On Cover Art for The Moon Etherium

[rowyn]

gnibbles did a cover for me!

I'M NOT A RABID FANGIRL YOU'RE A RABID FANGIRL >_>;;;;; @LadyRowyn #moonetherium pic.twitter.com/TWEP4UCt4o

— B. H. Tang (@catofalltrades) July 8, 2016

The aspect ratio is off, so not quite appropriate for the final book, alas. }:) Although in complete seriousness, I like a number of things about it. She's using the skyline of the Sun Etherium at the top and the Moon Etherium at the bottom to frame the figures, which I had not thought of and which looks cool. And her rendering of Ardent (the satyress on the left) is charming. ♥

I am ambivalent about my skillz as an artist, particularly when it comes to realistic illustration. Silhouettes I can handle. Full color ... eh.

But I have, once or twice, done full-color portraits that approach the general vicinity of the skill level I want for The Moon Etherium cover. Moreover, the final image is going to be mainly seen at 150x250 or 300x500 or so. So I was thinking, maybe if I start with a really big file and then shrink it down a lot, it could be mistaken for professional?

I am unconvinced by this reasoning.

Still, I kinda felt like drawing this morning, and I really did not feel like writing, so I took some reference photos of myself, did a sketch, and started to color it. Not in the slapdash fashion of my quick doodles, but a serious attempt to make it look good, no matter how long it takes.



I didn't really keep track of time, but this is probably 2-3 hours in. I am abandoning it here.

Interestingly, I'm quitting not because I feel like I've proved to myself that I'm not good enough: the jury is still out on that one. From the technical "does this look like a picture of a person?" perspective, it's not that bad.

From the "does this look like an appealing character?" perspective, though, it's not working. I think Gnibbles's painting has more heart and spirit. Mine looks ... off. Not just "I need to futz more with it" (which I do), but it just looks fundamentally not-very-attractive. Possibly I could fix it without restarting entirely, but I think re-doing the underlying sketch and coloring anew will be less frustrating.

EDIT:

Revised version-in-progress! Got to about the same place as the earlier one, after 2.5 hours, and am much happier with it. Not wild about how it looks at thumbnail size, though. I may need to do the headband in a different color so it doesn't blend with the horns at mini-size. Or change the horn color.

Comments

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

Yay, teh artz! ^_^

Though it does seem like it would be an interesting challenge in terms of color/brightness contrasts.

[rowyn]

Yeah, um ... color composition is a thing. A thing I am not good at. O_O I am not sure what I'm going to do if/when my planned idea turns out to be mud at the thumbnail level. Oops.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

I'd think about turning Miro around so he's in front of her, looking outward like Ardent is holding him around the waist. You''d be using her to frame him, and behind her you have the Sun Etherium silhouette. Below him of course, you have the Moon Etherium silhouette.

So in order from top to bottom, back to front:, outside to inside: sunset skies over the Sun Etherium, Ardent hugging Miro, and then as a front-drop, Moon Etherium. Which then provides a convenient place to put your title and author name.

[rowyn]

Mm. I am gonna leave off the Sun & Moon Etheriums, I think. Bearing in mind this picture is going to be viewed mostly at 150 x 240 and occasionally at 333x500 pixels, I don't want to invest a lot of time cramming in details. I think it'll look reasonably good with a simple night sky background. I'll have to rely on the pointy ears and horns to sell the "fantasy" aspect, but I think I'm okay with that.

[tuftears.livejournal.com]

That seems to be coming along well, good use of the moon to pop Ardent out of the background. :) I think adding a spire on the far left of the pic could help draw the eye back down to Miro. Eye-tracking would go from Miro (front) to Ardent (right) to moon (above), then the title at top, then the spire at left. Or vice versa.

[rowyn]

Oooh, spire sounds like a good plan, thanks! I'll give it a shot.

[archangelbeth]

Huh. I thought she looked very cuddly!

[rowyn]

After fussing at the new version for a while, I think a significant part of my problem with this one was that she's not quite facing Miro (the elf on the left). It leaves her with a weird unfocused look to her expression.

On the plus side, I am much happier with the new version!

[archangelbeth]

Her mouth on version 2 is better, too. vry nice!

eating around cats, sorry typos

[whitefangedwolf.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, Ardent's ears in the revised version seem malformed, especially in comparison to the previous version where they are goatier. On the other hand, the revised version fixes the goofy appearance of her face in the previous version.

I think that Ardent would look better with darker horns, but then again, that's how I've always visualized her horns. I found some pictures of goats with darker horns on the Wikimedia Commons that might be useful for color and texture references.

• File:Hausziege 04.jpg
• File:20130504 Maastricht Stadspark 12 Goat.JPG
• File:034 Ziege.JPG
• File:ZOO Chleby, koza s mládětem.jpg
• File:Parc animalier La Reid 20080220 4.jpg
• File:Fuqing Goat.JPG
• File:Abklärung rangordnung zwischen jungen Zwergziegen.JPG

[celtic_maenad]

Regarding the horns: I'm with whitefangedwolf on darker horns. My reasoning is that horns are made of the same stuff hair is, so they should be of a similar color to her hair.

[rowyn]

Oooh. I always thought of horns as "bone", but that's a good point.

[rowyn]

*gives dark horns a try* Mmm, yeah, I do like that better. Thanks! :)

[canis-lupus03.livejournal.com]

I agree, I like the dark horns better, it looks more natural! Also, I'd imagine them waaay further back and more to the side rather than in the middle of her forehead? You know, kind of following the flow of the skull? I love Ardent's hair, though! So curly!

[whitefangedwolf.livejournal.com]

I think I see what you mean. In the 3rd version, based on the angle of Ardent's head, I'd say the horn to the left is centered over her eye while the horn to the right is definitely aligned to the inner corner of the eye. If the horns are on a separate layer, I'd move the right one over a bit to see how it looked centered over the eye.

[canis-lupus03.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the horns don't seem quite even... But just from how imagine a satyr, the horns would be at the least at the hairline if not an inch higher up, and aligned with the outside corner of the eye...

Edit: Uh, and is it me or is the perspective a little off on the right horn? It would point more towards the viewer, wouldn't it?

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

*stares at the second one* I think there's something about her mouth. Like she's making a duckface or something.