Critique my illustration

DanSilva

Member
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Hey guys!
What do you think about this illustration and book cover? I am quiet happy with this but I am feeling that the typography could be improved somehow, it's seem a little too simple.
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My first thought was 'How on earth did they get him up there!'

I think there's too much emphasis on the illustration rather than the title. And where's the author's name!?
I would have faded off the pic darker, top or bottom, and made the title white out, a lot bigger, and with a more descriptive font.
 
My first thought was 'How on earth did they get him up there!'

haha, I think you are the first person who ask this question...anyway a very good observation...I suppose that if you do it with passion everything is possible:rolleyes:.
I was thinking to change the font from Baskerville to Bodoni...change the alignment, make it bigger, add some other simple graphic elements to the text and blend it a little bit with the fog to emphasise the connection between the illustration and the title.
I will come back with an update of the work.
PS: thank you for the feedback, I really apreciate​
 
Personally, I would go bold, caps and sans serif. Maybe you could find something grungy with bits missing that would
help to merge with the background a little. Go on Amazon and check out the horror section.
 
I tried a couple of sans serif fonts, like Helvetica, Palatino, Futura. They seem a little too simple...I feel like I need a little more character, a serif. Also I think Baskerville kind of match with the time(ww1) and values of the story. Thank you for the suggestion with the amazon, I will definitely try...thank you
 
There are a LOT more sans serif fonts with a ton of personality that aren't Helvetica or Furura.
Sorry, I am still a noob designer...I just started to learn about typography and fonts...can you recommende me some fonts? or a book about typography?
 
Ok guys, what about this variation??? .jpg I chanced the font and I put the author at the bottom, but is looking too busy. (if I put it at the top it's looking like is somehow related with the the hanged body)
Also my professor(from uni) told me that nowadays there are some book covers without the author name on the front(kind of a modern trend)...So I am thinking if would be a good idea just to put it on the back or spine of the book.
What do you think?
 
Are you serious? Have you even looked at a book cover before? Sorry if this sounds harsh but that's quite poor.

The author's name is far too small and nothing is EVER printed that close to the edge. Even the title is too close.

I read a lot and I can't remember seeing a book without the author's name.
The obvious place for the title is under the hanged body, but you probably don't want to cover up your nice illustration.
This is why you should have thought about these things before you did the illustration. If you really don't want to encroach on the main part of the illustration,
just move the title and name (much bigger) up by at least an inch, it won't matter that you're covering up the figure in the foreground a bit as long as you don't go across his head.
 
I only see a couple on there without the author, and most of them are just conceptual versions of very famous books.

Basically, if you're on an art course, it maybe doesn't matter too much about the layout, but it still needs to be well-balanced.
However, if you're on a design course, the design as a whole needs to be right for the fiction genre you're aiming at - it would
need to stand out against many others on the 'shelf'.
 
OK, so I increase the size of the text and I pull it up...better...honestly I find it pretty hard to incorporate bothHunged forest book test try.jpg
 
Lose the drop shadow on the text - and make that text larger underneath the heading, to fill out the entire line.

Consider using a thin version of the font for the author - or a different font than the title.

Forest of the Hanged could also go in the middle.
 
Thank you for the reply and the feedback.
Honestly I feel like I tried everything... if I choose a pair font that contrast the main one is looking odd. If I put the text in the middle of the illustration it will obstruct the immersion of the viewer(I will cut the whole illustration in 2 and destroy the overall composition). I know what you mean, I've researched a lot of book covers on the amazon, and all of them are like what you described, but in this case is just too tricky to do it in that way.
anyway here are the examples
 

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Yeah, there's not really room at the bottom for both. Like Hank says, the title needs to go in between the two figures
at the top. Author name bigger, in black and moved up a bit. Lose the drop shadow.
 
Ah, beat me to it. The third one looks fine, it's not distracting from the image too much at all.
I would try the author in black and needs to be the same width as the title.
The format of the book is a bit square, not seen many that shape.
 
Yeah, but the viewer is supposed to see one of the figures and immediately look at the other one, there are in relation, and the main points of interest. If I would put the text there I will destroy all the composition, all the leading lines.
 
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