Graphic novel cover design
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Hi everyone,
It’s been a looong time since I’ve been active on the forum, but With the extra time at home I’m hoping to re-engage a bit!
Random House Graphic is running a contest for graphic novel covers so I thought I’d enter one I’m working on and I’d love some feedback. I’ve sketched 4 options, what do you think?
Nat Iwata
www.iwataillustration.com -
@natiwata nice to have ya back posting! I like the top right however as a sketch the moon looks like an O so it reads Carryingo But I'm sure once painted it wouldn't.
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I love the top two! The top left is my favorite, although the top right might have some more interesting colors. Good luck on your graphic novel! This is so cool!
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I really like the bottom right. I like the way the character is facing the reader and the action is coming straight on. It feels more like a ‘cover’ to me. The others feel more like interiors to me.
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@natiwata the bottom left one is interesting, a girl staring intently up a horses backside! Im intrigued to know more, its quite funny too. The one with the girl on her own has a sort of menace to it, a seriousness. Either of those two are my favourite, just depends on the tone of the book.
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This is hard, they're all good! The bottom left is my least favourite, I feel like it's not as dynamic as the others and I'm not really sure what's going on. I think the top right and bottom right are my favourites. The bottom right feels strong with the character walking straight towards the viewer, but I also like that in the top right you can play with the relationships between all the characters. It is hard to make a choice as I don't know anything about the story at the minute
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These are nice. My favorite is bottom right. If the other two characters are important for the cover, maybe their heads can be peeking from behind her? Or is that cheese...
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Hey, thank you all for the feedback! The more I considered, I agree with what a couple of people pointed out that the top 2 look more like interiors, the bottom left is weird, so that's leaves the bottom right! Plus, in researching kids graphic novel covers they seem to be more in line with this, usually simple, character-focused, not overly cluttered or composed (except for Amulet, those are rad!) My brother pointed out that the bottom right needs a little extra something of interest so I'm going to add some items falling off her backpack behind her that pertain to the story.
Oh, and the thing in her hands is an urn. ._.
Nat Iwata
www.iwataillustration.com -
@natiwata I like the last one too
The top 2 are lovely but they don't focus on any one character in particular. Who is the main character? The last cover makes it clearer who's story this is! -
These look lovely! They are all really great in their own way, but I'd have to agree that bottom right says "cover" more and I understood right away that she was carrying an urn with that particular illustration in conjunction with the title. It makes me tear up a little!
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Thanks guys, here’s an update of the line art:
Nat Iwata
www.iwataillustration.com -
@natiwata This looks good. I am glad you went with this one.
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Tried some slight variations on title and coloring, not much time as it's due tomorrow, but I think I'm settled on the bottom right.
Nat Iwata
www.iwataillustration.com -
@natiwata I agree with your bottom right decision!!
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One more option...sunset?
Nat Iwata
www.iwataillustration.com -
@natiwata I like both, but they have slightly different emotional reads for me. Last batch neutralizes the mood a little, so the emotion and action are slightly more open to interpretation. The sunset definitely has more dramatic connotations, like time is running out before darkness. It amps up the speed of the action and makes her expression look more intense.
So I guess day version makes me feel that the graphic novel is a bit more introspective and the sunset scene makes it feel like it might have more action-adventure in it.
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@natiwata i love it.
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Definitely the sunset version, great work!
