Cover Work . . .

[johnnyrocwell]

this is the cover for the graphic novel im workin' on. comments and critiques are always welcome. thanks.

johhnyrocwell.blogspot.com (http://johnnyrocwell.blogspot.com)
johnnyrocwell.deviantart.com (http://johnnyrocwell.deviantart.com)

[kev ferrara]

Very good start on this. Those electric bugs are great. Sexy girl. Composition is dramatic and clear...

A quick critique if you want to hear it...

The greyish skin tones you are using to model form on the girl seem to make the skin looks like it needs a washing. It looks like dirt color. Is that the pencil underneath showing through? Whatever it is you might want to warm up the pencil color by colorizing it and making it some kind of warm orange brown rather than pencil grey so it comes through less muddy.

The little sliver of the guy's right arm that is visible sort of doesn't look right. It looks like its being hid because you didn't want to draw another hand. And it sorta looks like it could be a cone shaped mass coming out of the girls head.

For a panel, the plain blended background might work. But for a cover, it looks empty and lazy. You really need to come up with some kind of environment that explains the world these people inhabit to prospective readers, gives them a sense of what time of day it is, the technology involved, whether everything looks post-apocalyptic or futuristic and pristine, etc. At the moment I can't tell if they're inside, outside, in a city, a spaceship or a sandstorm. Draw a background as beautifully and graphically as you can, but make sure the background doesn't overwhelm the main action in the foreground.

You also have to give some indication the ground plane they are standing on, some kind of perspective of the room they're in or the walls, or a horizon line, or something.

The logo typography isn't tricked-out enough to be cool looking. I have these fonts you're using and except for some outlining and coloring and dropping a texture in the second word, they type is "straight out of the box". With typography you really have to bring some distinction and excitement to the letters that reflects the kind of action that's going on inside the book. Typography is a very serious and cool art form. You can't just do it on a whim and expect it to rock like the masters of type.

Check out the logo to Painkiller Jane for instance. http://wtf.myfonts.com/images/67/67e4cc577176047f3926a93503d7ba32.19710.jpeg

Anyhow, best of luck with it,
kev

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=101106

[Jushra]

I love the style you have going on for the characters. I have to agree with kev tho, it needs a background/environment for them to be in. Another recommendation would be to drastically lower the amount of blur on that front robot, it is rather distracting as it is now.

Thats it. Keep going.