Apr 29, 2010

Zero2Illo: Book Cover Draft2















Thankyou very much to   everyone who commented and gave opinions on the first draft, here and on Zero2Illo. 

Here's the second draft

.I've added some God Rays,  snow at the hoofs, cleaned up the snow, given the Hero a sharp boy's toy, relegated the harp, decided on more dramatic moment by utilising    scary Bad Men, made the hero younger, and magicked up some badly aliased title words, tried to unify the colours, and punched the foreground away from the background.

The horse is still passive, but I'm trying to avoid that rearing horse cliche. But I may not. The heroes face? Not sure, I wanted to make him serene, after all, he is the saviour of the Universe. A serene slayer of bad men?
In the heroes left hand he clasps a famous crown which he won is a riddle game. The crown is pivotal to the plot. The sword in his right hand is not yet his legendary sword.

Comments are very w elcome.







As an aside, sincere apologies I haven't been to many blogs.I'm trying to get around people's blogs and that's what I'm just about to do :))

By the way, the images get bigger if you click on them :)

20 comments:

  1. I hate to use the word "beautiful" but this illustration really is!! i love it :o)

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  2. Super cool Andrew, love the intensity of this one. I'm so glad I made you hungry with my food pics, I feel successful now. Now, if I could only finish! You are so much more diligent and proficient than I am this week. I'm jealous, I wish I had more time!!!

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  3. Thanks Amariah for the complment, I'm trying to work towards an old fashioned look. So did all those pastel colours.

    Hello Karen, yes those food pics made me eat my lunch early :) I wish I had more time too :)

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  4. no, im here.
    fell asleep under the tree.
    reading something that make me smile.

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  5. Hi Andrew, very intriguing illustration with a lot of energy and movement. Yes I do see your point about the horse looking passive, but I see it more as surprised and perplexed with all the action around it.
    Fantastic!

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  6. now this is beautifully done, really...
    but you missed something.
    where is the M?
    dont you know that she is a heroine?

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  7. My dear Andrew,

    Even though I have not left footprints, I have been here, quietly admiring your creations. Ah I have no footprints because I have no body. I have no body therefore no brain therefore I can't say something intelligent about these remarkable illustrations of yours. I'll try.


    Ah, I prefer this version because there is an urgency on the rider's face. Who wants to be capture by epidermis-free beings? Amazing muscular systems and apparently buffed, though scary Bad Men.

    God rays, yes, I have been seeing a lot of those here in the Gulf.

    I hope you are well Andrew. I have been visiting you everyday, though I have been trying to be quiet.

    Take care.
    Tsup!

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  8. You know, there's something about the colors here that I LOVE. It's like two worlds, the old and the new, sort of collide and blend together harmoniously. Of course, I don't need to say anything about the details, you are always so full of surprises! :))

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  9. I don't have any useful advice, but this is looking pretty sharp. Great composition!

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  10. YOU?? INNOCENT??
    Ok, ok... whatever you say.
    AHAHAHAHA...!!!

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  11. A lot of comments before me said what I would have written - very good indeed.

    If you do not mind me telling something else though: I would stay away from the dropshadow lettering - it is a bit corny.

    I also see some problems in the eyes of the hero - they are a bit cloudy or hazy or I do not know the right word - indistinct, maybe. The triangle structure works excellently - you are leading our sight from the eye sockets of the left skeleton up to the hero, and it would go further down to the other skinny guy (and back to the first one to start it again and again), but because of the eyes it breaks.

    And yes, I am behind with your blog as well - I am writing this not because I feel obliged to, but I love coming here and look at your work. It is just... I wish there were 48 hrs in a day, oh, well, what's new.

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  12. Quel travail fantastique, de recherche, d'idée, de réalisation... wouf! surprenant! Tout se bouscule! mais tout est présent... bravo!
    Merci pour vos visites sur mon blog et vos gentils commentaires.
    Best regards.

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  13. It looks great. I have one idea for your request for making the horse less passive. You might want to have some of the white around the eyes showing. That might indicated that he is excited by trying to hold it together.

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  14. Hello Mita so you are asleep under the tree? You are very lucky. Where is M? :) I think M is with Q? Not sure. :) Thanks for the nice complement.

    Hi Aspa, thanks for sying that bout the horse. It's hard to do horses when you don't know them very well like me.

    Hello Ces, it's good that you are quite, cause it means that you are working? Or that you are having a rest? Both are good. (Or as I say "is good) :)

    God rays are very fashionable.

    Hello Amalia, thankyou for noticing that.

    Andrew, that;s funny. I saw your comment and thought, I didn't write that! Heh. I enjoyed my visit to your blog.

    Hello Kings, thanks for th comment on the dropshadow and the eyes. I think I need to pay attention to your fontwork more? Maybe I should look at more

    bookcovers!

    Bonjour Martine. It's my pleasure to check your work. You have an amazing sense of humour as well :)

    Lucretia, thanks for that suggestion. I think LDahl made a similar suggestion on the last thread, so I will certainly look into that for the final piece.

    See you :)]

    thankyou all for taking the time to comment. It makes a big difference to my work I think.

    Happy Saturday!

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  15. Wow, those evildoers are impressively ripped, considering the level of decomposition that's gone on in the head region! Their perfect skinlessness brings to mind that 'anatomical man' toy I had as a child (you could remove half of his plastic 'skin' and see his organs; squeezing a button on his back made his heart 'pump' and blood flowed through his veins- have you seen this? 'anatomical man' maybe?). But really very good, much better with the harp on the back...and I like the horse. He seems cool and collected, exactly what you would want your horse to be if you're going to get into such situations....

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  16. Holy CRAP, Finnie!

    First of all, before I forget, your header is INCREDIBLE! Love, love, LOVE it!

    Ok, now this piece.

    Holy CRAP! Sorry, that one escaped me. Methinks you are a hustler. Your original version was excellent, or so I thought. But THIS one! THIS one completely blows THAT one out of the water. This is practically a whole 'nother illustration, and it is AWESOME!

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Hya! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and thoughts.