The Dreyfuss Trilogy

Changeling * Lucifer's Stepdaughter * Moonchild


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Tuesday, 15 February 2011

Another suggestion...

 This was done as a response to my earlier postings, by Nathan Lowell, a very generous author, whom you can find here.


There are specifics rules about ebook covers, versus print book.  This one follows that, if I'm following it all correctly.  (Head spinning)

The other thumbnail mentioned in the comments:


at

12 comments:

  1. Anonymous15 February 2011 at 14:38

    I *HATE* the color and the font, and maybe the size, but wouldn't know until I saw it with another color and font. It's SCREAMING 1982 D&D novella and there's no way I'm picking it up. What are the rules? Maybe we can give input if we know them.

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  2. Unknown15 February 2011 at 14:55

    The rules are that it has to be clearly seen and read, as a thumbnail. The thumbnail size you see as you scroll through Amazon. You want to look at something that small, and think "I'll click on that for a better look. I'll upload another small one here, for you to see.

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  3. Unknown15 February 2011 at 14:57

    And Nathan did say he didn't manage to match colours. I think I'll go thumbnail the others. It does make a difference.

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  4. Nathan Lowell15 February 2011 at 15:22

    Yeah the font choice might be better. It does need to be beefier than the narrow lines on the original. They look terrific at 600 x 900 but at 100x150 it's a bit crowded.

    I *thought* I pulled the original color from the text but when I put them up I realized the original was more flesh colored. I'm not sure where I wandered there but I was in a hurry.

    Some of the key rules of composition hold in covers as they do in photography.

    Rule of Thirds. (google it)

    Ideas of contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity also hold.

    In this take on the cover, the face T shape is in the upper right intersection and the text is contained by the bottom third of the cover. The title and author are linked by proximity that way, re-inforcing the byline by crowding the descenders on the G's almost into the byline.

    The beefy font holds up against shrinking and the stretched byline gives a foundation for the title to rest on. There's actually a subtle shadow under the title to help pull the font color away from the underlying image.

    I've left out lines and boxes to keep the space as free form as possible.

    I'm sure there are probably better arrangements but the stuff I did has a specific purpose and aims at a particular goal.

    Adding visual tension.
    Protecting the thumbnail.
    Creating flow.

    My main issues with the originals were that the main title font was too narrow to stand up, it crowded the edges of the frame, and the drama of the face was underplayed by being scaled into the background.

    The use of dark space created a great chiarascuro effect and the tag lines were super, particularly in the way they flowed by being offset horizontally.

    They looked great big, but not so much small.

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  5. Unknown15 February 2011 at 15:56

    Again, thank you Nathan. I think I can safely say the first versions, were shelf designed. One of the best comments about it, was that if you spotted it on a shelf, you'd pick it up and look at the back.

    Having got it into my skull, that it's wanting people to 'click' to enlarge, I can look at those covers, completely differently.

    I hope you've had as much fun with this, as I have absorbed, so to speak. :-)

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  6. Nathan Lowell15 February 2011 at 15:59

    Here's the cover with the original fonts and colors recut for scale and proportion

    (sorry, blogger won't let me add the img directly to a comment. )

    400x600

    100x150

    Again, I left the tag line out to keep the cover clear for the three elements with the most effect. The T is on the same intersection and might actually be closer.

    The narrower font does not look as lost as I thought it might. I *do* like this font for this work.

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  7. Nathan Lowell15 February 2011 at 16:01

    I've had a ball. Thanks for letting me play.

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  8. Unknown15 February 2011 at 16:05

    You are welcome. I'm happy you're happy. Mutual fun. :-) Shall I get you a coffee?

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  9. Nathan Lowell15 February 2011 at 16:25

    Jeez. I don't know.

    I *still* kinda like the first pass I did, 80s D&D font or not. It's hard to argue with Chelt in its various forms. I think it adds a bit of weight and I really like the text floating in front of the figure. It makes it look more like a unit and less like I cut and pasted things together.

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  10. Nathan Lowell15 February 2011 at 16:30

    My tumblr blog with the three of them side by side

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  11. Nathan Lowell15 February 2011 at 17:23

    OK .. I put one more try up on my Tumblr .. with one more pass at it. I blew the image up until I could get the face T positioned correctly and used your fonts

    i *really* need to get back to my WIP but this is just too much fun. :D

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  12. Unknown15 February 2011 at 17:43

    Yes it all helped. Interesting, that when the face gets too big, you back off from it. It's literally too 'in your face'.

    I liked the lettering over the face, and wondered myself if that would work.

    You'll be the first to know what we end up with! :-)

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