Phillip Dannels

Phillip Dannels – Designer

Sci-fi and fantasy book covers that are bold, stylish, and marketable. Many covers in the Aethon Books catalogue. Covers from $1000.

Overview

Hey y'all! I'm Phil, and I'm a cover designer who specializes in the genres that are especially close to my heart - science-fiction and fantasy. I love bringing far-off worlds and imagined places to vivid, visual life. In addition to helping self-published authors do this for nearly five years, I've also contributed artwork for Aethon Books' extensive sci-fi catalogue.Flexibility is huge for me - making sure that authors have a wide variety of options based on their time and budgets. I like to start by emailing/Reedsy messaging back and forth to get a general feel for your story, teasing out any beats or moments you might want visually represented on the cover. At the end of this conversation, I'll send you a quote.From there, I'll start the rough copy. This is a low-detail, unfinished version of the cover that captures several important bits of information - the overall mood, color scheme, placement of important elements, ect. I'll send you this within a week of starting, and we can work together on changes to make sure it fits your vision.Once that's done, I dive in to the final and make the magic happen. Here's where the cover comes to life, adding the final details and effects to really make it shine. When that's finished and you've approved it, I'll send you all of your final materials!Let me know if you have any additional questions, and I can't wait to work with you!Phil---

“Aethon Books has worked with Phil on dozens of books and he has consistently provided some of the strongest covers in our catalogue. We will work with him until the end of time!“

Steve Beaulieu, Editor at Aethon Books

Services
Fiction
Epic Fantasy Military Science Fiction Space Opera
Languages
English

Work experience

Self-employed

Jul, 2017 — Present
Cover design, specializing in military science fiction and space opera.

Phillip has 54 reviews

Professionalism

Quality

Value

Responsiveness

Eric Z.

Eric Z.

Nov, 2025

Pinned
Phil was great to work with, understood my vision right out of the gate, and brought the artwork to a form where my cover tells a story itself. Very polite, professional and willing to go in any direction I needed, with guidance from his experience in this industry, which was perfect for a first ...
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Maurilio V.

Maurilio V.

Aug, 2025

Pinned
I had an absolutely fantastic experience working with Phillip Dannels on my book cover! I was initially drawn to Phillip’s art style and the quality of work in his portfolio, especially his previous book covers. From start to finish, he was a great and responsive communicator and truly a wonderfu...
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R.A. H.

R.A. H.

Jul, 2025

Pinned
When it came to providing a review for Phillip D, Reedsy provided me with four categories to rate out of five. Normally, when given these kinds of choices, I hedge a little bit because no one is perfect. Not everything is a five out five. Until now that is. I had no choice but to give him a five ...
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Charles S.

Charles S.

May, 2026

Phil did great work bringing my vision to life. I highly recommend him for anyone seeking cover art.
J. K.

J. K.

May, 2026

Phil did a fantastic job on my book cover by listening to my ideas, understanding the requirements and the story's placement in its genre, and coming up with several concepts. Communication was great as we went through an iterative process to get to the final. I'm very happy with the end result.

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