# My second cover art-would love feedback



## Darkchild130 (Jul 22, 2014)

Hello all, following the relative success of contractor part 1 (3000 odd copies at the last count, when I aimed for 1000) I decided to go ahead with the second part.
It is nearly complete, minus sending away to an editor, and I've knocked up a cover for it, sans text.

Part 2 is considerably darker than the first one, so I wanted the cover to reflect that. What do you guys think? does it work for an aggressive,com a orientated series?


----------



## Cat's Cradle (Jul 22, 2014)

Hey, DC! I think it's great...it's very creepy/scary. You mention the story is darker than the first, but I wonder if the cover might not literally be just a bit too dark? My only suggestion would be that some detail might be lost because of the darkness of the composition.

But I think it works! Good luck with the project, CC


----------



## Darkchild130 (Jul 22, 2014)

Thanks, I may have to lighten it up for the thumbnail. It looks fine in large (and on an iPad, I forget that most screens, even now, lack the fidelity of a retina display) but the thumbnail is super dark.


----------



## The Judge (Jul 22, 2014)

I'm no expert on these things, but in thumbnail sze it's really hard to make out what it is.  I'd suggest either darkening the figure or lightening the background to make it stand out a good bit more.

As for the figure itself, I'm not sure if its meant to be a human in some kind of suit or an alien.  If the former, I think I'd give it more of a neck, as at the moment it looks a little bit funny (funny ha ha, as well as funny peculiar) with its head on its chest like that.  If the latter, I'd be tempted to make it a good bit more alien and frightening, which at the moment it isn't to my mind.


----------



## HareBrain (Jul 22, 2014)

I think it works quite well full size. I think it would draw my attention, and it does carry a sense of threat. Actually I do find it quite scary (though I'm easily scared). I'm not sure I'd pick the book up because it doesn't seem likely to be my kind of thing, but if it does reflect your book then it's well done.

But yes, you can't make out anything in the thumbnail unless you've already seen it full-size.


----------



## Darkchild130 (Jul 22, 2014)

The Judge said:


> As for the figure itself, I'm not sure if its meant to be a human in some kind of suit or an alien.  If the former, I think I'd give it more of a neck, as at the moment it looks a little bit funny (funny ha ha, as well as funny peculiar) with its head on its chest like that.  If the latter, I'd be tempted to make it a good bit more alien and frightening, which at the moment it isn't to my mind.



He's a human in an armoured muscle suit. He is stalking forward, head down, hence why his head is low.

@harebrain: I think I may need to add contrast in order to make the figure stand out from his background (though that goes against my every instinct as a soldier) I'm glad you find it scary, if you knew what the character did it would be justified.


----------



## Vertigo (Jul 22, 2014)

The one thing that leapt out at me was the writing on his/her helmet. The writing edges are too sharp whilst all other edges in the picture are much softer. This makes it look tacked on. I'm assuming the name and number are important in some way?

Other than that I do like it. The image is, as others have said, maybe a bit dark. As you mention that the story is quite dark, that's maybe not a bad thing, but I still think it wants to be a bit lighter. I would also take a look at what it will look like on an ereader. I suspect it will not look very good.


----------



## Spiegal (Jul 22, 2014)

Personally I would add a little more detail or definition on the arms and chest to really pop it out from the background, though if it's a 'Muscle suit' it may deliberately have a smooth surface.

It looks absolutely awesome though, love the skull design going on the faceplate


----------



## Darkchild130 (Jul 22, 2014)

The darkness is definitely an issue, one that became apparent as soon as I saw the thumbnail. The writing on the head can be embedded more into the background, it's a bit of a rush job as the pic is not finished.

I didn't want to add too much detail because I wanted the focus of the piece to be on his eyes, but now I can see it needs some serious brightness/ colour adjustment to be visible.
Another solution is to crop the image so my soldier takes up more of it.

I will take all these suggestions on board and post an altered version sometime later.


----------

