Cover - General Idea

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

Since things have been slow I decided to share a general idea for a cover, now that I've figured a couple things out.

I need to orient the scene so that the camera perspective is perpendicular to the wall behind the tube in order to get a better seam.

Hopefully the subjects look like they're halfway between life and death, except for the one who's awake that is.

Em_Press · September 2017

It's amazing.

A few lighting effects up top, a great title and author font and you're good to go.

Paul_Lulu · September 2017

I really like the transition, though something about the blue background doesn't quite work for me. Maybe after the title is added, the blue might work better.

Ron Miller · September 2017

Excellent!

My only suggestion is a small one: I would put the "live" character in the second from the left position rather than at the far left.

Otherwise, good to go for working on the typography!

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

More tedious than amazing -- I'm a novice without a lot of skill for the work.

I have to figure out the lighting a bit better, in my five minute blocks when I can focus without being called to "find", "fix", or serve.

It is good to know I'm on the right track.

Em_Press wrote:
It's amazing.

A few lighting effects up top, a great title and author font and you're good to go.

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

I pulled the blue from within the scene, and kept it in part as it's evocative of cold, which those in stasis would be subjected to.

Paul_Lulu wrote:
I really like the transition, though something about the blue background doesn't quite work for me. Maybe after the title is added, the blue might work better.

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

Sounds like a plan as your eye is much better at this than mine.

The Wife had mentioned losing the lingerie as stasis would either involve buck naked or a compression-suit of some sort.

You wouldn't believe how long it took for me ti figure out how to insert the character into the scene and get the scale right.

Ron Miller wrote:
Excellent!

My only suggestion is a small one: I would put the "live" character in the second from the left position rather than at the far left.

Otherwise, good to go for working on the typography!

Em_Press · September 2017

Try a polygon type lighting effect for the top. (With dimension). Not sure what the right term is. Perhaps Ron knows.

-----

Totally overbearing of me to play with your cover without being asked, but I went to the dog run and was trying to figure out what I meant by polygon. Anyway, couldn't resist just playing with it. Perhaps it'll inspire you in many different directions.

jpeg1 cameron small.jpg

jpeg3 cameron small.jpg

TheJesusNinja · September 2017

Em I like both of those. The first one catches my eye more.

Ron Miller · September 2017

Hmmm...

You may be overthinking things.

I absolutely fail to understand what the mountain-like image is supposed to represent or what it tells me about your book. It is at best distracting. I would suggesting concentrating on making your cover work with just the imagery you started with---the row of figures.

The mountains may have some relation to the story...but I suspect that this may be one of those instances where you have to have already read the story to know what the significance is...which is putting the cart before the horse.

If you want to fill some of the space above the line of girls, I would suggest imagery that conveys more about the nature of the book or the story. For instance, some sort of graphic design that implies artificial intelligence, DNA manipulation or some such thing. This can be much more subtle than the girls, so that it forms a background to the author and title rather than a piece of a visual puzzle.

Finally, there is no reason for the title of the book to not fill much more space than you have allowed.

Em_Press · September 2017

I didn't ask for criticism or feedback, Ron. I simply played with an image so as to inspire athe creator and myself. Besides that, I made it in a quick 20 minutes before going to eat lunch then pick up my daughter from school after having worked from 6 am in the morning. It was meant to be a kind gesture, not to provoke malice.

Ron Miller · September 2017

Em_Press wrote:
I didn't ask for criticism or feedback, Ron. I simply played with an image so as to inspire athe creator and myself. Besides that, I made it in a quick 20 minutes before going to eat lunch then pick up my daughter from school after having worked from 6 am in the morning. It was meant to be a kind gesture, not to provoke malice.

My apologies! I was looking at the images and paid no attention to who had posted them. I thought Sphinx_Cameron had...which is why I worded my critique the way I did. I should have looked at the top of the post! Sorry about that!

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

Not a problem.

The scene would nominally be in a spaceship or an orbital station.

Ron Miller wrote:
Em_Press wrote:
I didn't ask for criticism or feedback, Ron. I simply played with an image so as to inspire athe creator and myself. Besides that, I made it in a quick 20 minutes before going to eat lunch then pick up my daughter from school after having worked from 6 am in the morning. It was meant to be a kind gesture, not to provoke malice.

