Recently,  I received an interesting tweet response from an author regarding one of our ?Poll Central? covers.  It went like this...

My initial tweet : "How do you feel about shoulder tattoos, Asia, & 4/5 heroes on covers? Check out the latest ?Poll Central? & vote:"

Author's reply: "I think cover artist/authors need to research tatts they use. I've seen covers w/opposing gang tatts on the same hero."

My reply: "I'm not a tattoo expert & seldom notice details except if they look fake. Maybe the dual tattoo hero has inner conflicts?"

Author's next reply:  "*laughs* Maybe he does. I think I just notice it b/c I'm a former prison guard. I tend to pick at those kinds of details."

The exchange intrigued me because I have zero expertise in recognizing gang signs on cover tattoos or any other sign.  A rose, a heart, a sun, or someone's name, I can identify but obscure signs...not a clue.   The only thing that drives me crazy is when the illustrator, art director, or artist "enhance" their work with a tattoo that wasn't on the model's body and it looks inauthentic.  I hate obvious Photoshop tattoos.  The author couldn't remember which cover had the hero with the dual gang tattoos so I'm substituting a few current/future covers featuring various tattoos. 

PUBLISHER INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON MOUSE OVER!

 First up, is the 2011 ?Poll Central? nomination that sparked the above tweets.

And a few romance releases that feature tattoos in one form or another.

Do you like tattoos on your book covers?   Do you have any tattoo pet peeves? 

I'd love to know if I'm the only one who hates fake looking tattoos.

Return to Cover Cafe's Main Page

To display an image you must surround the URL pointing to the image with [img][/img] tags.

To add a link you must surround the URL with [url][/url] tags.