I'd love some feedback on this cover design :)

braden H · 3 Mar 2021, 18:21

Hi everyone! I had some great feedback about some cover designs and went with the most popular one.

At this point, before I start working at full size and finishing it off, I'd love some feedback. I think it works compositionally and colour-wise, but I'm sure it could be better!

I have very little experience with designing covers and though I did a lot of research and reference finding I'm still often blind to small mistakes and faux-pas.

Also how's the font? I #&^%$ing hate picking fonts, lol.

For context, it's a sci-fi middle grade book. This is the moment where the main character is told the only way of escaping his current predicament is unplugging the skull, and plugging himself into the supercomputer (the blue figure with the orange shape in the background. he's got a neural brain jack much like the skull). So I'm going for trepidation, tension, and worry.

Thanks in advance

NessIllustration · 3 Mar 2021, 18:33

@Braden-Hallett I really love this cover design / layout! Very strong! I'm not loving this font though. To be honest I thought it was placeholder. I'd suggest looking at books in your target market to see what are the title/font trends. I find that less is more, and classic understated fonts always work great. For titles, a hand-drawn word art is always attractive

Matthew Oberdier · 3 Mar 2021, 18:48

@Braden-Hallett I think the value structure is good and easy to read. It took me a minute to understand the kid's pose. I'm not sure what's going on with her right leg. Her left foot feels like it should be bigger based on it being close to us. Also, I would try to nail down the horizon line. It seems like it's below the canvas, so we should be seeing up into the skull more and the kid's head.

Kevin Longueil · 3 Mar 2021, 19:03

@Braden-Hallett Awesome as usual - only thing i am wondering is if there is a moment of resolve that occurs after the trepidation? I think resolve might be more appealing for a book cover - just throwing out a random thought here: is there a companion? the expression on the boys face would be perfect for a companion behind him?? might muck up the composition though... i guess even if he is a reluctant hero he should still read as being a bit more heroic on the cover - could be way off of course

braden H · 3 Mar 2021, 19:21

@NessIllustration said in I'd love some feedback on this cover design :

@Braden-Hallett I really love this cover design / layout! Very strong! I'm not loving this font though. To be honest I thought it was placeholder. I'd suggest looking at books in your target market to see what are the title/font trends. I find that less is more, and classic understated fonts always work great. For titles, a hand-drawn word art is always attractive

Thanks for the honesty on the font! I always always always go for a font that turns off most people. It's a talent

I hadn't thought about hand lettering! I think in the back of my head I simply didn't think I could do a sci-fi kind of font, but maybe I should try!

braden H · 3 Mar 2021, 19:23

@Matthew-Oberdier Iiiiinteresting! Thank you I'll try and fiddle with the pose

braden H · 3 Mar 2021, 19:26

@Kevin-Longueil said in I'd love some feedback on this cover design :

the expression on the boys face would be perfect for a companion behind him?? might muck up the composition though...

lol, that's exactly what I had before, but axed the companion since he was, indeed mucking up the composition I think that's a good idea, though! Heroic or at the very least some kind of sense of 'dutiful resolve' may be better than trepidation.

Maybe I'll try and have the other character kind of peeking out from the around the skull.

As for the moment of resolve it's an awful scene with screaming, tearing, gnashing of teeth and puking. Followed by miraculous escape, of course, but definitely not on my top ten for the book cover, lol.

Asyas_illos · 3 Mar 2021, 21:58

Looks great the text was just a little hard to read other than that awesome!

ArtofAleksey · 3 Mar 2021, 23:18

Hey that looks rad.

Yeah I think @Matthew-Oberdier has a good point on the pose. It looks weird until I figured out they were kneeling down. Everything else looks like its in this dynamic perspective except the character.

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 15:29

@Asyas_illos said in I'd love some feedback on this cover design :

Looks great the text was just a little hard to read other than that awesome!

Yup. Definitely gonna change that font

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 15:34

@ArtofAleksey said in I'd love some feedback on this cover design :

Everything else looks like its in this dynamic perspective except the character.

It's very true! He does look like he's in a very straight perspective compared to the skull and the rest. Thanks man

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 19:25

Took some feedback from here and aroond and aboot other places. I think it's much improved!

I'm still not happy with the font and I think I'll post some different option later on.

Thanks everyone for all the feedback!

alicia · 4 Mar 2021, 19:33

@Braden-Hallett I think this one is a great improvement! I love the composition! It looks much more finished and the new font is so much easier to read and seems to fit the style of the art.

Kevin Longueil · 4 Mar 2021, 20:00

@Braden-Hallett looks awesome! I have a quick thought - I did a quick draw over to see and I think if the boy is reaching for the jack with his left hand and is looking at the skull instead of the cable in his hand it is much more dramatic and has more of a boy vs. skull vibe and may show more what is about to happen in the story- also making the cool blue lines on the skull pop out slightly more looks good too - feel free to ignore

4 Mar 2021, 21:21

@Braden-Hallett
right now the most important thing in the image is the orange thing due to the saturation of the orange despite your design itself seems to focus more on the foreground.

i made a lil color mock which leads the eye first to the things happening in the foreground

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 22:33

@Kevin-Longueil said in I'd love some feedback on this cover design :

@Braden-Hallett looks awesome! I have a quick thought - I did a quick draw over to see and I think if the boy is reaching for the jack with his left hand and is looking at the skull instead of the cable in his hand it is much more dramatic and has more of a boy vs. skull vibe and may show more what is about to happen in the story- also making the cool blue lines on the skull pop out slightly more looks good too - feel free to ignore

Post it! Lemme see Because honestly that's a much better idea that what I have!

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 22:35

@Molambo I like! My plan was for the orange thing to be the first read, but this works well too! I like the way the skull pops.

I've gotta learn to be less afraid of colour, lol.

Kevin Longueil · 4 Mar 2021, 22:53

@Braden-Hallett ha! I never know if folks cringe at getting a draw over from me or not! This is all I have left of it - there are other things going on that I did not mention .... I was thinking of getting as many lines leading to the face as possible within the composition by adding random panels behind him and also continuing the curves in the energy column to point at him too... that’s what those arrows are ..the weird white line below his foot is just a mistake

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 23:32

@Molambo also, thank you so much for taking the time to do a drawover

braden H · 4 Mar 2021, 23:35

@Kevin-Longueil Nice! I really like the idea of reaching toward the skull with the other hand! Thanks for taking the time to drawover, it's much appreciated