Thanks again for the feedback. The composition isn't quite as all over the place. Take a look at what about three early morning hours meant to the cover (quite a bit) ...
Thanks for giving us another peek at your project Tom. Great drawing overall. Tell Mr. Gerardy I love his handling of the upper figure's hair; reminds me of Brian Bolland. The one thing I'd say about the composition is that at first glance both the black hat and the center hand seem to belong to the woman in the upper left, leading to some confusion about what that figure's doing with her pose. Since the "Meal Magic" Man is a fantasy construct, his integrity is easily dissolved if there is ambiguous visual info. Is there a way (maybe through coloring) that all his parts could be visually united so that he reads better as a figure at first glance? His black pants and purple shirt both push those parts of him to blend with the background, which further breaks him apart. Congratulations on getting this commission. I want a copy when it comes out!
I'd say break it up and re compose.Go down to the line art elements and rethink what goes where. I think you're aware that this is the problem with the image. The drawing and inking are top notch.
Here's one suggestion. Move the Monitor Head guy to the left. Cut and rotate counterclockwise the hand and staff and its effects. Changing the angle to the staff to 10 to 5 as an angle. Bring the Big girl in Bkgd down in size, to where her head is no higher than the Hat on the monitor and place her slightly overlapping in back of the other foreground female. Monitor head, Pro girl, maid girl. And the staff no longer giving a diagonal division. Maybe a more organic blending between stars and question marks.
And then give yourself a nice surround for any typography. Some geometry that formalizes the look of the Title. Having it come out of the page with hatching modeling it into page space looks too hand made. Too flyeresque.
That's it. I think the elements are there. There's just certain composition deaths that are hard to combat. Diagonal division of the page is usually hard to make pleasing.
Very nice feedback, both of you! I will work with whatever I can and attempt to bring more focus to what we've got going. And you're right in that the cover is the first thing a consumer is going to see, so you're looking to entice them with a clear picture. Again, great info.
I'm on board with what Tom is saying... if the shirt on the TV guy and the backdrop behind the lower figure weren't the same color, I think that could help you out a lot. I might suggest that if we could see some of the TV guys forearm behind his fist, that might help out with some of Tom's issues with his had reading as hers. There might also be some Photoshop tricks you could use to drop back some of the top figure to be more "behind" the TV guy... a colored gradiant overlayed on top of her around the area where she meets up with the TV guy, perhaps?
Last Comic Con I was sitting at my table in Artists Alley and a guy flew by broadcasting that he was looking for a comic book artist. I got his card and gave him some of my materials. After the show I spent months fishing for him to come across with a completed script, thinking the whole time that nothing might come of it. Then, all of a sudden, the script got done and we put a contract with milestones together, and now we're doing it. Meal Magic Corp. is the company name and the two guys Johnny and I are working with will be at the Con again this year. I'm going to see if we can extend this into a motion comic that can be used on YouTube and posted on their Web site ... always gotta have a plan, man ...
Definitely think the title is better. It no longer looks like a bloody tale of horror. (It's not a bloody tale of horror is it?) I assume it was on a different Photoshop layer making it easy to swap out. The Meal Magic Man stands out more now, but I don't know if it's enough or not. Now that I'm familiar with what the image is, you need some fresh eyes to look at it.
Nope ... it is done. This just in from my liaison at Meal Magic, "This new cover looks great. I like it much better then the blood. You have two thumbs up. Cover done!"
Cover done ... I like the way that sounds. Now just 16 interior pages to color and letter...
Thanks for giving us another peek at your project Tom. Great drawing overall. Tell Mr. Gerardy I love his handling of the upper figure's hair; reminds me of Brian Bolland. The one thing I'd say about the composition is that at first glance both the black hat and the center hand seem to belong to the woman in the upper left, leading to some confusion about what that figure's doing with her pose. Since the "Meal Magic" Man is a fantasy construct, his integrity is easily dissolved if there is ambiguous visual info. Is there a way (maybe through coloring) that all his parts could be visually united so that he reads better as a figure at first glance? His black pants and purple shirt both push those parts of him to blend with the background, which further breaks him apart. Congratulations on getting this commission. I want a copy when it comes out!
ReplyDeleteI'd say break it up and re compose.Go down to the line art elements and rethink what goes where. I think you're aware that this is the problem with the image. The drawing and inking are top notch.
ReplyDeleteHere's one suggestion. Move the Monitor Head guy to the left. Cut and rotate counterclockwise the hand and staff and its effects. Changing the angle to the staff to 10 to 5 as an angle. Bring the Big girl in Bkgd down in size, to where her head is no higher than the Hat on the monitor and place her slightly overlapping in back of the other foreground female. Monitor head, Pro girl, maid girl. And the staff no longer giving a diagonal division. Maybe a more organic blending between stars and question marks.
And then give yourself a nice surround for any typography. Some geometry that formalizes the look of the Title. Having it come out of the page with hatching modeling it into page space looks too hand made. Too flyeresque.
That's it. I think the elements are there. There's just certain composition deaths that are hard to combat. Diagonal division of the page is usually hard to make pleasing.
Very nice feedback, both of you! I will work with whatever I can and attempt to bring more focus to what we've got going. And you're right in that the cover is the first thing a consumer is going to see, so you're looking to entice them with a clear picture. Again, great info.
ReplyDeleteI'm on board with what Tom is saying... if the shirt on the TV guy and the backdrop behind the lower figure weren't the same color, I think that could help you out a lot. I might suggest that if we could see some of the TV guys forearm behind his fist, that might help out with some of Tom's issues with his had reading as hers. There might also be some Photoshop tricks you could use to drop back some of the top figure to be more "behind" the TV guy... a colored gradiant overlayed on top of her around the area where she meets up with the TV guy, perhaps?
ReplyDeleteBTW, this is a really cool project... who or what is this being produced for?
ReplyDelete"with his HAND reading as her's" is what I meant to say.
ReplyDeleteLast Comic Con I was sitting at my table in Artists Alley and a guy flew by broadcasting that he was looking for a comic book artist. I got his card and gave him some of my materials. After the show I spent months fishing for him to come across with a completed script, thinking the whole time that nothing might come of it. Then, all of a sudden, the script got done and we put a contract with milestones together, and now we're doing it. Meal Magic Corp. is the company name and the two guys Johnny and I are working with will be at the Con again this year. I'm going to see if we can extend this into a motion comic that can be used on YouTube and posted on their Web site ... always gotta have a plan, man ...
ReplyDelete;-)
Definitely think the title is better. It no longer looks like a bloody tale of horror. (It's not a bloody tale of horror is it?) I assume it was on a different Photoshop layer making it easy to swap out. The Meal Magic Man stands out more now, but I don't know if it's enough or not. Now that I'm familiar with what the image is, you need some fresh eyes to look at it.
ReplyDeleteNope ... it is done. This just in from my liaison at Meal Magic, "This new cover looks great. I like it much better then the blood. You have two thumbs up. Cover done!"
ReplyDeleteCover done ... I like the way that sounds. Now just 16 interior pages to color and letter...