My apologies! I was looking at the images and paid no attention to who had posted them. I thought Sphinx_Cameron had...which is why I worded my critique the way I did. I should have looked at the top of the post! Sorry about that!

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

A little tinkering later, a second incomplete concept. I really need to figure out putting an interstellar transport and a random planet or two in somewhere, once I figure out some other schtuff.

At any rate, the updated image taking Ron's and the Wife's suggestions. I did reach out to the artist who designed the scene to see if there's a way to pack four or five tubes into a more panoramic field, which I feel sure there is.

I would have used the genetically-engineered hermaphrodite, but the stem on the apple is a bit obvious.

Ron Miller · September 2017

SphinxCameron wrote:
A little tinkering later, a second incomplete concept. I really need to figure out putting an interstellar transport and a random planet or two in somewhere, once I figure out some other schtuff.

At any rate, the updated image taking Ron's and the Wife's suggestions. I did reach out to the artist who designed the scene to see if there's a way to pack four or five tubes into a more panoramic field, which I feel sure there is.

I would have used the genetically-engineered hermaphrodite, but the stem on the apple is a bit obvious.

A generic spacey backdrop would work well, I think. It would get across the setting of the novel without being visually intrusive. The Hubble Space Telescope site gives access to many hundreds of high resolution images that you can use for free.

I would suggest thinking twice before adding more figures. Doing so will only make them all smaller and, consequently, more difficult to read immediately. I think you have enough to get the idea across.

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

Did a bit of playing while sucking down kaffee, though this is likely not the final form.

The image is STScI sourced.

Hopefully a bit more evocative of interstellar travel.

And now back to working on a basic reusable scene with four stasis tubes as well as background so the shadows fall correctly.

TheJesusNinja · September 2017

What about moving the image of the women up some and make a reflection of them on the darkness below and then moving the title up some without the mountains and just putting the title against a black background? Long sentence I know Smiley Happy

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

With luck I got the lighting versus shadows down better -- took a bit of head banging on keyboard.

Skoob_ym · September 2017

SphinxCameron wrote:
A little tinkering later, a second incomplete concept. I really need to figure out putting an interstellar transport and a random planet or two in somewhere, once I figure out some other schtuff.

At any rate, the updated image taking Ron's and the Wife's suggestions. I did reach out to the artist who designed the scene to see if there's a way to pack four or five tubes into a more panoramic field, which I feel sure there is.

I would have used the genetically-engineered hermaphrodite, but the stem on the apple is a bit obvious.

This definitely carries the idea that one of these is not like the others.

Not just the lighting and the positioning (both of which I think are good changes) but also the "Hey, I'm naked" pose.

I also like the concept that Em_press had, i.e., of having a soft-focus and almost monochrome background for the writing -- it could be a vaguely space-station pattern or a simple starfield -- so that the focus of the eye goes to the android figures.

Regarding positioning, I think that this tends to be more or less in that "rule of thirds" window visually, both vertically and horizontally.

A good step forward.

Skoob_ym · September 2017

SphinxCameron wrote:
Did a bit of playing while sucking down kaffee, though this is likely not the final form.

The image is STScI sourced.

Hopefully a bit more evocative of interstellar travel.

And now back to working on a basic reusable scene with four stasis tubes as well as background so the shadows fall correctly.

A good direction. You may need to fade the starfield in order to allow the writing to pop.

Ron Miller · September 2017

That dead straight line between the tubes and the starfield looks odd. Instead of connecting the two images it looks like two separate ones. Is there anyway you can make the top of the tubes visible, with the starfield disappearing behind them?

Papi_Soñoliento · September 2017

I feel certain someone with years of experience using Blender and other imaging software could manage a better merger, but that's way beyond my capability at this point. I haven't figured out how to expand the field on the camera yet [yes, I truly am like a gibbon pounding a keyboard].

I'd love to figure out how to incorporate an image of one of the larger original proposed Project Orion vessels onto a stellar background with a view of the hold and stasis tubes, but that's a ways off I'm afraid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)

I'm still trying to figure out a tutorial on importing an image for a background and something about creating a plane for a floor then adding all sorts of schtuff. I look at the diagrams and after searching for ways to do what it's showing I'm still lost.

Ron Miller wrote:
That dead straight line between the tubes and the starfield looks odd. Instead of connecting the two images it looks like two separate ones. Is there anyway you can make the top of the tubes visible, with the starfield disappearing behind them?

Cover - General Idea

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