Feedback for 4 covers for a child endangerment thriller please

Gregg Bell · Feb 21, 2019

These are mock-ups for a child endangerment thriller. It's kind of a tear jerker in that the child dies. But it's also edifying in the end. Nicholas Sparks-ish but not much romance. That sort of thing. Thanks.

#1)

#2)

#3)

#4)

kevinwaynewilliams · Feb 21, 2019

The dark sea does the best at conveying danger. I'd try a little bit of creative masking to get the beach of #2 combined with the water of #4 to heighten the contrast.

The title font is a complete meh for me. Doesn't convey anything thrilling or dangerous.

Earthling · Feb 22, 2019

kevinwaynewilliams said:
The dark sea does the best at conveying danger. I'd try a little bit of creative masking to get the beach of #2 combined with the water of #4 to heighten the contrast.

The title font is a complete meh for me. Doesn't convey anything thrilling or dangerous.

I agree with all this.

Chris P · Feb 22, 2019

My initial gut says 1 or 4, and I agree that the font is not eye-catching. I see what you were trying to do in 3 by hqving the child in grayscale, but I initially completely missed it. Now I think 4 is the strongest.

dpaterso · Feb 22, 2019

Man, what a spoiler!

I prefer #1's title because of its gradient, and #4's more menacing darker ocean. And maybe #3's author name especially if it matches the ocean color.

-Derek

Gregg Bell · Feb 22, 2019

kevinwaynewilliams said:
The dark sea does the best at conveying danger. I'd try a little bit of creative masking to get the beach of #2 combined with the water of #4 to heighten the contrast.

The title font is a complete meh for me. Doesn't convey anything thrilling or dangerous.

Thanks Kevin. I agree this needs the darker water. Any suggestions on the font? Or texturing it?

Gregg Bell · Feb 22, 2019

Earthling said:
I agree with all this.

Thanks Earthling. I agree with him too.

Gregg Bell · Feb 22, 2019

Chris P said:
My initial gut says 1 or 4, and I agree that the font is not eye-catching. I see what you were trying to do in 3 by hqving the child in grayscale, but I initially completely missed it. Now I think 4 is the strongest.

Thanks Chris. Not sure what you meant by you almost missed what I was trying to do in #3, though.

Gregg Bell · Feb 22, 2019

dpaterso said:
Man, what a spoiler!

I prefer #1's title because of its gradient, and #4's more menacing darker ocean. And maybe #3's author name especially if it matches the ocean color.

-Derek

Thanks Derek. What's the spoiler, though?

dpaterso · Feb 23, 2019

Gregg Bell said:
Thanks Derek. What's the spoiler, though?

Gregg Bell said:

It's kind of a tear jerker in that the child dies.

Click to expand...

^^^

-Derek

Crispin · Feb 27, 2019

Consider putting the entire image in grayscale and dropping the brightness to better represent the feeling of the book. Right now it feels like it could be about a day at the beach. As for the font, I think a distressed look will be your best bet. Something like this to sell the mood: https://www.fontspace.com/k-type/mailart-rubberstamp

dpaterso · Feb 28, 2019

Just a thought, you could also drop the P down a little and angle it as if it's "slipped" -- might make the title a little less ordinary, e.g.

-Derek

Gregg Bell · Mar 4, 2019

dpaterso said:
^^^

-Derek

Sorry! I never think of stuff like that in the forum!

Gregg Bell · Mar 4, 2019

Crispin said:
Consider putting the entire image in grayscale and dropping the brightness to better represent the feeling of the book. Right now it feels like it could be about a day at the beach. As for the font, I think a distressed look will be your best bet. Something like this to sell the mood: https://www.fontspace.com/k-type/mailart-rubberstamp

Thanks Crispin. I'm posting new versions of the cover today (with a different image) and one of them has grayscale. Thanks for the link with the font. Very interesting. I'll try it out.

Gregg Bell · Mar 4, 2019

dpaterso said:
Just a thought, you could also drop the P down a little and angle it as if it's "slipped" -- might make the title a little less ordinary, e.g.

-Derek

Thanks Derek. You did a really awesome job on that. And without the source file. Impressive. I think I'm going to go with a different image though. I'm going to post right after this.

Feedback for 4 covers for a child endangerment thriller please

Gregg Bell

kevinwaynewilliams

Be blunt: I appreciate it

Earthling

I come in peace

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

dpaterso

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