Tear Me A New One - Logo and Cover Treatment Tough Love

[Kep!]

Folks, below is the first cover of my new series...or the proposal. I am FAR too close to this and would LOVE to have some more eyes on it. No color yet, logo will be coordinated, of course. No crit is too petty or too minute. THANK YOU!

[raya]

It's kind of hard to tell without the color, some colorists can really improve the piece. An example I think is John's coloring on this cover, which turned out really cool:

Originally Posted by John Rauch

Definitely, speed is something that comes with time and understanding. Obviously one artist isn't significantly faster than another because they move their hand faster. It's because they know how to put down what they want the first time instead of homing in on it after 10 tries. This is exactly why I draw very slow. I know what bad art looks like, but it still takes me some guessing and erasing to get a line down that I'm comfortable with.

Anyway, here's another cover I colored last week. Hope ya dig. Pencils by Pat Quinn.

http://www.digitalwebbing.com/forums...eply&p=1448705

I'm also not crazy about the lettering in balloons on covers, but that's just my preference.

[Thomas Mauer]

With the right color, it can work as is, though I think the curve at the T is off because it breaks the general direction of the caligraphics of the other letters (yeah, I'm talking out of my ass here on the terms, but I guess you know waht I mean).

What's a lot more distracting is that three of your balloons on the cover have so much air that compared to the fourth, it looks like the speaker is whispering.

Also, I would rescript the first balloon so you can stack the copy better. It just looks weird as is.

Your future
is looking just
fine, mister
bailey.

...and then playing with the tracking (-15 to +15) and horizontal scale (98% to 105%) could give you a better result, for example.

[Piekos]

I'm not keen on how the balloons almost precisely follow the outside edge of the crystal ball. I'd bump some more in or more out.

~N

[The DarkMind]

Hey Kep, the title really blends in to the art behind it for me. I don't know if its the positioning, the shared line weight with the art, or the lack of color at this stage.

[Kep!]

Originally Posted by Thomas Mauer

With the right color, it can work as is, though I think the curve at the T is off because it breaks the general direction of the caligraphics of the other letters (yeah, I'm talking out of my ass here on the terms, but I guess you know waht I mean).

What's a lot more distracting is that three of your balloons on the cover have so much air that compared to the fourth, it looks like the speaker is whispering.

Also, I would rescript the first balloon so you can stack the copy better. It just looks weird as is.

Your future
is looking just
fine, mister
bailey.

...and then playing with the tracking (-15 to +15) and horizontal scale (98% to 105%) could give you a better result, for example.

See, it's the minor shit like this I'm NOT seeing. I hate lettering my own work because of that...I get too caught up with the language and miss the basics. THANK YOU!!!

[Kep!]

Originally Posted by Piekos

I'm not keen on how the balloons almost precisely follow the outside edge of the crystal ball. I'd bump some more in or more out.

~N

I had a lot of heartache with that and I went this way. But three days later I think you're right on target. Thank you!

[Kep!]

Originally Posted by raya

It's kind of hard to tell without the color, some colorists can really improve the piece. An example I think is John's coloring on this cover, which turned out really cool:

Ummm, yeah. It IS being colored...but we're working simultaneously. John's stuff is always great, but he's not on this project.

Originally Posted by raya

I'm also not crazy about the lettering in balloons on covers, but that's just my preference.

I couldn't disagree more. I think the move to iconical covers is one of the things that has hurt the industry as a whole...pinups are best used sparingly...like the spice cumin.

However, in this case, it's more than just the cover, I'm actually using it as Panel 1...I decided there was no reason not to tell the story with the whole book.