Copy covers for practice

[Jeremy Ross]

Hi all, Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wondering, does anyone else copy covers for practice? I enjoy it as somewhat a master copy, but I find little things (nuggets) I learn along the way. Here’s a cover I copied from a Sophie the Mouse Book (my daughter let me borrow). It took me 2.5hrs. Wondering if that timing is consistent with the group?

I’m thinking of redrawing covers from my favorite children’s books as practice.

[Heather Boyd]

@Jeremy-Ross

I think it’s great idea. It may be beneficial also to have a place for the text.

[IanS]

I didn't copy covers but I'd copy artists characters to warm up the old drawing arm.

[theprairiefox]

@Jeremy-Ross it is cool that you choose that one. Jennifer Bell lives here in MN and did a workshop at our fall SCBWI.

I haven't thought of copying covers but that is a good idea (especially of artists you dig.)

[Jeremy Ross]

@theprairiefox that’s pretty cool, thanks for sharing! I bet it was a great workshop!

[theprairiefox]

@Jeremy-Ross it was very interesting. It was focused on illustrating middle grade novels and that is pretty different than picture books.

[Jeremy Ross]

Hello SVS Community,

Albeit late, my personal Slowvember Project was to replicate a book cover that I really loved. I really like Dan Santat’s work so I challenged myself to try to copy the cover of Dude!

In case you’re wondering, I sketched via reference and did not use the color picker for rendering, which is why my colors vary from the original masterpiece.

I learned a lot by doing this. Candidly speaking, this was pretty difficult and time consuming.

Enjoy!

Thanks for checking this out!

[IanS]

@Jeremy-Ross Looking good!

[Kat]

Looks great! I've been doing something similar, although not book covers. My "copies" aren't exact either, but there's a lot to be learned from trying and experimenting. Keep going.

[Jeremy Ross]

@Kat thank you for your feedback! I agree, I felt like I was learning from Dan himself - although that probably sounds weird. There were a few times I wished I could call him and ask “how did you do this?”, yet the answer was always there in front of me!

[Nyrryl Cadiz]

@Jeremy-Ross great job! This a fun way to do master copies!

[Kat]

Jeremy, doesn’t sound weird. We learn from others, so it makes perfect sense. It would be great to be able to ask them how they accomplish something, but if we fiddle around by ourselves and try to imitate, we might develop (or stumble upon!) our own unique way of working. Either way, it’s a win, I think.

[Jeremy Ross]

@Kat thanks! I also challenged myself to paint each character on a single layer using the same brush for the entire piece. That was a lot of fun as it allowed me to stay loose with the brush strokes and painting over mistakes rather than using the eraser tool. Very hard but well worth the learning experience.

[Kat]

Wow, that sounds like a challenge indeed! I did not challenge myself quite so much. I'm OK with erasing or making several layers so that I can back out of something. I need to make it as easy on myself as possible so as not to get discouraged!

[Jeremy Ross]

Hello again fellow SVS Community!

I’m back with another installment of; “Copying Covers For Practice!”

This time, I chose a page out of Peter Brown’s, Mr Tiger Goes Wild

I just love this page and did my best to recreate it without tracing or color picker (since I’m a student). Nothing wrong with tracing, but I wanted to really push myself.

Here’s what I learned:

1. What looks simple doesn’t mean it’s easy! This piece was very complicated and I learned a lot from Peter.

2. Everything is drawn differently, no copy and pastes of plants, trees or lettering.

3. This was so much fun to paint! I stayed very loose and didn’t try to make an exact duplication, just tried to stay within the same room.

4. I chose a color palette that I enjoyed more than the original (no disrespect).

Original from Peter Brown

My Remix

[deborah Haagenson]

This is a great idea!

[Heather Boyd]

@Jeremy-Ross I like the colour block of the title roar of the original but I enjoy your colours more for all the rest.

[Jeremy Ross]

@Heather-Boyd thank you so much for your feedback! I was going for a raspy aggressive feel for the letters.

[Heather Boyd]

@Jeremy-Ross no I like your letters just the colour of the block behind it haha

[Jeremy Ross]

Hello everyone, trying something new yet again. This is a copy of a page right out of Oliver Jeffers’ “Stuck”.

This was so much fun making. It took me 2 hours to do, very loosely.

Original Art

My Remix