Paint + Prose Club
Featuring wildly talented authors who couldn’t stop at writing the book and had to paint the cover too. Honestly unfair, but extremely good for our bookshelves.
Bitches be hoarding talent.
created by acloudofbats
last updated April, 2026
Comments
When the Tides Held the Moon features cover art and art in the novel done by the author, Vanessa Vida Kelley. Fun idea!!
Added, thank you! I can't believe how many good covers are in this list. 😌
Oh this is a VERY cool list, so much talent
Thank you! And yes, I'm already surprised by how many books I've found for it. Can't wait for it to keep growing. c:
If I ever see any relevant, I shall be sure to suggest them 😝
Very appreciated!
wow :o these portraits are so gorgeous...
I knowww! They're so good I had to make sure they were featured in some way, especially with all the awful or super generic covers out there.
If you're okay with taking horror suggestions; The Church of the Mountain of Flesh has a cover, and in-book illustrations all done by the author, Kyle Wakefield
Yes, any genre is welcome! This is only mostly romance since I started noticing a trend there. c: Added both of their books, thank you! Too dang bad one of them is currently missing a cover.
Ooo Conjoined Angels is being released later this year so hopefully the cover is up on here soon! (I've seen it on his website, it's stunning! 😍)
I knowwww, ugh it's gorgeous! The art style looks like it's done with colored pencils too, with that texture, and if so... insane. Absolutely nuts. That's so much tedious layering and time invested (which I personally love so I'm sure they do too), dang that's some commitment!
Right it's so stunning and defined while having such a unique style 😍 almost like stained glass? Makes me want to take my pens back up!
It does have a bit of ethereal, otherworldly, stained glass look to it! Which seems incredibly on brand for the book blurbs, so it's very nice combo.
Also I am here to encourage you to wield your pens and make your art!
LOVE THIS LIST AND REALLY ADORE THEA HAWTHORNE
Stormcaught is what started this whole idea!
wait lillian did all the artwork in the series :0 ?!
YES! I couldn't believe it, it's so gorgeous! Art goals fr.
i have to say this is the coolest idea for a list ever! really enjoying looking through these as a lover of the arts myself 🙂↔️ and especially during times like now amidst all the AI art book covers!
Thank you, I'm so glad you appreciate it! I'm also super glad to see how many book covers are still being painted or illustrated amongst the flood of AI ones, and it's always extra special when the author makes the art themselves. I'm really looking forward to when we'll be able to choose which covers display on lists so we can get a better idea of how these all look at a glance. c:
omg wow beautiful list and I’m particularly taken by the art on Abigail Kelly’s books 😍
They're gorgeous! I love how she purposely includes couples portraits on the main books, and hands on the in-between novellas too.
I’ve never heard of Abigail Kelly before. Her books seem like something I’d enjoy! Also the covers are so good! ✨
I hadn't either before making this list! Definitely gonna have to read something from her to see if the writing is as good as the art.
these folks need to save some talent for the rest of us. yeesh.
Right?! My goodness. All of them have such good art, and I see good reviews for a lot of them too.
This is such a great idea for a list, love it! K.M. Moronova also does all her covers and art herself.
Glad you like it! And thank you, added all her books! It's unfortunate most of them on here either aren't displaying covers at all or aren't showing the ones she illustrated.
Yeah that's too bad! I've seen your feature request though, hopefully it's something they can implement! Or at least a way to fetch the latest covers.
When I see this it's always an almost instant add to the tbr 🤭.
I'm not sure if it counts but the original covers of the mead mishaps books from Kimberly Lemming she drew herself ^^ Sadly the publisher that picked her up replaced them (even if the new ones are stunning).
Can't say I blame you!
Hail the Rising Tides!
Added, thank you! I'm constantly in awe of how talented these authors/artists are, my goodness.
I love this list too!! Some really talented writers and artists out there. I’m envious! If you ever expand to include interior art within novels, Invi Wright started including her drawings before chapters in her latest book Land of Wolves: Revelations. Either way, I’ve started taking note of the front cover matter and looking up the companies listed under cover design, seeing if they use AI.
Yay, I'm glad!
I'll have to see how many books pop up with interior art cause it might be worth them having their own list, if the author isn't doing the cover art also. Just to be able to credit different artists more easily. c:
Might be worth me making another list for books that have cover art done by real artists, even not by the author, just because AI is so prevalent now. I've found a bunch of good ones, but the main thing stopping me is figuring out the scope since it would only apply to books in the past few years. Everything before that would automatically fit.
