Tuesday, April 2, 2013

B is for... Beginning!

Day 2 of the A-Z thing. Many people are involved this time around, click here to see what's up and visit some of the thousands that have signed up.

Ok, I may have halfway explained my theme yesterday, but I was in a rush and probably did it really poorly. Here is another attempt: During the month of April I will try to do a full cover for Andrew Leon's Shadow Spinner novel from concept to completion in what is, more or less, real time. Meaning that I'm planning on making adjustments on the fly as Andrew (or others) advise.

God, what a horrible idea.

Anyway, I had a blank page yesterday. Today I have this:

Kid. Tunnel. What could possibly go wrong?
I have thoughts. One, this is the front AND back cover, so slinking towards the tunnel will look odd if you only see the front. The composition is all wonky. If I added the man with no eyes and perhaps Michael battling in the middle ground it might work better, but it proved to be tricky during quick sketches to get that to work so I'm stuck with something I kinda like, but don't love. I need to nail something down soon though, I'll try another concept tomorrow and see where it takes me.

18 comments:

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Better than a blank page!
Now that is an ambitious idea. I think it's really cool. Between you and Andrew, who knows where it will end up.

Brinda said...

You know I love your sketches.

mooderino said...

Immediate response is that it feels kinda menacing.

Cindy said...

Interesting. I see you're making progress.

Unknown said...

Wow. I am blown away by this.

Jo said...

I recognised the story instantly which often doesn't happen with covers. Great beginning.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Andrew Leon said...

Well, let's see... the lines are gone, so that's good. They'd look funny running through what you have there.

What if the Man with No Eyes was back near the tunnel entrance and his shadow was spread across the ground toward Tib? Is that shadow on the ground coming out of the tunnel already? With the two shadows coming from opposite directions... it would be cool to see how many people picked up on that from the cover alone.
Michael could be up near the top as the moth shadow with neither of the other two seeing him yet?

Can't wait to see tomorrow's concept.

M.J. Fifield said...

I really love what you're doing this month. It's so interesting to see this process.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

Fun stuff. I want to see more! Maybe a video of you working.

AJ Lauer said...

Your sketches are lovely :) I am definitely looking forward to watching this project throughout the month. Good luck!

AJ Lauer
#atozchallenge helper minion
Twitter: @ayjaylauer

Tony Laplume said...

Looks great!

S. L. Hennessy said...

I guess drawing, like writing, comes one line at a time.

Mark Means said...

Very interesting concept and that picture is great. I wish I could draw!

Donna L Martin said...

Good luck with the challenge! I participated last year and had a blast!

Donna L Martin
www.donasdays.blogspot.com

Sheena-kay Graham said...

He could run into a pedo? That's some mad drawing skills, I'm feeling the green eyed monster peeking over my shoulder. So tomorrow, ok?

Nick Wilford said...

For what it's worth I think it's an awesome idea. We don't often get to see stuff like this in progress.

Nicole said...

Great starting concept! I like the mood you're conveying, even if you plan to go back and tweak/reimagine it.

Trisha said...

This already looks awesome! :)