How I Designed 12 Consistent Covers for a Fantasy Series

Creating a single stunning book cover is one challenge. Creating twelve that all feel like they belong in the same universe — while each remaining distinct and compelling — is an entirely different problem.

This post walks through the exact process used to design all 12 covers for the Aztec Samurai Adventures series: a fantasy epic spanning 12 books, 30 characters, and 288 chapters.

The Challenge

Every cover in a series needs to accomplish two things simultaneously:

• Stand alone — each cover must work as an individual piece, compelling enough to make someone click on Amazon
• Belong together — when viewed as a set, the covers must clearly communicate "this is one series"

These goals are in tension. Too much consistency and the covers blur together. Too much variety and the series identity is lost.

The Style Header System

The solution is what I call a style header — a reusable prompt prefix that defines the visual DNA of the series. It locks in:

• Art style (photorealistic cinematic, in this case)
• Color palette (deep blacks, warm golds, crimson accents)
• Typography treatment (placement, font style, hierarchy)
• Compositional rules (character placement, background depth)
• Lighting direction (dramatic side-lighting with rim highlights)

Every cover prompt starts with this identical header. Only the character, scene, and title change.

The Iteration Process

For each book cover:

• Generate 6-8 initial concepts using the style header + book-specific details
• Select the 3 strongest concepts
• Refine the chosen 3 with adjusted prompts (composition tweaks, expression changes, element repositioning)
• Choose the final winner
• Post-process: resolution scaling, text overlay, final adjustments

This process takes roughly 2-3 hours per cover. For 12 books, that's about 30 hours of focused cover design work.

The Result

12 covers that share a clear visual language — the same lighting, the same color temperature, the same compositional weight — but each featuring a unique character and scene. When viewed as a grid, they're unmistakably one series. When viewed individually, each one stands on its own.

This is exactly the process we use for client series branding at Metronagon.