's a different story. And that is what we were supposed to be discussing, which was presumably settled by Anne several posts ago.
Second, of course we must follow the rules for the country we live in, both for reading and illustrating. That, for me, is the USA.
Third, where creativity is concerned, if I'm ever inspired to assemble a cover from found objects or personal photos, I surely will. But as Anne pointed out, we each have different styles and preferences. I personally love to play with Photoshop, using vivid images and outstanding fonts to tell a huge story on a very small 2.5" x 2.5" square. That's a very interesting challenge for me. Also, I love working with collages and layers, when I think they enhance the cover. Others may like flat, muted images, plain backgrounds, and unobtrusive fonts. It's all good, especially since it's all donated free. I am not competing with anyone here, except to scramble over to the claims board to see if the cover I've had my eye on is still available.
Fourth, Moniaqua, I often use images straight from the books, if they inspire me, so you don't need to defend your choices to use those. Not at all. Check out this one of mine from the book, submitted just 3 days ago:
https://librivox.org/a-book-of-american-explorers-by-thomas-wentworth-higginson/
Lastly, inspiration is the key, a precious gift we all seem to have in great abundance at the moment and I'm glad to be here in this group. I'm constantly amazed at how quickly the covers are claimed, and how decorative our covers make our catalog look. They are a great compliment to the readers, BC's and MC's who put the books together. Viewing the IA page of all our 12,000+ covers over the years, with all that variety, I nearly burst with pride. I don't plan to throw cold water on anyone's creativity, no indeed, and I don't want cold water thrown on mine.