Greetings! I'm working on a piece of art for a book cover and I'd really appreciate some constructive criticism. The book is an anthology of unicorn stories that will be published in 2005. I'll thank everyone by name within the book. I really need some feedback, folks, but please be honest--be brutal--be constructive. I'm not looking for a "looks great!" or a "that sucks!". I need suggestions for improvement. Thank you! Mark-Wayne Harris

You asked for honest....I really don't like the attitude of the hind legs of the unicorn, it looks like he hopped up in the air and is going to land on his backside. I didn't think unicorns flew. The skirt on the woman needs to drape more softly or you need to show a stiff wind in the grass and trees. The sky is fantastic, but you need a bit more transparency in the fog and you need to bring it into the foreground a bit as well. You might want to try to find some better leaves to put on your trees, Bryce's are a bit flat. I hope this feedback is helpful. Tres

Unless you are portraying actual characters from the book, I would remove the wings from one of the figures, that aspect seems overdone here. The wings on the human figure are less believeable, they look stuck or painted on, so I would clip her wings, so to speak. :^) I'm not sure what's going on between the two figures either (although I can't think of a way to fix that, sorry), I can't tell if the human figure is trying to pet the unicorn, touch the horn, or is just gesturing magically toward it. What's the story you're telling here? If you're just making an image, this is less important, but the cover illustration for a book should make it clear what kind of story is inside. Also if the background is misty enough for fog at ground level, I think there should be some haze in the distance fading up into that pretty sky to give the whole pic more depth. I'm actually finding more to like about this image than not. It's a VERY good start.

I'll be honest with you, i have never tried anything like this nor do i think i ever will. The reason for it is because of the errors i picked in yours.

#1 remove the human figure and replace it with a female that doesn't look to cartoonish.

#2 don't put wings on the human

#3 The unicorn doesn't seem to fit the scene to well, if it is ment to be close to the human figure then it should be larger.

#4 make sure when you place a human in it you place the feet on the ground not just above it where a shadow can form under them.

Ok i did say i have never done anything like this and you wanted honest comments..sorry if i offend you with mine.

Message edited on: 01/23/2005 00:47

About 3/8 of the way up the image, there is an odd interaction between the fog(?) layer and the trees and mountain. The sky and background mountains look great, but the figures might need some work. On the other hand, I wouldn't have a chance at starting something like this yet :)

Thanks for the comments, everyone, and please keep them coming. I'm not totally oblivious to the issues in the image. I like it when someone's comments echo my own feelings about the piece. I'm trying to keep quiet and let everyone feel what they feel. Please continue--the feedback is critical for me. Remember, I'm going to thank everyone by name in the book, so let 'em rip! :)

The skys lighting is not the same as whats on the mountains, they should match more closely to mesh together better.I understand that If they are in a valley of some type they would be in a shaded area,but the peaks on the mountains should still be getting lit the same as the sky and clouds. The mountains seem to be very low rez as well making them seem smaller.They need higher rez with more real looking textures. The mist/fog needs help, as well as the leaves on the trees. Composition wise, the pic doesnt follow the golden rule.It seems real busy, with no flow for the eye to follow. The dress is real un-natural looking(most at the hip area). The feathers on the wings on the horse also look far too large,maybe make them smaller and more to scale in relation. No color theory, most of the colors used are not "helping" one another.

OKay: Mane, tail, fetlock hairs need transparency maps. This way it looks like you cut him out of somewhere and pasted into the pic. Actually, both of them look like they are pasted. No shadows anywhere! Too high ambience? So, the figures should interact more with the background. That's the main reason picture doesn't look good. Maybe you should increase the size of everything and use camera view. Then, play with magnets on her clothes. Yep. Too stiff and unnatural. Then, yes, the unicorn has to be bigger. It's a bloody big horse with a horn, so make him rear above her. I think there's a Poser pose either inside the program library or somewhere among free stuff. Then, you possibly used a cloud plane for mist? Something like that is visible on the tree trunks. Use spheres. Then, either use mountains or use sky for the background. These mountains are simply not big enough in combination with everything else. Then, the colours of lotus leaves and the rushes and the tree leaves are simply wrong. BTW, the tree leaves are too big for those trunks. Use size 1 or 2, and increase the quantity. Composition wise, it's not exactly that the pic doesn't follow the golden rule... It's that the composition is too flat and static. Put them on a diagonal. Finally, if this is the final side ratio, it's one weird book format. Anyways, you need space with pretty neutral background for the title and authors and so on.

There's something odd going on with the tree trunks and the mist. The mist or whatever (whitesish lines) seems to be both in front of and behind at the same time - makes the lower parts of the trunks look semi transparent a bit to me.

