Re: Interesting... although I wonder- are the illustrations her fault? - Edit 1
Before modification by DomA at 04/09/2009 10:19:29 PM
I remember that RJ and Harriet talked about how excited they were to get what's-his-name to do the covers. And most fans generally agree that the cover art is... sub-par, at best.
Hmmm the style of the covert art for WOT was fashionable back in 1990. Sansweet was big at the time. Now, this retro style is very dated.
RJ said a time or two that he didn't have much of a say in the cover art (Harriet has a bit more, as she usually handled this stuff, the cover blurb, the chapter titles and icons, the maps etc.).
Reading a bit between the lines of what Harriet said at JordanCon about the cover art... she is aware it's a bit quaint/dated. I suspect part of this is the fact Tor wishes to market WOT as Fantasy in the 'old style' and so they kept its image over the years. It's not really nice art, but it's very recognizable.
Harriet and Tom also made clear it's too late to change the look in their opinion and they will stick to the look to the end. However, Harriet/Tom mentionned it's very possible after the series is over, Tor has new editions released with more modern art, a new illustrator etc.
Marketing-wise, it would be a terrible idea to change the WOT covers now. Especially so after a five years hiatus. Casual readers who might learn about it need to spot the new book and recognize it instantly, and it needs to feel like WOT.
And then there are all the illustrations in the Big White Book, most of which are grossly inaccurate. I mean, if you're doing a picture of a character, wouldn't you think to write down what color her hair was?
Rj explained what happened. First, the illustrators were not his choice but the publisher's (I never heard Harriet has been involved in any way with the BWB - it was Theresa Patterson and RJ). Then, a mess up happened. The original illustrator had made (apparently) great B&W sketches that RJ liked and approved. At the last minute, the publisher asked to have colour illustrations for the same price instead and well... the result of this rush is on the pages. RJ never liked the BWB illustrations.
It's years in the past, anyway - and unconnected to Harriet's project. The BWB was a publisher project, Harriet is a personal project she's held over the years, collecting tibdits from each book, the notes etc. with the intent of publishing her encyclopedia after the series was over.