SolidSnake2003 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 30 minutes ago, AffinityJules said: In order for people/me to assist you or give advice on your composite, then it would help enormously if we knew what it is you're trying to do with the composite. Each time you change it dramatically confusion sets in and all focus is lost. You need to decide how you want the picture to look and build on that rather than keep changing it on a whim. I'm still not sure how you want it to look when complete? It's not for me to tell you how it should look - that's your choice entirely, but you need to give some kind of guidance so that people can be of real help to you. I'm sorry for being too difficult to work with. I am unsure of how to word exactly what I'm trying to accomplish. My direct inspiration for this cover: Which was inspired by this poster for Stranger Things Season 01: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 As can be seen by both of those examples, a colour palette has been chosen which, as a theme, gives the pictures a uniform, balanced look. The top picture has what looks like a subtle blue-violet palette which runs through the entire image, and the flesh tones have been equally matched but subtly. The bottom picture also uses the blue spectrum but has added red which stands out in stark contrast for dramatic effect. So. What colour scheme, if at all, do you want? There is no need for you to abide by these thematic rules, but you can see as plain as day that, by choosing a colour scheme you can produce a well balanced image which is pleasing to the eye. It's an easy thing to say, but not so easy to execute. I am certainly no professional - or indeed practised in making cover art, and most of the pictures I do are produced with equal amounts of inspiration and experimentation, but in all I try to stick to a colour scheme and trend all components toward it. Have a think about it and make a firm decision then stick to it. Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 2 hours ago, AffinityJules said: As can be seen by both of those examples, a colour palette has been chosen which, as a theme, gives the pictures a uniform, balanced look. The top picture has what looks like a subtle blue-violet palette which runs through the entire image, and the flesh tones have been equally matched but subtly. The bottom picture also uses the blue spectrum but has added red which stands out in stark contrast for dramatic effect. So. What colour scheme, if at all, do you want? There is no need for you to abide by these thematic rules, but you can see as plain as day that, by choosing a colour scheme you can produce a well balanced image which is pleasing to the eye. It's an easy thing to say, but not so easy to execute. I am certainly no professional - or indeed practised in making cover art, and most of the pictures I do are produced with equal amounts of inspiration and experimentation, but in all I try to stick to a colour scheme and trend all components toward it. Have a think about it and make a firm decision then stick to it. The color scheme I'm going for is the green and orange that is in the composite, trying to replicate the 2 color tones of the original ST poster using colors from or at least inspired by the source material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 @AffinityJules @v_kyr @firstdefence @iconoclast @Dan C Here is a new preview where I reset the coloring to the old one, and updated the title to look more ST eseque Hope you all like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted February 4 Share Posted February 4 It would be good if you now matched the skin tones of the left boy and the girl to the boy in the centre, their colour is off {again} - especially the girl's. The boy in the centre has a flesh tone that trends more towards an orange hue, the other 2 characters should also trend to the same hue. The left building is off when compared to the other 2, and as you want a orange and green colour scheme, I would suggest using a very dark orange on the buildings via a curves adjustment or something similar. The top of the picture with Pennywise and the Turtle might just as well not be there, you can't make out what they're meant to be - it's just an orange and green colour frenzy. Ultimately any decision is yours to make when it comes to colouring, but arriving at a pleasing balance will greatly improve the picture's appearance. The titles and fonts look ok, but it looks a little crowded down there. Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 22 hours ago, AffinityJules said: It would be good if you now matched the skin tones of the left boy and the girl to the boy in the centre, their colour is off {again} - especially the girl's. The boy in the centre has a flesh tone that trends more towards an orange hue, the other 2 characters should also trend to the same hue. The left building is off when compared to the other 2, and as you want a orange and green colour scheme, I would suggest using a very dark orange on the buildings via a curves adjustment or something similar. The top of the picture with Pennywise and the Turtle might just as well not be there, you can't make out what they're meant to be - it's just an orange and green colour frenzy. Ultimately any decision is yours to make when it comes to colouring, but arriving at a pleasing balance will greatly improve the picture's appearance. The titles and fonts look ok, but it looks a little crowded down there. @AffinityJules The reason that Pennywise and Maturin are in the clouds is cause that is what is representing the different backgrounds 'like the ST poster. The closest background for Pennywise would just be the sewers where it lives. Plus I couldn't think of a background that represents the letter wall from ST in IT other than maybe the Underground clubhouse of the kids. But there is not much lighting in the clubhouse. Here is a new preview where I updated the coloring on the two kids, and updated the coloring on the buildings. Haven't added the artistic effects yet, just making sure I'm on the right track before adding them: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 This technique may or may not be what you're looking for, but as can be seen by this example, the 2 figures are clearly visible against the backdrop. Try it out. edit: I wrote red in the text box, but it should have read orange. Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 4 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said: @AffinityJules The reason that Pennywise and Maturin are in the clouds is cause that is what is representing the different backgrounds 'like the ST poster. The closest background for Pennywise would just be the sewers where it lives. Plus I couldn't think of a background that represents the letter wall from ST in IT other than maybe the Underground clubhouse of the kids. But there is not much lighting in the clubhouse. Here is a new preview where I updated the coloring on the two kids, and updated the coloring on the buildings. Haven't added the artistic effects yet, just making sure I'm on the right track before adding them: Now that is a huge improvement. Still needs some tweaking but it's a big step in the right direction. The boy on the left is still a little off colour-wise. One thing I would try (keeping with the orange and green theme) is to turn the Derry sign a dark shade of green to make it pop slightly. As it stands now it's getting a bit lost. When I say green, I mean be subtle - not bold. That only goes for sign, not the frame. Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 On 2/5/2024 at 8:00 AM, AffinityJules said: Now that is a huge improvement. Still needs some tweaking but it's a big step in the right direction. The boy on the left is still a little off colour-wise. One thing I would try (keeping with the orange and green theme) is to turn the Derry sign a dark shade of green to make it pop slightly. As it stands now it's getting a bit lost. When I say green, I mean be subtle - not bold. That only goes for sign, not the frame. @AffinityJules Here is a new preview of the cover. I updated the color balance on Bill(The one on the left), and I used the green on the channel mixer on the sign to brighten it up a bit to make the text easier: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 In my eyes there's a bit of tweaking to be done here and there, but it's up to you whether you think they're good ideas or not. The sign could be a bit bolder with the green tint - try a curves adjustment and push up the green (I did that and it looked ok to me) then erase around the letters to bring them back to black. The greenery around the left house is orange, if that is how you want it to remain then no prob. You could try masking out the orange by degrees and slowly bring back the green to an acceptable level/balance. The winding road around the central structure could be desaturated a bit just to emphasize the fact that it is a road, this will also help draw the eye to the central part of the picture where all the interest is. Your colour scheme is all about green and orange, but right now orange is dominating the entire scene. Adjusting the sign, the trees, and the road, (carefully) will help with the overall balance I think? I'm still not keen on the top of the picture where Pennywise and ole turtle head is, but that is purely personal opinion/preference and is of no consequence here. Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Another quick, crude example. I haven't got the composite in front of me so layer manipulation is impossible, so my example here relies on approximation only. 1. Road desaturated. 2. Enhanced greenery. 3. Adjusted sign. 4. Reduced colour of rockery - if that's what that is? 5. Adjusted tree separately and brightened it slightly. Additional: there is a lot of fog at the bottom of the picture which made object recognition difficult...hence approximation. Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 10 hours ago, AffinityJules said: Another quick, crude example. I haven't got the composite in front of me so layer manipulation is impossible, so my example here relies on approximation only. 1. Road desaturated. 2. Enhanced greenery. 3. Adjusted sign. 4. Reduced colour of rockery - if that's what that is? 5. Adjusted tree separately and brightened it slightly. Additional: there is a lot of fog at the bottom of the picture which made object recognition difficult...hence approximation. The ground is actually a cutout I downloaded off of DeviantArt: https://www.deviantart.com/mrd-stock/art/Dirt-road-stock-513120619 The Wellhouse in the middle is actually from the pilot for Locke & Key that was going to be on Hulu before Netflix picked it up. https://daveblass.carbonmade.com/projects/6809828 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 Here is a new preview. I adjusted the sign as you suggested. Rearranged the left house to be above above the ground cutout, readded the dog cause she's an important character in the story, added some ground fog to see how it looks. Plus adjusted the coloring on the text to help it stand out more. Hope you all llike it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 10 Author Share Posted February 10 @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 Here is a new preview of the cover. I updated the coloring by taking out some of the reds and pushing the greens. Plus I updated the coloring on the Derry sign, and reduced the opacity of the fog, and blended the ground cutout with the left house more to make them look like they belong together. Hope you all like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 12 Author Share Posted February 12 @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 Here is a new preview of the cover. I updated the coloring by taking out some of the reds and pushing the greens. Plus I updated the coloring and brightness on the Derry sign, and further reduced the opacity of the fog, and blended the ground cutout with the right house more to make them look like they belong together. Hope everyone likes the updates I