[Tony Easley]

I tend to draw a lot but recently i've been returning to using Illustrator to try and produce some much more graphic work (I used to use illustrator all the time during my foundation and the first year of my degree) and I'm not sure how successful I am with it now. Any opinions?

The first one is an entry for a Penguin books competition and the second is a possibly spread for a fanzine (loosely) on ecology.

nascentideas.com/files/penguin.jpg

nascentideas.com/files/dolphin.jpg

(Can't link or embed yet, sorry!)

[wheedwacker]

I like the first one. The second one isn't quite as nice, with the text hard to read. Red eyes on a dolphin? And is all the red around the stick figure supposed to be blood? Doesn't work well.

[Herr Kurm]

&



And the red thingie is a boat you blind cock

[wheedwacker]

You reversed the order, Kurm!
(Puts on glasses) It's an awful boat.

[safe as milk]

the kerouac one worksnicely but the fish thing is unbalanced and a bit odd = the boat looks like a bowl

[emil]

bello-although a lovely typeface-does not work in this context. the dolphin and boat are a different style from the human figure, the boat is the only thing with depth, but i like th waves.
the kerouac one is nice. typography on the back needs more attention

[Tony Easley]

I think everyone is very much right, back to personal work they go until they're fit for human consumption, they might get somewhere eventually but right now I think they need a lot of work! Any suggestions on the type for the Kerouac image though?

[emil]

There's no differentiation in the paragraphs on the back. It's one long amorphous block of text. Might be better if you used colours for the characters' names for instance.

Work on hierarchy. I don't understand what bit is the summary and what bit is W. Burroughs considerations. Consider using different type treatments.

Look at how others did it.
book back cover - Google Image Search

[emil]

something like this.
but better

[Tony Easley]

Many thanks Emil!

[niksy]

Really love the Kerouac, but typography on the picture with dolphin isn't so readable, I can't even read the first word (tried ~5 times already )

[Tony Easley]

Originally Posted by niksy

Really love the Kerouac, but typography on the picture with dolphin isn't so readable, I can't even read the first word (tried ~5 times already )

It says "overfishing".

Since this thread has been so helpful, any tips on how I can work with colour better? I tend to draw everything by hand in black and white on bristol board and then scan it in and try and colour it on photoshop. I've had some success in the past with sticking to black, grey and red and using some textures i've scanned but now I'm trying to add more of a range of colours and it's just not working somehow. Here are a couple of examples.

nascentideas.com/files/hedi-elegancecolour.jpg

nascentideas.com/files/kerouachitching.jpg

(again, can't embed images yet!)

Just really got no clue where it's going wrong really!

[emil]

To be honest, I see nothing wrong with your colour usage in these two. I actually like them. (Typography isn't the most suitable, but I love the illustration and colours)

[Herr Kurm]

Originally Posted by niksy

Really love the Kerouac, but typography on the picture with dolphin isn't so readable, I can't even read the first word (tried ~5 times already )

You should see a doctor.

[tofallinlove]

lol cool

[Tony Easley]

Thanks for the reassurance Emil, there's no one about to ask their opinion at the moment so I was feeling a little adrift!

[Tony Easley]

Originally Posted by tofallinlove

lol cool

I've actually got 12 drawings of fashion designers but I'm not happy with some elements so I'm redrawing them. At the moment I'm just trying to find good quotes for each one and a layout I'm happy with.

[Tony Easley]

Another attempt at colour and type.

[emil]

yeah better type, still not very sure it's the best but looks better, anyway check the kerning e-l s-i-v e-p, might need more tweaking.
also I feel de descender of the p is conflicting with the ascender d (hedi) maybe move the author name to the top?

Just some thoughts maybe I'm wrong.

[niksy]

Originally Posted by Herr Kurm

You should see a doctor.

Yeah
English is not my native language btw

Ontopic: These three new illustrations, like them a lot, colors are great, typography is good.