TOR Book Cover Process Work by Alicia Phen

notes on notion

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:23:17 UTC

Book Cover

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:23:53 UTC

- gave the goblin his 2nd facial reconstruction surgery
- changed the font of the title, used "Chantal"
- made the author's name a bit smaller
- cleaned up the lines on the cover
- added a bit more lines + texture on the logs on the back cover
- changed the colour of the font - made it match the tips of the branches on the cover.

Spot #1

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:24:06 UTC

- used lines on the logs, plants, and figures.
- put more light on the figures
- defined the narrator's face more
- made the image lighter overall

Spot #2

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:24:18 UTC

- I actually hate the trees in the background and I think I'm going to take it out when I put it in my portfolio
- made the couple have the most value contrast in the image so that we focus on them
- I like the glow - makes it seem like a much happier time
- reminds me of Paperman (2012) short
- added some lines on the tree to keep the style consistent with the cover

Rough #1

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:27:32 UTC

I thought it would be interesting to include the couple in the story. The goblin and the narrator do look a bit threatening, sitting on top of the buried bodies, staring at the fire.

Rough #3

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:27:44 UTC

For this rough, I experimented using a centre composition. I wondered how to execute it but still make the jacket a continuous image. I thought of using a hollow tree as a framing device and have it be an extreme closeup. I think I tend to want the images to "make sense" in a realistic setting - so, like, proper perspective, values, etc. - and I think having more fun with my work and not having it be bound to what I might see irl would help me improve a lot.

Rough #2

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:27:55 UTC

I thought it might be nice to depict a really peaceful scene between the narrator and the goblin. The fire is off to the side, and it might have been better to include it more in the frame. The text also feels like its in an awkward spot.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:32:33 UTC

had to look up what a wolf tree was

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:32:49 UTC

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phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:34:02 UTC

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phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:35:05 UTC

I was struggling with the thumbnails. I think because I wanted to draw a scene and just didn't know how to frame it + what to draw. I think the detriment of choosing The Log Goblin is that it was limited in terms of scenes + props.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:35:14 UTC

In these ones, I wanted to try to mirror the shape of the top and bottom centre thumbnails. I liked the idea of creating a floating shape with a lot of negative space. I wanted to try and incorporate the couple somehow, and thought it might be nice to include them when they were alive.
Some critique you gave was that the "mirroring" intent wasn't so clear, and to just ditch that idea and make two solid compositions instead of depending on that (possibly a centre composition). You also said it'd be nice to include more of the tree. The house thumbnail was simple and works, but wasn't my favourite.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:36:54 UTC

Eventually, this is what I decided on. I used the values from my rough to help me keep it readable.

Linework in procreate

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:37:19 UTC

in my last few projects, I tried not to depend on line work too much. For this project, I wanted to use shapes more than line, at least in the trees and large objects. But, since this was my first time painting in photoshop (I got a drawing tablet, yay!), I thought it would help me out a lot if I drew the detailed linework in procreate. I made sure to draw them in different layers so it'd be easier for me to toggle them on and off and adjust elements where needed.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:37:54 UTC

I think the greenish colour scheme didn't feel wintery enough. I think the sort of "magical" element was there, but it just didn't feel right.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:38:09 UTC

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:38:26 UTC

I did try to experiment with colour combinations, but it was a bit frustrating because it just didn't feel like it was working out.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:39:23 UTC

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phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:39:40 UTC

In the previous ones, "Log" felt a bit isolated. This is the one I went with, but looking back, it feels a bit too tight.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:41:40 UTC

This is the final book cover I showed in class

font inspiration

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:42:07 UTC

I particularly liked the cursive title. It's a bit imperfect, and feels really personal. It also paired well with the font below.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:46:03 UTC

after consulting about the cover, I decided to apply the changes you suggested

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:46:24 UTC

I wanted to try designing a book jacket and used this article to help me. I thought a jacket would look cool in a mockup haha

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:49:08 UTC

Because I was taking inspiration from children's book illustration, I did a bit of research into some illustrators. I found out about Beatrice Blue (so good!) and I really love the textures that she uses - I wanted to incorporate that, especially in the spots because they'd be in greyscale.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:49:55 UTC

I love the large, flat shapes with gradients in the top right image - I wanted to incorporate that into my own image. I also took a note of which paintbrush I was using on the left haha.

Spot #1 Rough

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:54:54 UTC

I didn't change much to this spot - it looks quite similar to the final

Spot #2 Rough

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:55:15 UTC

critique for this was to include more of the tree and do a centre composition - the mirroring goal wasn't working out.

Spot #2 refined rough

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:55:26 UTC

I went in with a value rough. I find they make it easier to read compared to just a line rough.

My roommate, Carrie, said the original rough looked like a mother talking to her kid under a tree LOL, so I decided to put a bit more work into the characters. Since this scene would be during the day, I had the opportunity to play more with their faces and clothing, as it would be more visible.

I tried to make them look like they were wearing subtle period-piece clothing. Kind of like Kiera Knightly and James McAvoy in Atonement.

I also really like the sweeping look of the tree - I think it gives it a very fantastical element.