made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted February 14 Author Share Posted February 14 @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 Here is the final version of the cover. Hope everyone likes it: StuartRc 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 @TrentL @Komatös Here is a version of the cover where the background characters are now outside of the background and more visible. I added a space background in the green area, and a screenshot of the sewer entrance from the 1990 mini-series as the background representing IT's lair. I also added characters on the ground as well to make it more like the Stranger Things poster. Hope you all like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AffinityJules Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 1 hour ago, SolidSnake2003 said: @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 @TrentL @Komatös Here is a version of the cover where the background characters are now outside of the background and more visible. I added a space background in the green area, and a screenshot of the sewer entrance from the 1990 mini-series as the background representing IT's lair. I also added characters on the ground as well to make it more like the Stranger Things poster. Hope you all like it. Hmm... do you not think that there should be shadows present casted by the 3 new characters to help ground them to the floor? The 3 of them look like their hovering and, the figure behind is way too big to my eyes. Komatös and SolidSnake2003 2 Quote Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe. These are not my own words but I sure like this quote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted April 4 Author Share Posted April 4 7 minutes ago, AffinityJules said: Hmm... do you not think that there should be shadows present casted by the 3 new characters to help ground them to the floor? The 3 of them look like their hovering and, the figure behind is way too big to my eyes. I was going to work on that part next. I just wanted to make sure I had the characters in place before I added the shadows underneath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komatös Posted April 4 Share Posted April 4 4 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said: I was going to work on that part next. For my taste, the three new characters are too much of a good thing. If you add text now, I think it will be too restless. Sometimes less is more! Quote AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (22631.3296) AMD A10-9600P | dGPU R7 M340 (2 GB) | 8 GB DDR4 2133 MHz | Windows 10 Home 22H2 (1945.3803) Affinity Suite V 2.4 & Beta 2.(latest) Better translations with: https://www.deepl.com/translator Interested in a robust (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF Life is too short to have meaningless discussions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 @TrentL @Komatös Here is a version of the cover. I made the text visible to align people properly, plus updated the coloring on the bottom text to make it more readable. I also added an effect to Georgie's eyes on the bottom that resembles the deadlights effect from the movie. I also moved one of the other ones back and made him smaller to better fit. Hope you all like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komatös Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 3 hours ago, SolidSnake2003 said: Hope you all like it. The orange lettering is (for me) difficult to read. As an alternative, I would use white and bold. And in Twisted Fates, the E, A and T don't stand out enough from the background. I think a border, for the two words, of 2 pixels in the color of IT would make the text stand out better. Quote AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (22631.3296) AMD A10-9600P | dGPU R7 M340 (2 GB) | 8 GB DDR4 2133 MHz | Windows 10 Home 22H2 (1945.3803) Affinity Suite V 2.4 & Beta 2.(latest) Better translations with: https://www.deepl.com/translator Interested in a robust (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF Life is too short to have meaningless discussions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 10 hours ago, Komatös said: The orange lettering is (for me) difficult to read. As an alternative, I would use white and bold. And in Twisted Fates, the E, A and T don't stand out enough from the background. I think a border, for the two words, of 2 pixels in the color of IT would make the text stand out better. @AffinityJules @iconoclast @v_kyr @Dan C @firstdefence @carl123 @TrentL @Komatös Here is a version of the cover. I added a moon on the star side of the background. I adjusted the center characters a bit to blend better with the moon. I have also started adding shading to the characters and background. I also started making adjustments to the text, but won't finalize it till the shading is done to add the final painting effects. Hope you all like it. TrentL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Komatös Posted April 5 Share Posted April 5 13 minutes ago, SolidSnake2003 said: Hope you all like it. That's how it fits now - like a pair of handmade lace-up shoes. 👍😜 SolidSnake2003 1 Quote AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | INTEL Arc A770 LE 16 GB | 32 GB DDR4 3200MHz | Windows 11 Pro 23H2 (22631.3296) AMD A10-9600P | dGPU R7 M340 (2 GB) | 8 GB DDR4 2133 MHz | Windows 10 Home 22H2 (1945.3803) Affinity Suite V 2.4 & Beta 2.(latest) Better translations with: https://www.deepl.com/translator Interested in a robust (selfhosted) PDF Solution? Have a look at Stirling PDF Life is too short to have meaningless discussions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SolidSnake2003 Posted April 5 Author Share Posted April 5 3 minutes ago, Komatös said: That's how it fits now - like a pair of handmade lace-up shoes. 👍😜 Thanks for all the help, is there any other suggestions on how to finalize the lighting before I start making it look more like a old 80s poster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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