Attached Link: http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/E320M/PRB.html

I'm not much of a 2d person, but it seems like there's three areas fighting for attention - the lower left with the highly detailed water lilies, the fairy + unicorn, and the sky. The placement of the ranges of mountains is also disturbing, as the lowest/nearest ones seem visually to be further away because of the fog. The two figures look like sprites that have just been tacked on top of an existing scene, they're not merged with it. The water lilies are in very close-up detail, while the grass on the right-hand side is fuzzy and kinda makeshift. Something about the whole image sent me off googling for the attached image, to see how Millais handled the foliage. He suppresses a lot of detail and limits his colour pallet, and uses light to focus attention on the areas he wants you to look at. It's not a great version of the painting - in fact I think it may even be flipped horizontally - and is very bleached out, but it's worth looking at how he handled the foliage so that it doesn't distract from the main area of interest, while still giving a very rich, detailed overall look. I feel there's too much green in the fairy's costume. Instead of intensifying the vibrancy of the red, it's fighting it. If there was a lot less green it would intensify that red better IMO. For the cover of a book about unicorns, the fairy seems very dominant visually. For a book cover, would you not need to have the picture in portrait format, with dead areas for text? Your text is going to have a hell of a job fighting for attention against those bright colours. But........I do think the brightness will make it stand out in a display. Sheesh....it's never wise to ask for brutally honest crits, you'll be hit with sledgehammers from all sides :^) ....and here's another link just for the fun of it, the tapestry showing the story of The Hunt of the Unicorn [ Links to the images](http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&lr=&q=hunt+unicorn+tapestry&btnG=Search)

was there a hit and run post from Alvin? Coulda sworn I saw one, clicked on the thread and it was gone :^(

It isn't the end of the world when people slam me with criticism. I find it very helpful. I can easily separate criticism of the work from criticism of me. Keep slamming away. I've posted an image of the cover design, also a work in progress. Some of you weren't understanding how the dimensions of the image worked for a cover. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to leave comments. If you want your real name listed in the book, please email it to me at JackStr8@aol.com. I'd like to keep this going, so please keep rockin'!

I think it needs a more magical feel to it. I did this very quickly using the diffuse glow in PS, and then fading it.

I played around with effects a little bit and didn't care for the results. Here's one of them. Is this approach better?

I always thought unicorns were skittish creatures. I like the way Ridley Scott did it in Legend. I'd put the girl on one knee reaching up. If you put the unicorn a little higher up it will also not look like he is about to take a dip. It looks like sunset and the mountains are dark but the fog and the foreground are in bright day. If you put a lantern or maybe some floating lanterns in the lake you could explain why the figures are lit. You could also loose some of the fog and make the light a ring. As it is now the fog pulls the focus off the characters. Now for the technical comments. The wings on the unicorn are too high up, almost coming out of the neck. Move them down to were the shoulder muscles would be. The girl's bell sleeve should be hanging down flat on the arm not floating 4 inches above her wrist. You will probably have to go into poser and pose the dress seperately to fix this. Bryce trees have those fat little bulges in the trunks. Sink them down further into the ground and scale or whatever to hide them.

Ok, you did show me how the picture was going to be 'blocked' for the cover. I have seen it done this way, and also continuing around the spine to the back.
As mentioned by others, I think the scale's off on the uni-pony (baby unicorn? not sure what you'd call it..;) I'd rotate the unicorn forward, to address the leg issue. The bottom of the robe/dress seems to hang out in empty space, but you could probably reposition it. The 2nd (magical) picture, imho, doesn't work. The object of the picture is to attract the eye, and the colors tend to wash out. From observation, I've seen people attracted to a) detail, and b) bright (but not too bright) colors. Once the eye has been attracted to the book, the next thing you want to have in mind is directing their gaze to the title, author, etc. Keeping the main characters in the center works well, because you may want reviewer's comments (i.e., Riviting!, couldn't put it down!, etc..;) some place where they don't detract from the action.
Atlernately, you could scale the Unicorn, and have it lifting one hoof towards the magical character (fae, wizard, I dunno), a la` Michaelangelo. Sometimes a little twist like that might get more attention.
Lookin' good so far, keep it up.

The picture is bright and dark at the same time. I canundestand that a book cover needs to attract - because that's wha people first look at. However - on my screen this does look a little dark (though the screen I am using today is not a graphics screen)But the bright colours are I think needed. However, is the figure on the ground or floating. If on the ground then maybe you need to land her a little. If floating then maybe you need to raise her a little . either would work. May be you need to do a little about the shadow on the face as well. Good luck with the cover

change the hind legs on the unicorn the humal-like figure looks to have 1 foot in the air make the unicorn figure as dramattic as its wings lower the fog, or make it thicker change the water color change the bumpmapping on the water ajust the water's reflection change the look a chohole suggested the best of luck with this Steven

I'm struggling with the flying unicorn...cross between a unicorn and a pegasus? The scale of equine to human miiiight work because it looks like your intent is that the unicorn is a colt. I think you should try landing the unicorn...even if you keep the wings, and have it standing just higher than knee deep in the water...this would give you a cool reflection that would blend nicely with the color splash coming from the flowers lower left. If you start your eyes at the front left flower and follow the natural visual path it goes smoothyl around the curve and then right out the top of the picture as it follows the edge of the far wing. Makes the composition feel herky jerky because I have to bring my eye back dow to consider the girl. As to color and lighting you might try using the unicorn itself as a kind of light source radiating around the two central figures. The mountains and trees and what not are nice but they are staging and so we don't need detail from them. The stark color in the girls dress creates a sharp contrast with the unicorn...I'd try something either white or pastel so that from a color standpoint they seem to "agree" with each other rather than clash. Those are my initial thoughts anyway...

One thing to keep in mind. do you have all the rights to use the characters clothes etc. They might have been free items but if you read the fine print they are often for non comercial use only. My criticisms about the pic are that the red dress attracts all the attention. That is what you focus on. I would change the color to white to signify a kinship with the Unicorn and it woudl get the attention back to the unicorn. Use of depth of field woudl be good here. Also a thing to remember if this is going for pring the resolution will be massive 1500x1500 minimum. Use a premium setting to get better shadows. I like to use true ambience to get nice shadows.