Quintessential Concept Art--The Book Cover Competition

[Briantoreilly616]

Please read all of the instructions before posting pictures.

I don't know about you, but one of my first ever art lessons was designing a book cover and it seems to me that that has been the staple of the curriculum for quite a while, so I challenge all of you to do the same again (or for the first time) now that you have honed your skills over the years.

The challenge is simple. It is open to everyone and the the finished designs will be posted for judging shortly after the deadline. The deadline is to have a finished piece posted here by 12:00p.m. GMT May 16th.

The design can be either just the cover, or the back cover-spine-front cover layout and can be for any dimentions.

The front cover must include the title and the author. The author can either be your screen-name, or the sample name Brian O' Reilly (ME!).

The back cover, if you chose to do one, should include any necessary space for a blurb or quotes, but these need not be written, just implied.

The title of the book is: Full Moons and Hot Chocolate

To give you an idea of where to go with it: the book shall be summed up as "A corporate werewolf thriller/horror, with comical undertones but harsh realities."

I hope that leaves it open enough to get your creative juices flowing.

To keep it interesting, please post WIP pics too, but clearly identify once a piece is finished. One final entry per member.

Please post if you are going to do a cover, even before you have started your WIP.

Good luck to all. And Enjoy!

[Briantoreilly616]

Guys, I've extended the deadline, I think a week is too short. The deadline is now May 2nd. Please post if interested. What do you guys think?

[Briantoreilly616]

Does anyone have any interest in this competition?

[Ilaekae]

I'll give it a go. The deadline is May 2?

Don't feel bad. I've got a comics section going that 2,000 people whined and screamed for and have had only maybe a short dozen people submit something in 10 weeks.

[grenogs]

if it wasnt for the fact that im flat out with work commitments for the next month i'd probably join in this. if this is going to become a reguler project , then i'll more than likely join in later. Also if this is to become a reguler thing, any chance of you mixing it up, horror one week, childrens or romantic novels the next?

[Briantoreilly616]

Yeah, that's a good idea. And hey, even a quick sketch would be appreciated :D

[brather]

Hi,
I'll give a try..

[Briantoreilly616]

Cool, anyone else?

[Ilaekae]

I should have something finished by tonight or tomorrow morning. Then I have to start drawing some g'damn zombies...

...and they told me doing art would make me a better person...idiots...

[Briantoreilly616]

Lol. Perceverance is character building :) Remember that WIP is more than welcome.

[Ilaekae]

OMYGAWD! For the first time in my life, I'm first in with something... The world is about to end...RUNNNNNNNN!

Pure vector except for the moons. Hope it's not too embarrassing...

[ADD: I corrected color balance and re-uploaded.]

[Briantoreilly616]

Embarasing? Thats Brilliant!!! I guess I'm even more impressed because this thread was inspired by the novel I'm t the moment. The title I gave in this thread is the working title, so I feel a link to the concepts.

Anyway, Amazing! Styalised and striking, it really captures the description. I might do this every month. Could you post some WIP pics?

[Ilaekae]

Thank you, Brian. I worked directly without any plan on the wolfman (kind of speedpainting in vector), but I think I can get some sort of WP together to explain how it was done.

I find it rather sad AND surprising that no one else has entered anything in this yet. Book covers and posters are a major area, both publicity-wise and economically, in the concept art field, but apparently isn't exciting enough for our little game-playing friends...

[Briantoreilly616]

I agree. Maybe I should make the next one a month long. Anyway, i guess you win by default. Well done :)

[armando]

I didn't even know this existed until a minute ago.

[ArtFish]

damn i wish i had found this earlier...

[Ilaekae]

Brian, if you want to go to a month, go ahead. It might guarantee more entries against all the competing challenges, but it actually should be doable even by an amateur in two weeks.

As for this one, there's no winner. I'm a retired pro, and I usually don't like to compete unless the competition is at least near-pro or definitely better than me, which is pretty common here. :P

I want to punch up the color saturation a bit because I lost some of it in the vector to raster conversion and repost it. Then you can use it as an example of what could be done. When you have your next subject ready, post a warning a few days ahead of starting date in the lounge as a "shameless plug" with an idea of what's going on, and a link back to your Challenge thread. That should get some attention.

[Briantoreilly616]

What do you think of keeping theis open for another 2 weeks? It would at least give Artfish and Armando a chance.

[Ilaekae]

Go for it. Just send them a pm so they know. And maybe some of the other people who piped up earlier.

and maybe post a Shameless Plug in the Lounge that you've extended a cover competition...

Lets get these peons to put up or shut up :P

[Briantoreilly616]

Lol, okay, I'll do that now so.

[ArtFish]

oh cool :] thanks brian

[Briantoreilly616]

No prob! :) I look forward to your entry.

[entdroid]

I'll give it a try too! :) I found this thread yesterday on the deadline, so I'm glad you've extended it.

[Ilaekae]

Oh, lord, that means I'll have to redo mine better... :P

[S.C. Watson]

I just saw this in the Lounge. Depending on my schedule for work I'll give it a go.

Ikea... I mean Ilaekae ( :P ) - love yours :)

All the best,
~Oreg.

[Brendan N]

on the same boat as Oreg here - didn't know about it till now but it's a brilliant idea. As noted it depends on my schedule but I'll try to give this a go every once in a while.

