Book Cover -- Knight project

[Aura]

Hey All
A recent book cover assignment for the book "Timeline" by Michael Crichton. Photoshop.....3 1/2 hours or so. And yes, I know I shouldn't be doing type as an illustrator...oh well. I'd love to hear your comments...both good and bad.

[Aura]

http://www.rsad.edu/~lzimmerm/timelinefinal.jpg

[endregan]

the figure is pretty awesome. i am not so sure about the cape and the bg though. looks like you went crazy in photoshop and darkened or inverted something and it went all dotty.

[Nimrod]

Very nice pose and lighting, very dramatic and eye-catching. I don't think you should have the text be darkened and lightened like that, it makes it hard to read, especially on the background. If you don't know how to do type (like most of us I suspect :P) you should just go with a simple but nice typeface, solid color. If this were for an actual cover it would probably be like that anyway, with the letters embossed and with a glossy ink. Also, having read Timeline, its a lot about the gritty realism of the feudal era; but this image is sort of a more fantastcal looking one, with the knight striking a heroic pose and seeming to fly up in a shaft of light. I hate to really dump on your whole picture like that, but I just think that while its a really great piece and would make an awesome cover for a fantasy book it doesnt really do the book Timeline much service. sorry, I felt it would be beneficial for your future consideration :(

[tyboogie]

i think you should be doing type as an illustrator-----

teh cape and BG are too flat, and simple--thats not what cloth looks like --they would look better painted and use some ref--the bg isnt working ---colors are too localized to the objects and the the textures are to consistent and ambigious

nice lighting on fig---ty

[Aura]

Thanks for the crits guys! I know that some things may look a bit off...it was basically a project to go crazy in photoshop with scanned-in textures. The cape, background and armor are all scanned-in rusty pieces of metal.
But thanks for the great posts!

Nimrod--Thanks for reminding me about the story, I haven't read it in awhile, and kind of went crazy with a fantasy piece. I guess I need to keep my head out of the clouds sometimes. :)

[davi]

very well done, the wings on the cape look a bit too solid to me than a cloth-type material.

[jrr]

your edges are way too sharp here laura. the outline of the knight is too visable. with this type of light it's good to blurr and lose some of the edge, maybe feather the parts where the light hits the section directly... do you know what i mean? nice composition though. are you going to continue on it?

[Aura]

Thanks again for your comments people:D
Always appreciated

Jrr -- thanks for the great comments, I will defintely take them to heart and make some improvements, and hopefully work on it some more.

Davi--thanks for the thoughts on the cape...now that i look at it, it does look a bit strange