COVER ART for a book I am writing... Critique requested
-
The new font is sweet! That red is awesome but I feel like the background itself is too strongly patterned, it looks a little chaotic and distracts from the title. What if you kept everything as it is, but put a color/layer over the background to mute it somewhat? like this I guess
or
Also a small point but the color of 'Chris Akins' blends in with the map, a darker gradient might help it to pop out more!
-
I made this quick edit to maybe inspire you. Notes
Title should be readable at thumbnail size, especially if you are selling on Amazon and such..
Darker textured background, with a brighter more legible typeface. The top felt extremely heavy, pushed up the map to balance out the red a bit, and have a nice spot to feature your name.
Pendant was straight across for the most part, I angled it down to make it seem more interesting, it also leads your eye to the beginning of your name.
Tangent with the rope on the map, so I pulled it out a bit. Added a drop shadow to the pendant.
Overlapped the title for added flair.
Darkened and brightened the map to make it seem like the glowing pendant is actually a light source.
Added a bit of a border to break things up and tie things together at the same time.
I'm not a pro designer, these are just thoughts.
-
This post is deleted! -
@CLCanadyArts wow you are so good at this! What font did you use? I really like the edits you made. I will work on making it more like that.
-
@chrisaakins Yataghan for the title - free.
Krasomila for the author name -free.
Can't wait to see what you come up with.
-
Okay... Here is the final-ish version I think. Thanks to @burvantill @jwing @CLCanadyArts for your input. The font was exactly the one I was looking for. This was my first serious attempt at cover art, so I thank you for your patience. I learned a ton with your help. Let me know what you think, if you don't mind.
-
@chrisaakins Great job
This looks very professional to me.
-
@burvantill thanks Lisa!
-
@chrisaakins Nice!
-
Awesome (and very educational) to see the evolution of this. The final iteration looks great!
-
@Casual-T Yes, this is what the forums do best. Help us to learn and grow. We have amazing people here.
-
All cover options for the book are beautiful. I think you should feel with your heart which one is the best.
-
@CLCanadyArts That redo looks awesome. I think it would look really cool if the text was made to look like it was embedded/embossed into the leather of the book.
-
The cover really came together after you workshopped it with the group, wow! The final version is eye-catching and mysterious. I love old maps and jewelry with potentially magical qualities... I would very much be arrested by this cover & want to learn more about the book. Outstanding work!
-
Just reading this now. I think the cover has improved a whole lot since the beginning and now it looks quite nice! The only thing I'd do is possibly move the type up a hair. It has had the tendency to be too low all throughout the process. One of my art professors told me, in relation to mattes in frames but I think it also applies to type placement, that the bottom of a matte should always be a little thicker than the other sides, because the eye wants more weight at the bottom. Make sense?