Thanks for the lounge thread and linkage.
And Ilaekae, sir, that is awesome.

[armando]

Just got the PM, I accept the challenge.

[Mrianna]

I suck at keeping deadlines... but maybe I'll get something out. XD I can always try. heh.

[Briantoreilly616]

Cool, and remember to post your WIP guys :D Good luck!

[Larriva Art]

I just discovered this today, but I would like to make an attempt at it. Count me in!

[Briantoreilly616]

Great! You have been counted.

[Larriva Art]

Bad photo of my W.I.P. That'll be a motivational poster in the back.

WIP:
364904

[Ilaekae]

...?

Why's the poster crooked? It kind of blends right into the face that way...

[Larriva Art]

Well, I was thinking claw marks on the wall and cracked glass on the poster. But now that you mention it, there is a bad tangent with the nose. Must fix that. Thanks!

[Ilaekae]

Never tangent somebody's nose. It makes them mad as hell... :P

[Briantoreilly616]

Looks good so far Vampire. Will you be adding more fur, of is that the image you are going for?

[Larriva Art]

Thank you. Yes, definitely more fur to come. :)

[Briantoreilly616]

Cool. Keep up the good work :D

[armando]

This is the first batch of thumnails I produced. None of these ideas work because they're too literal. It's as if I were to illustrate the cover of "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" with a guy flying over a nest. A moon over a cup of hot chocalate; a werewolf hand reaching for a cup of hot chocolate with a refleciton of a moon in it; a werewolf sort of howling at the moon but instead drinking hot chocolate.
366150

So I realized that I would have to think of some sort of story. I figured hot chocolate could be a metaphor for the phrase "stir things up". "Corporate" made me think of loss of identity, and a feeling of being trapped in a cubicle. Werewolves made me think of "identity", and repressed desires, they're a symbol of freedom. So I figure the story could be about a guy in a job that he hates, who one day gets bitten by a werewolf, then, using his newfound confidence and charisma, proceeds to stir things up at his job and in his life and achieves success... but at what cost?
366151

I settled on an image of the guy working late at the office, just noticing a group of wolves running outside. Tyring to figure out the pose, perspective, placing of elements.
366152

[Briantoreilly616]

Wow, great sketches! And I found this interesting: "So I realized that I would have to think of some sort of story. I figured hot chocolate could be a metaphor for the phrase "stir things up". "Corporate" made me think of loss of identity, and a feeling of being trapped in a cubicle. Werewolves made me think of "identity", and repressed desires, they're a symbol of freedom. So I figure the story could be about a guy in a job that he hates, who one day gets bitten by a werewolf, then, using his newfound confidence and charisma, proceeds to stir things up at his job and in his life and achieves success... but at what cost?"

I used that title, and that short description, as it was the first thing that came to my head for this Competition. Why? Because I am actually writing that novel. You pretty much summed up the main idea behind it, I'm glad it came accross.

[Ilaekae]

Good track, A. It's the work--the corporate environment--that is the problem, not all the spooky add-ons. When i did mine, I just imagined what I looked like at 3 in the morning to my clients and wife after a three-day marathon, and that was about what I turned in... :P

[Briantoreilly616]

Just a reminder guys, the closing date is this Friday. I'll then open another Thread for voting.

[SAWART]

count me in.

[Victor B]

quick sketch I'll try to do clean it up , before friday, any C&C

[Briantoreilly616]

Nice work VictorB.

Remember the rules btw, it's a bookcover, not a stand alone piece. The Title etc. must be included in the final piece.

[Victor B]

Briantoreilly616- Yeah I thought I was leaving room both on the top and bottom for text , title and author respectively, any thoughts on it ? not enough room for text? I figure I can still play with cropping and if nessesary ad space to the top or bottom

[Briantoreilly616]

No, I noticed that on yours, it looks good. That just reminded me to mention it, lest anyone forget it.

[armando]

Here's where I'm at so far. Basically figuring out values, and trying to get the shapes in pleasing positions. Still lots of work left. I've never done this before so to be honest I really have no idea what the finished product will look like.

[armando]

Further Development:

[Windsrock]

So this is still going on. Well this might bee a good time to learn how to use Inkscape. I try to do something :)

[Windsrock]

I take a different angle and start from the text. I think that this kind of fantasy font suits here to give there little comical twist.

[Windsrock]

dunno... looks more like dragon or eagle now... I'll do something to it

[Windsrock]

Ok, I think I leave it like it's now so lets call it ready. Hope that even someone likes it :)

[Larriva Art]

Finished!

369897
I hope I didn't overwork the text.:oneye:

[armando]

Final.

[SAWART]

Finished at the last minute. Hope you like it.

[Briantoreilly616]

Great work guys, all of you. I love the different ways it was taken. I'll set up a voting thread in a bit, I might wait a while for late entries, I should probably wait until work hours are over in America, keep forgetting the time differance. Anyway, well done to everyone, a very high quality.

[Victor B]

Briantoreilly616, sorry between work and getting a pretty bad case of the stomach flu I just didn't find time to polish my entry to a finish apologies, you'll have to exclude me .Everyones entries look great , cheers.

[Briantoreilly616]

No problem Victor, the same thing happened to me in C.O.W. Your concept looked promising.

[Briantoreilly616]

Could everyone now please post their finished covers in the new voting thread, along with a quick description. I will make a poll containing the name of each member who has a final piece here.