Cover Story Graphics specializes in custom book covers, illustrations, and design services for authors and creatives. Never AI - Guaranteed.
CSG offers:
Book cover design for print and ebooks
Stock covers for those on a budget
Design of author marketing materials for online platforms - FB Banners, Ads for Threads/Instagram, BlueSky, Amazon A+ graphics, and whatever else you need
CD and DVD design
Designs for bookmarks, stickers, and magnets, as add-ons based on the main cover design created
Mission Statement:
Over the last few years I have watched the influx of AI flooding the writing and artist markets with what can only be called fraudsters looking to make a quick buck. These people have little to no understanding of design, printing setup, or basic layout concerns.
After seeing an author on Threads post they were ripped off by an ‘artist’ who charged them $1000 for an AI cover, I felt, as an artist, I needed to offer some non-AI work to try to balance the scales. When confronted the AI ‘artist’ bemoaned the author’s cover idea was “too complex to be made any other way except AI.” My immediate thought was "An artist had to create the images before the AI could steal them." I was very angry that someone stole another artist’s artwork, claimed to be an artist, and then had the nerve to charge an author for work that could never be copyrighted. FYI stolen artwork can not be copyrighted. Full stop.
Cover Story Graphics is being established to offer real cover art by real artists. We will never use Generative AI in your designs. It is abhorrent and anathema to everything creative individuals pride themselves on. Cover Story Graphics is intended to address this for the author and artist communities.
I am looking to raise funds for:
Graphic Artist Tablet $500-900. The midrange XPPen Artist Tablets are what I am looking at getting. Drawing and painting have always been one of my strong suits, as a fine artist it is second nature. I can do a lot with a keyboard and mouse, but it can take a lot longer to get the effect I can achieve in minutes with a pen or brush. A graphics tablet will allow me to create quickly and more naturally.
Design a basic website for sales $200-400
Time to develop a produce a decent portfolio $300
Subscriptions to type foundries and stock photography sites $200-300
I seek to raise between $850 to $2200 to launch the business. The amount raised will determine the type of graphics tablet I obtain, the speed I can offer services, the quality of what I can offer, and the level of website I can set up. I can get by with less for starters and upgrade later as I go forward, but it will be a slower start.
Support Link:
https://buymeacoffee.com/00marx935t/wishlist
What I am offering to contributors?
My eternal thanks (sounds flippant, but really I do appreciate any help offered)
Access to my Discord channel and preview new stock covers before they hit the website
All contributors ($50 or more) will receive a 50% discount on all design work booked during the fundraiser ($50 gets $100 worth of design, $100 gets $200 worth of design etc. etc.) and/or a mix of perks. FYI all designs include 4 rounds of revisions.
All contributors ($50 or more) will get a permanent 20% discount on all future projects after the end of the fundraising period. FYI all designs include 4 rounds of revisions.
Perks for those not needing design work - Retro Sci-Fi stickers, postcards, and refrigerator magnets currently being designed. I will update and give everyone a choice of perks as they become available.
Be a part of the live discussions about design trends and where the market may be heading in the future
Preview short videos showing my process designing covers and creative efforts in general
Design tips and tricks using a mix of traditional and computer techniques (No AI)
Postcards from my stories advertising the sun-bleached beaches of far away planets
Once a month live video chat about being a writer, artist and a creative person
About me:
an exhibiting fine artist since I was 18
a designer for over 30 years
owned a sign company creating thousands of designs and branding for large and small businesses
worked as a production manager for a service bureau creating print layouts and films for printshops
worked as a silkscreen printer for years
taught Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to other graphic designers
created fine art commissions for private individuals and corporations through a Chicago gallery
supported myself as a traditional fine artist and taught lithography, intaglio and silkscreen printing
I'm also a published writer and actively work on my own short stories and novels
Future plans:
to network with other freelance designers and editors that are also Anti-AI, and attempt to create a verification and certification process for artists and writers
to produce a graphic novel and publish it
to design a playing card deck or a Tarot Deck to offer as a limited edition
to volunteer my illustration and design services to marginalized groups and organizations
to collaborate with another artist and author on a project
to illustrate and offer limited editions of a series of physical classic books (in the public domain),
such as:
Peter Pan or the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up by J. M. Barrie
Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle by Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Hardy Boys books 1–3, by Franklin W. Dixon
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
West-Running Brook by Robert Frost
The Sound and the Fury by William FaulknerA Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett
The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
The Colour Out of Space by H. P. Lovecraft
The Gangs of New York by Herbert Asbury
And there are hundreds more public domain books I can choose, more than I could ever manage to illustrate, but I'd like to give it a try. As I get older I would love to have a back catalog of beautifully illustrated books to have on hand to fill in the gaps. The acquisition of a graphics tablet allowing me to freely draw will aid that future. :)
If you made it this far, thank you for reading all that. :D
I wanted to make sure I was up front with everyone and what my plans are. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me.
Thank you,
Douglas Phillip Marx
Spot color separations of a black and white photo (Korean Pavilion at Gyeongbokgung Palace taken in 2018) using high contrast threshold to separate out the brightest brights and the lightest lights from the image. This is an old darkroom technique used in graphic arts for decades updated using programs like Adobe Photoshop or Affinity Photo to create the same result saving hours in the darkroom.
All images and content ©2025 Douglas Phillip Marx