Using one of the illustrations of a book as the cover ?

[NoWayMe]

Hello everyone!
As you may know from my other recent topic in the forum, I am working on a book commission right now (which explains why I haven't post as much on the forum lately!)

I have been working on idea for the book cover for a while, doing thumbnails after thumbnails but I wasn't really satisfied with any of the ideas. However, Is finished one of the inside illustration this week, and my wife said I should use it for the cover. I tried it, and I love the result! But I am not sure if I should do that, use an image twice in the book... any thoughts on that ?!

Here are the images in question :

Inside illustration (it is a double page spread with no text, just the image)

Idea for the cover (very rough, I just copy-pasted the illustration on my template for the cover and added the "hair", bottom of the face and text very quickly to have a rough idea of what it would look like)

Thanks for helping!! And if you have suggestion for the illustration at the same time, feel free to comment!

[audrey dowling]

Hi @NoWayMe !
I have no idea if it's ok to do this. I'd say I would be wary of doing that, as I can't recall ever seeing it in picture books I read to my kids but I'm not sure. so I'll let someone else answer ^_^
I just noticed your name sounds very french. Are you french? I gave my second daughter Noémie as a second name. always loved that name

[evilrobot]

I don't know the answer...but I love the image. Nice work.

[NoWayMe]

@audrey-dowling Yes, I am french! From Canada!

[audrey dowling]

tout s'explique ^_^

[Larissa Brown Marantz]

I wouldn't use the same image twice- once on the cover and then again on the inside of the book. I'd do a variant of some sort to the one in the book or the one on the cover so that you're not using exactly the same image.

[DanetteDraws]

I agree with the others about not using the same image twice - especially if it's a "reveal" in the story line. In any case, it somewhat ruins the drama of the page turn if the reader/viewer comes across an image they've already seen on the cover.

I do quite like it for the cover though! Maybe it's the double-page spread you can change-up and use this one for the cover, instead of the other way around?

[NoWayMe]

@DanetteDraws I think I will have to come up with another idea for the cover! I really like it for the cover too, but I can't really change the inside illustration... Or maybe I can... I have to think about it haha!

Thanks everyone for helping, really appreciated, as always!

[Takara Beech]

I really like the image as a cover image. One thing to watch out for on a double page spread is to make sure important features aren't in the fold of the spine. At the moment it looks like the features of your character will be cut in half by the fold.

[NoWayMe]

@Takara-Beech You're right @Takara-Beech, I thought it would be OK because the book is going to be huge (A3 size) so I figured not much would be lost in the fold, plus my image is not 100 % centered, but the more I think about it, the more I think I am going to use this image as the cover, and work out something else for the double spread. Thanks for your input!

[Takara Beech]

@NoWayMe You're welcome. Can't wait to see your finished project!