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Recycled Cover Art?
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:15 pm
by Lost Heretic
I just stumbled onto this today and I'm real confused...
Van Richten's Guide to Vampires
Isaac Asimov's Vampires
Den Beauvais's website has information on the Asimov novel, but not a thing on Ravenloft. He had been commissioned by TSR previously.
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:22 pm
by Joël of the FoS
Interesting, indeed!
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:54 pm
by cure
Perhaps the Dread Elf Pirate of Lake Baratok wasn't available for a photoshot.
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:59 pm
by LadySoth
cure wrote:Perhaps the Dread Elf Pirate of Lake Baratok wasn't available for a photoshot.
Brilliant.
The publisher probably did a random search of the company archives and came up with that pic for "vampire," wonder what the year on the Asimov book was?
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 1:05 am
by Mouseferatu
Well, I know that in the RPG industry it's not too uncommon for some artists to retain the rights to their work. They can then, after a certain amount of time, sell/license them to someone else as a "second use" piece.
Not all companies allow it, and not all artists have the option, but it does happen (and I think it used to happen more often than it does today).
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:02 pm
by HuManBing
^ interesting - that would explain why older book covers often have "lookalikes" elsewhere in the industry.
I remember a few examples of that from the 1980s and earlier. Books where the key art seemed derived from another.
Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2009 6:43 pm
by Jester of the FoS
A quick google search suggests Isaac Asimov's Vampires came out in 1996, four years after VRG to Vampires. It appears the author retained the rights and sold it again.