Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Making a cover

I just finished up a cover for a new project I'm working on and because it was kind of a battle and I scanned and saved numerous times I figured I would give a run through on the process. Seeing as how I can't really explain the imagery I'm hoping it'll be a quick one.

First I worked up a handful of cover sketches and sent out my favorites. We finally agreed on an image of our main character standing over New York city. In the background would be an actual street map with hands stitching the city together. Then I got to work painting old hands, our hero and drawing (hopefully) recognizable New York buildings.

Then I started putting the pieces together in Photoshop. Playing with the elements, experimenting and trying new things was a lot of fun but ultimately these just weren't working for me.
All the streetlights and glowing billboards became a mess and just didn't work. And with the figure in a profile like that he just didn't command enough attention. It was already too busy and I hadn't even added the stitching and thread yet. So I re-worked the entire design. I went in closer on the figure, muted the city a little bit, added the stitching and loose threads (which for anyone interested were made in illistrator)
and changed the hue of the background to more of a green so that the red string would pop out more. I'm much happier now. The logo is still being worked out and a part of me wishes I left more room for it, but I'm confident it'll still work out ok.

And there you go!

Friday, September 10, 2010

Criterion poster

I was asked to do a poster for the film Ne Change Rien for the cinema section of the ATP festival curated by the people at CRITERION.
It was an absolute blast and hopefully not the last time I'll be able to work with them. Criterion Art Director / Designer Eric Skillman (http://www.ericskillman.com/ and http://ericskillman.blogspot.com/) did an incredible job mocking up all the posters to look like old EC,DC, and Marvel covers. There was a ridiculous amount of talent on this project so I was humbled to be included, the kickstand kids and Jason Latour did my favorites but you can see the rest HERE!

YAY!