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Post by easyeight on Jul 14, 2022 0:48:37 GMT
Greetings all, We're trying on a new art style/theme for the NUTS books, moving away from stock photo covers to original art that is trying to evoke the feeling of an action war movie poster. Here's the first peek -- comments are welcome!! Thanks in advance for your replies.  Cheers! |
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Post by squidlord on Jul 14, 2022 1:04:36 GMT
Interesting.
I like the overall concept in terms of trying to emulate an action war movie poster. But when it comes to this particular example – it's way too cluttered and way too busy. In fact, it looks like you have two separate posters happening on the same page.
In one of them, you have attained in the middle distance, some soldiers on the ground in the foreground, and some planes in the background, oriented to from bottom left to upper right.
In the other you have three infantryman, one in the foreground, one in the midplane, and one in the far background, oriented from bottom right to mid left.
In they don't exist in the same space.
Either one of those images would be great for a cover but both of them at the same time just doesn't work.
You have to try and not make things too busy because you don't want anything competing with your title. The title is the most important thing about the front of a book. Just like the title of a movie is the most important thing on a movie poster.
The front of 5150: New Beginnings is a great example of good cover composition. You have a flying vehicle in the mid left foreground and a city at night which stretches to the right, and a strongly contrasting title at the top. Fantastic, you know exactly what you're looking at when you see it. 5150: Known Space, maybe even a stronger cover; spaceship mid foreground, planet in the background, contrasting title. Boom, you know what you're looking at.
Given this composition, I don't know what I'm looking at.
If I had to choose from the two structured images I see going on here, I would pick the infantry on the ground in the foreground and the tanks in the midplane – and I might just take out the aircraft altogether. They're mostly going to get blocked by the title, anyway. Leave this guy up there to be the backdrop behind the title; let it dominate the top third of that cover.
But those are just my thoughts.
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Post by easyeight on Jul 14, 2022 15:56:01 GMT
Good comments, thanks! What if it looked more like this style?  |
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Post by BROODE on Jul 15, 2022 7:45:45 GMT
How's about something like this?  |
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Post by jaimemmp on Jul 15, 2022 22:26:28 GMT
Good comments, thanks! What if it looked more like this style? View AttachmentYes! I would go for this style! |
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Post by jgregory on Jul 16, 2022 3:33:08 GMT
The "Battleground" poster is much more in keeping with the feeling Nuts! evokes for me.
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Post by bluenoser2000 on Jul 16, 2022 17:34:52 GMT
New Nuts Cover art- Nuts is meant to be a set of universal rules. Once again only the Americans seem to count. N
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Post by easyeight on Jul 16, 2022 17:54:15 GMT
This is the first in a series of covers, others will include Eastern Front, Western Front, Desert War, the War Against Japan, NUTS Company Commander, the Compendium and NUTS Weird War.
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Post by stryderg on Jul 16, 2022 18:20:26 GMT
I can't draw worth a lick, so I'll offer a suggestion that hopefully makes sense. Take the Big Red One poster, just the top half. But have 2 units facing each other, fading into the background in the middle of the page. Have various allied soldiers on one side and various axis soldiers on the other. Maybe tiny tanks behind the soldiers and maybe tiny aircraft above them, if there's room and it's not too busy. So, if you can't make it, fake it... (see the attachment) Replace the text at the top with the title. Attachments:
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Post by hindsthw on Jul 20, 2022 0:40:22 GMT
I actually preferred the "stock" cover artwork, FWIW.
However, of the other ideas above, I think the "Battleground" one is best (so far).
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Post by Kurt on Jul 25, 2022 6:02:38 GMT
I actually preferred the "stock" cover artwork, FWIW. However, of the other ideas above, I think the "Battleground" one is best (so far). I also agree. I also don't mind the stock cover of Nuts! I like the simplicity. I would also vote for the "Battleground" look if a change is made. |
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Post by squidlord on Jul 25, 2022 22:34:53 GMT
Good comments, thanks! What if it looked more like this style? View AttachmentI really like this, in fact. The clean, starkness of the white really makes the figure work pop. The Action Comics-style shrinking title might be just a little bit too far, it's definitely strong and unmistakable. That could definitely work out. And if someone felt really ambitious, they could change the solid background field color for each of the expansions so that when fanned out they were color-coded. Light tan for the Africa campaign, jungle green for the Pacific, light green or blue for Western Europe, etc. There are a lot of good design elements to be used there. |
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