3 Fantasy Book Cover Artists You Need to Know

Happy International Artist Day! Check out these three fantasy book cover artists. By the end of this, you’ll be running to the nearest bookstore to buy these books based on the beautiful cover art alone.

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Have you ever bought a book simply because of the cover art? Okay, okay— we all know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover. But just between us . . . have you? If it makes you feel any better, I definitely have.

If you’re a massive lover of art and beautiful book covers, snuggle up and tune in to these three incredible fantasy cover artists that you’ll soon be searching for in bookstores.

1. Charlie Bowater

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I’ll be the first to admit that I bought Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie almost entirely because of the cover art (luckily, it turned out to be an amazing book, too). Charlie Bowater never ceases to amaze me with her gorgeous illustrations. According to her website, she works for multiple large publishing houses, and won the Goodreads Best Young Adult Book Cover of 2017 for her work on the novel An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson.

If you go to her website, you’ll also find her gallery full of addicting pieces that I could literally stare at for hours. You can even buy her work off her Society 6 page (which I will be doing momentarily).

2. Cliff Nielsen

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According to shannonassociates.com, Cliff Nielsen is famous mostly for his insanely realistic portraits. He has worked on a variety of massive projects throughout the years, such as Star Wars, Chronicles of Narnia, and The X-Files. Of course, these are all huge, well-known projects, showing just how talented and experienced this artist is. 

But I know him best by his work on Cassandra Clare’s novels, including The Mortal InstrumentsThe Infernal DevicesThe Dark Artifices, and The Last Hours. His realistic, colorful work on these books is absolutely enthralling. The illustrations are always exactly how I picture the characters, and Nielson does an incredible job of bringing them to life.

3. Carlos Quevedo

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As stated on his website, Carlos Quevedo is a digital artist based in Columbia, and he works for several editorials. Quevedo briefly describes his art process, and explains that he mixes many different (mostly digital) materials to create his work. Also on his website, you can find his portfolio, filled with unique and complex illustrations. The more you look at his art, the more details you’ll find.

I was first drawn to Carlos Quevedo’s art because of his work on the Crescent City series by Sarah J. Maas. In 2019, he took to Twitter before the release of the first book in the series, House of Earth and Blood.

“I did the illustration cover for the upcoming novel of Sarah J. Maas, “Crescent City” and some secrets about this artwork are going to be revealed once you open the book in January 2020!”

Carlose Quevedo on Twitter (@carlos_EQ)

The fact that this gorgeous and intricate cover art was not only incredible on its own but also contained mysteries from within the novel blows my mind. It’s just…ugh. Brilliant and beautiful. I can’t stop staring at it.

Want to read more about book cover art? Check out this list of very strange book covers!

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