The Hobbit book cover - which thumbnail?

[baileyvidler]

Hello everyone! I'm working on a version of The Hobbit for my portfolio and I would love to hear which thumbnail you prefer!

Here's a quick description of each thumb, since they're rough:

1 - Bilbo crouches in pile of treasure. Smaug wraps around him. Dwarvish style border, which Smaug breaks the bounds of.

2 - Smaug IS the mountain that Bilbo is climbing.

3 - Smaug wraps around Bilbo (in a different shape than option 1)

4 - Gandalf approaches Bilbo at the Shire. The smoke from Bilbo's pipe turns into a silhouette of Smaug.

Thank you so much - I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions!

[MarcRobinson]

@baileyvidler I'm definitely feeling 1 or 3. With a possible leaning towards 3.

[Asyas_illos]

@baileyvidler 1 and 3 are my favorites!

[Chantal Goetheer]

@baileyvidler I like 1 most

[NessIllustration]

@baileyvidler 1 is very clever comp and focused on the titular character 3 is also adorable though, but 1 is most interesting to me!

[kirsten-mcg]

@baileyvidler can I pick them all? They’re all so good! I think if I had to choose I would pick 1 or 2.

[ajillustrates]

I really like the flow of the illustration and the mix of shapes in Option 1.

[Frogpunzel]

@baileyvidler I like 1 and 4 best. 1 feels like the most suspenseful, I'm going to have to read it. 4 could be really cool too, depending on how Bilbo and Gandalf are reacting to the smaug smoke. Can you see that Gandalf is actively causing the dragon shapes? Is Bilbo shocked at the scene or pleasantly reminiscing?

[Sarah VanDam]

I could see both the first or the second one being really good!

[von_Nimmermehr]

@Sarah-VanDam me too.

[ArtMelC]

I don't pretend to have read The Hobbit (haha) but I feel #1 would make me want to open and read the book. Does that help?

[mzameckaart]

I like number 1 and 4 the most. Number 1 has a nice flow, but number 4 is I think a great, original idea, that could be explored further. I really liked the idea of the smoke in the shape of a dragon. If it's like a premise of things to come, perhaps it should be coming from Gandalf's pipe? As he is the one who introduced Bilbo to the entire adventure. So it would be like (through the pipe smoke) he is telling Bilbo what is awaiting them on their journey, and telling us what is awaiting us as readers as we are reading on

[ArtistErin]

I really like 1 and 3 the most, yet 4 is different and interesting!!! Love your sketches... such great lines. I love the way you drew Gandalf!!

[JessicaLinnEvans]

@baileyvidler I really like 4 (a LOT). But it seems like if anyone can make their smoke look like a dragon, it would be Gandalf. (Bilbo seems to be relegated to smoke rings). Maybe both smoking a pipe with Smaug materializing from the smoke in general?

I do like the composition of 1 and 3, which seem the more favored of the covers in previous comments. But for content, I like including Gandalf as one of the characters on the cover and indicating Smaug with the smoke.