Alec Illustration

May 15, 2012

Basewood Cover Design: Part 9

Last week I showed how I used watercolor paint to try and color the finished inks for the cover of Basewood.  By the time I was done with it, I was not happy with how it turned out, and I considered the hours and hours that I spent on that version yet another mistake in this process.

Though it was painful to do so, I started over from scratch and re-colored the entire cover digitally.  Here are the results, which I am much more happy with:


At my publisher's request, I shrunk the title a bit, because this book is going to be big.  I also made the inner rings of the title brown to help the overall shape pop a  bunch more.  I also went back to my original sketch idea and dropped the monster down to a full silhouette.  

Little things still may change here or there, but at this point, I'm sick of talking about it!  Hopefully it was useful for people to see this entire process from start to finish.  If anyone would like to read Basewood, it is still available in minicomic form on my website.

Next week it's back to the 100 Watercolors challenge!

2 comments:

rgratzer said...

I think they both look good (digital and watercolor). But I can see how this version works better. The colors look very vibrant in the watercolor (due to your adjustments). But the background is almost too vibey.

In the digital version, it's nice to see a glow around the fire.

Aaron Renier said...

I live the final so much. It gives me the willies! It makes me want to get the spine cracked, and dive inside. Congratulations! I cannot wait to try and read it in french.