Comic book cover WIP, Critiques encouraged!

phoenix yip

Hey SVS people, what do you think of the Comic cover I made? Any comments and critiques are welcome!

Heather Boyd

@phoenix-yip I really like it. Might be just me but the purple character confuses me a bit -my impression is he is scowling with his lip up to his nose yes? I like his colour but the other guy has a shirt that breaks up his form a bit instead of one solid mass. Is it suppose to be a take off from star wars?

phoenix yip

@Heather-Boyd yeah ur right, it’s not a Star Wars spin-off tho, thanks!

phoenix yip

@Heather-Boyd also what do you mean by the shirt breaking up his form? I was a little confused by that, does it just make him look too flat?

Heather Boyd

@phoenix-yip no it was meant to be good in comparison to the solid purple character, I meant to say I liked it. That character is tan skin and has a grey shirt and the purple character doesn't (one mass) -sorry I am having trouble explaining it. Like if (he) had markings or accessories to balance the other character who has a shirt. Even the hooded guy has variation.

I do apologise, I saw Star Wars because the helmet reminds me of a character from Star Wars Resistance and you've titled it Rogue.

I do think it's really cool!

phoenix yip

@Heather-Boyd youre all good, thanks for explaining that to me, I see what you’re Saying now. Thank you!

phoenix yip

@Heather-Boyd

Ones this look better?

Heather Boyd

@phoenix-yip the guy with shirt addition looks good (it describes his character more) and you added colour to the man in the hood though I liked the hooded man before in the original -more mysterious. Can I ask who is the purple guy? I did actually mean adding some detail to the purple character -unless he is meant to just be purple skinned (and that's fine), that's what I meant by adding markings/accessories/clothes (to that character). But if the purple character is the same throughout carrying nothing, wearing nothing (unless pants which we can't see) etc. and adding would take away from your storytelling, than yeah it's good.

I appreciate you taking my feedback well. I don't have much experience in comic or graphic novel style -I do like some artists.

Frost Drive

what is that line coming out frrom under the bottom of white guys ear?

phoenix yip

@Heather-Boyd yeah, he is shirtless throughout the whole story, thanks you!

phoenix yip

@Frost-Drive I was attempting to express the absence of light using a method of hatching

TessaW

Love the textures and the color palette! The only thing that I'm iffy about is how you've done the title and credits in the boxes. It's tough for me to critique, because I'm not a graphic designer. First, my instinct would be to take the top credits and move it down under the title. You have a cool, simple graphic thing going on at the top, and it loses a bit of the impact having the credits there. Have you played with other options when it comes to how the title is handled? I wonder what it would look like if the girl character was standing on a landscape element, building, or spacecraft and you had the title over that, without a box.

ArtofAleksey

I am going to be completely honest with you, apologies if it sounds harsh, please do not take it personally. If I saw this cover on a comic book I wouldn't buy it. Not because it looks bad or anything, the color palette is actually your strong suit it seems, but because it tells me nothing about whats going on inside. You have 3 grumpy faces behind a masked character standing upright. All this tells me is this is a comic with 4 characters in it. Maybe it's got some madmax vibes/desert star wars vibes because of the color palette but that's about it.

It also has the word "negotiations" on it, which doesn't sound exhilarating in any way.

Give me more!

Eelwick

The anatomy of the figures is really distracting.. maybe they are not supposed to be human, but they have otherwise human features. The character on the right, his ear is way up high on his skull. The purple figure.. I think you brought his lip up to show contempt, but there are lots of other nuances to expression you can use. Right now it looks like that is the structure of his head and it’s odd. The heavy line weight you are using makes it hard to distinguish form from shadow.

I would study different expressions and head constructions to help build the characters. I agree with the others, I like the palette.

phoenix yip

Hey SVS! I made a new cover, I’ve seen all of your critiques and I completely agree, I hope this is better! Thank you all very much!

Eelwick

This composition works and reads much better!

phoenix yip

@Eelwick alright! Thanks a lot!

phoenix yip

@Eelwick I added some and changed some, is it too busy? Do you like the other one better?

Jacy13

@phoenix-yip This looks really cool! This cover has a lot more dynamism and clarity in composition than the last rendition. Great improvement!

Neha Rawat

@phoenix-yip The second version of the cover is so much better! Great work!

I think I'm leaning more towards the version with the linework in the clouds since it goes with the overall look, but reduce the boldness of the lines coz you don't want it to be overpowering the characters.

A few suggestions I have:

I'm guessing "Duel of the Fates" is the subtitle, so I think it could be made a little more prominent.
You could consider omitting "written & illustrated by". If there's only one person's name mentioned on the cover, I feel it's sort of implicit that they've created the whole book. It would also give you more space to make your name more prominent.
I can't help but notice that the little dude's head is right up there in the crotch of the giant dude Either make him a little bigger or a little smaller.

Overall, very well done!