For the foliage around the tree, I used the same designs from Spot #1. I think repeating that element helps to signify that the space the Goblin & the Narrator are sitting at is the same place as this.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:55:36 UTC

I realized it looks like they're just in an open field and not in a forest. So, I felt like I needed to include trees in the background... but I liked the negative space more. I settled for adding more subtle trees in the background for my final.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 02:57:48 UTC

i used this image as a reference. I like the dynamic composition made by the hill.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 03:17:05 UTC

just a screenshot of a small portion of my camera roll. these are a few images I took as inspiration. I have a lot more saved on my Pinterest

phena4 — 2023-03-25 03:25:53 UTC

I took inspiration from this image for Spot #1. I liked the floating composition and the elements sticking out from it.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 06:40:08 UTC

these are super rough and not in any dimensions, really. just had to get some ideas out and I picked elements I liked to continue in my "official" roughs

phena4 — 2023-03-25 06:43:10 UTC

I made this template of a book cover in illustrator.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 06:45:22 UTC

with the jacket, I wanted to do a continuous image, similar to these examples. I mostly took inspiration from children's book illustrations to dictate the style - the story was very warm hearted and the goblin character felt like something that might appear in a kids book.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 06:45:31 UTC

These are the images that inspired this rough. I loved the oval-ish frame in the centre and the detail in the border of the image. The top centre and left images use tree branches as the border. I especially loved the decorative elements in the bottom left image and wanted to bring that into my own cover.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 06:50:56 UTC

Rough #2 was inspired by this image. I like the way it plays with light as a compositional element and it's use of colour.

Beatrice Blue's website

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:08:08 UTC

I looked into Beatrice's work and I love it so much. She has a cool art challenge she does called "childhood week" and I think that might be fun to participate in. She's also worked in animation in a couple different roles, so that's exciting to hear! I feel like I'm really drawn to lighthearted, fantasy content, so her work is really up my alley.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:13:27 UTC

I struggled a lot choosing a colour palette. At first, I was very inspired by the works of this Taiwanese illustrator, who goes by "Little oil". They seem to use a lot of cool blues and greens, and because I was doing a winter scene, I thought that might be something I should do as well.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:15:33 UTC

Eventually, I decided to go for a purply colour scheme. It still felt wintery and magical, but I decided to warm it up a bit with oranges because I figured the story called for something warm. I really liked the combination of purple and orange in the centre image (Beatrice Blue) and decided to incorporate that.

Little Oil's Behance profile

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:19:09 UTC

Brushes

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:27:23 UTC

Sarah was nice enough to give me a whole bunch of brushes for photoshop <3!!! I also used some of Kyle's brushes - I downloaded the megapack. I had to test out some brushes to see what I liked and made a separate brush folder called "favs".

Colouring

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:30:02 UTC

Even though I did a colour study, I still found it really frustrating to colour it. It felt some some colours were too vibrant, and things were competing with each other, or that the elements in the image it felt too separate. I depended on using the image editing features a lot to change things like the saturation, brightness, etc.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:35:46 UTC

eventually, I felt like it wasn't going so well and decided to export my main layers as PNGs and move it into procreate. I think I just needed to go back to a program I was very familiar with, because learning Photoshop + having to adjust colours constantly was a bit draining. In Procreate, I played with saturation and filters a bit more easily.

adjustments in procreate

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:37:11 UTC

I made my adjustments in procreate and made note of some of the things I fixed.
- Reduce saturation of BG trees
- add more scratchiness to the main tree's edge
- add some lines on the bg trees
- add more texture to the main tree
- add more texture on the bordering branches of the cover
- change the goblin's face, make it a bit warmer, dull his clothes, make his skin glow using blue + dissolve.
^at the time, I felt like the goblins face was looking a bit TOO cartoonish. So I changed it to this. It looks a bit scarier. I think what I enjoyed was that it felt more expressive.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:42:22 UTC

After doing the cover, I moved onto fonts. I wanted to use hand lettering, but was struggling a bit in photoshop so I did it in procreate.

Back to photoshop

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:43:00 UTC

After making my adjustments in procreate, I took my notes and work back to photoshop to finish it.

Spot #1 process

phena4 — 2023-03-25 07:52:20 UTC

this was after blocking out the main shapes + adding some texture. It still felt very incomplete and super dark. Because it's in greyscale, I felt like I should depend more on grain and texture to create an interesting illustration and use value to prevent it from looking flat.

I eventually added snow, some more lines on the objects, and more grainy textures. I also lightened up the composition and put more reflective light on the goblin and the narrator. At this point, they fall into the background.

In regards to the narrator character, I made him dress in what I thought was more modern clothing. Though, because the scene is dark and we only really see his back, I thought adding a hat would help signify a more current time.

In defence of the lack of trees in the forest:

phena4 — 2023-03-25 08:02:37 UTC

In my research on wolf trees, I found that they tend to be large and their branches grow wildly because of the lack of nearby trees.
In Spot #2, the wolf tree is alive and well, which means there likely weren't many surrounding trees in this time.

phena4 — 2023-03-25 08:04:27 UTC

phena4 — 2023-03-25 08:06:57 UTC