Thursday, May 7, 2009

Yet Another Cover

This sucks!  

This morning I went to get a hair cut.  While I was there I spoke with one of the barbers, who also is a bit of an artist.  He was glad to see me, because he had come up with a some characters of his own, that he was going to attempt to make into a comic strip or something.  We discussed the ordeal of cartooning and character development.  I let him know that I had been attempting to become a syndicated cartoonist since I was seventeen years old and it is not an easy task.  Of course, I still encouraged him, because it is all subjective and what do I know; not being a professional cartoonist in any right.  

Anyway, when I got home I decide to make yet another attempt to create just the right, eye catching, cover for my book.  You see, I know the old adage about not being able to tell a book by it's cover, but I think when it comes to Children's book that you want to book to be judged by the cover and then let the inside speak for itself later.  LOL.

It's very challenging, attempting to come up with just the right image to sale your book.  Like other items in the book, this is about my third attempt to get the cover just right (the image you see above is but one of many attempts).  I actually like how Our Hero came out in this picture.  I think I got the proportions of his body, the flow of his cape, everything just the way I wanted it.  However, the little boy (who I will not divulge his purpose in the book yet) is all wrong.  His body is wrong.  It is way to long, making him give the appearance of someone much older than the age that I picture him to be.  And yes, you can gage his age from the length of his body, even though he is a cartoon.  So there!

The other problem with this image is that I think Our Hero looks a little too majestic and I am working on always having him look awkward.  This is a daunting task, for me as an artist.  I think it goes back to me not taking time to really get to know my character, before I attempted to put him on paper.  The reality is that once I decided how I wanted Our Hero to look I went straight from the concept drawing, into attempting to bring him to life into comic form.  The result was me changing Our Hero and then attempting to take that changed image from the never seen comic page, into the pages of a Children's book in progress.  

I really hope I am not getting in over my head here.  I really want my book to sale, even if it's not but twenty -five copies.  This cartooning this is in my blood.  I get more joy out of creating, developing and drawing cartoon characters then any other thing in life.  And that's saying a lot.  The idea of bring a character into a family's life that they can love and enjoy just makes my heart feel warm.  I know that's cheesy, but it true.  

Anyway, this attempt to get what I promise to be my last Book Cover idea, onto paper is hard.  Once again I have Our Hero's upper body just the way I want it to be, but I can't get the lower part of him the fit the mold of his upper part.  The proportions are killing me.  It is so damn frustrating.  And the fact that I draw with too dark of a lead, which makes the erasing more difficult and thus the image less clean is not helping either.  

I would really like to have this cover page completed, or at least close to it, before I shut it down and have to go to work tonight.  But as it stands, it looks like I am at a stalemate.  Suck!

E. W. Forge

3 comments:

  1. Wow, I go away for a few days and there's a [EXPLETIVE EDITED FOR DELICATE YOUNG EYES] load of pictures up! Good show, bro!

    Mo' inspiration for ya (a book cover):
    http://bookreviewsandmore.ca/uploaded_images/VeryCrankyBear-762959.jpg

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  2. You are my inspiration, sir. That is a very cool picture of the bear and it did actually inspire me a bit, as it relates to my on book cover and how I would like for the wording to show.

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  3. Wow - This would be an awesome cover for your book. Contrary to what you think, the proportions are right on even for the kiddo. Of course you still have to define him so maybe he's not right. This portrays a kids biggest fear, even for an adult to be looking over a wall at great hights and having your hero standing next you for comfort. Awesome!

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