WIP Book Cover „The Jungle Book“
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Hi
I decided to make a book cover for „The Jungle Book“ for the monthly art challenge. I had a flat and more simplified design in my mind.
I started just in black & white to concentrate on value and composition. Later on I will work with colours.
One of my concerns is if the animals + boy are too present? I anyhow like how bold they are but I‘m also not completely sure if it works all together and I just looked at it for too long now and need some fresh eyes
So, any critiques are very welcome and I give you complete permission to tear me apart
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Ooo i really like how you yse the grays and the silhouettes
instagram and twitter: @artofaleksey
alekseyillustration.com -
@saciia_ It looks very good, I would rotate the boy more, so taht it looks like he is really hanging and not walking, maybe move the liana more right. I like how You darw the animals, like this flat style also very much. Looking forward to see more of this cover.
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@saciia_ wow really beautiful and striking! Watching this one phone so i see it small and it is working really well!
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@Aleksey thank you
@MichaelaH thank you for the tip! I will try that
@Jonas-Zavacky thank you, that’s good to hear
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The composition is great! Keep it coming.
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I think this is really good! Some suggestions would be to give the type more space considering the long vertical vines. Especially the one near the 'T' is making a tangent and is awkward. You could get rid of it. Also, check the spelling on Rudyard, you spelled it "Rudjard". His name will need to be bigger as well. The title is a good size, but even if this was printed out full size, it would need to be more significant.
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@Teju-Abiola Thank you so much for your valuable tips!... and I should have checked the spelling before posting!
It's the first cover I'm making and if it comes to type I still feel insecure about it. So I'm really happy you pointed it out. -
This is beautiful work, it has a timeless quality to it. I'd love to see how it looks after you've dropped a couple of gradient maps on it to colour the values.
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@Jim-Algar thank you! And that’s a great idea! I‘m still unsure about how I will turn the whole thing into colour. I was initially thinking about working traditionally when it comes to the colouring process and finish it digitally. I like to combine both and about a gradient map I never thought before - I still try to figure out which process is the best for me. Thank you for the great input! I will definitely try it and play around with it.
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@saciia_ it's very interesting and lovely to look at!
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@Coley thank you!
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I love this, Here are my thoughts
- Where is Baloo? I forget how important he was to the book versus the movie, but I think of him as an important character so I would include him. I actually like just having the 5 characters, and I think they are the most important, but It was my first thought so I wanted to share.
- Bagheera has a bit of a flat bottom. His silhouette is so strong, I would fine-tune it by showing his individual front paws.
- Kaa, I would love to see how his body end? The rest of the silhouettes we see the full figure, but Kaa just kinda disappears into the fern, It would be nice to see the end of his tail.
- Fire. Fire is super important to this story, I wonder where you could include fire into the design, perhaps in the colors by having the title in bright orange on a field of green?
I love this cover. It's simple and lovely, you are killing it! Keep up the great work! I can't wait to see the colors!
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I love your piece! It's so dynamic en clear.
As Michaela stated, maybe rotate the boy more or make him more interactive by maybe make him swing? It looks like he's either air walking or just hanging there. You could also have Kaa bend down more towards the The to fill up that space a bit more. Making your piece a bit more balanced? I like how you have hidden his tail. It makes it more interesting to look at and makes me wonder how long he actually is!
Your values are spot on. You really emphasize the importance of the characters by making them darker and thus sticking out. Can't wait to see how you will develop this into a finished piece! Keep up the good work.
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Yeah your silhouettes are very clear. The values are really good. Even if you left it black and white it would be effective. Which i think means if you decided to color it and kept the values in the same ballpark it could look even more amazing.
I dont know if you need additional elements like balloo and fire. There are definitely ways to add them if you wanted to build on it. But so far the concept is very clear and communicates well.
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Actually, I quite like how the animals and boy are deliberately framing the title. But that's a personal choice I think. I think this is gorgeous. x
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@andersoncarman first, thank you for your detailed critique!
I’m thinking about replacing Bagheera with Baloo... since Baloo is a character people have immediately in mind when thinking about the jungle book, ...and you are right about his flat bottom, I actually tried to hide it with some leaves haha
I tried first to show Kaa’s full body but liked it more when a part was hidden, I think that’s sneakier, and he is sneaky isn’t he?
I keep the fire idea in mind...I’m also really unsure how to include it and if I do I will do it in a very subtle way.
Maybe it’s also good to say that the book is actually very different from the Disney movie which picks just it’s favourite parts from the book and puts them together in a new way. The book itself is separated in a lot of different tales and some of them are not even connected to Mowgli. That’s also a point that makes me a little bit unsure about the fire idea.
@Sas thank you for sharing your thoughts Saskia I will work on the details you mentioned! About the space above I liked that it gets a little bit airy, like the holes you have in trees when you look up a forest? But I will give it a try and see how it comes out
@Aleksey thank you! I will try to keep the values, even though I’m still a little bit scared that I will ruin it with colour. But I just take it as a challenge!
@CobaB Thank you! I’m glad you like it! -
@saciia_ I really love your cover, the layout is beautiful! Such a great job laying the values out like that before you start.
You already received some great feedback, and the only thing I would add is the top right of the image feels a bit crowded to me: the dark value plant and dark animal are pretty close to each other (and to the snake). To create more breathing space and overall balance for the piece I would suggest to move the plant a little upwards, or lighten the value a bit (maybe even turn the plant upside down and have it lean in from the right upper corner like the corners down below). I hope that makes sense, it’s sometimes hard to express art terms in English.
I’m really looking forward to seeing your finished piece, it looks amazing!
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Okay, I made a couple of small changes. One of the best tips you gave me was definitely changing the boy a bit. I think I got now some more natural casually hanging in the jungle - pose
I decided to leave Bagheera - first I just love how his tale comes into the light space and also I like his presence - I feel watched and Bagheera is the one who always keeps the eyes open, isn’t he? Since there are so many animals in the book I just decide to leave something out in the hope that less is more.
Thank you all for the critique until now! It really helped me to see and think about points I haven’t seen before! If there is still something bothering you in the cover feel free to complain!
Next step is a scary one: Colouring! I have no idea what will happen
