the cover, redux

[mmegaera]

So. This is the original image:


Which, as you can see, is not the whole clock. It's also cropped so that I can't move the hands of the clock far enough to the right to get them both onto the front of the book without enlarging the image so much that the numerals get cropped to the point where it's hard to recognize that it's a clock. Can't really flip a clock image, either. It would look weird. Also, I need enough dark space to put the title, my name, etc., on, too.

I really don't want to spend another entire day in which I could be working on Reunion looking for art for this short story, plus I really like this image, plus there's no guarantee I'd find anything better, since I already spent most of yesterday looking and this was the best I could come up with.

Any other suggestions, given these restrictions, for making the clock more obviously a clock?

This, BTW, is what the ebook version of the cover I posted yesterday looks like, so, no, the hands are mostly on the front. Not completely, but mostly.

Comments

[thnidu]

Would you consider not using the photo as background for the entire cover? The cover's aspect ratio is 3h x 2w. I took just the largest square I could with the numerals XI & XII clear at the top:



It dims nearly to black at the top. You could use this on the bottom 2/3 of the cover and fill the top 1/3 with a color matching that darkness, and put the title text on that in white. The only problem I see is that the topmost point of outlining around the clock face would be lost. That might not be noticed much, or you* could put in by copying, rotating, and pasting segments from the near-horizontal top parts of the outlining. And I think you could superimpose the author info on the bottom half of the image without losing the clear instant perception of a clock approaching midnight.

* Another possibility: Matt Leger is a fan and a fine professional graphic designer, and might be willing to help. I've sent him the links to this entry and the previous one.

[mmegaera]

I can't afford to pay a pro for a short story I'll be giving away, mostly, unfortunately, and I should have mentioned that [wry g]. But I do thank you for that suggestion.

I've never been very good at extending color so that it looks like a continuation of the photo, but I'll give that a try.

Thank you!

[mmegaera]

So. You mean like this?



I have to say that seems like a lot of plain almost-black.



is better, I think. And here's what the e-cover would look like:

[archangelbeth]

I'd go with the first one, up there, even if it has a lot of "plain almost-black." If you can get your art program to do a subtle gradient, that'd be useful, but the off-the-edge/very off-center effect of the second version's clock-hand is very unaesthetic to me -- and I like the first one there! It's crisper, the words pop nicely off the top, and they aren't half-way into the picture, either.

Heck, you might even shrink the image so it spans the cover entirely, no cropping, and have your name in plain as well.

[mmegaera]

[g] The cover *will* be folded, remember, around the spine of the book. I tried to gradient the first one the way I did the second, but there's too much color change along the edge of the original image to do it with the way that one's cropped. Same problem if I tried to do that at the bottom to provide a black space for my name.

AAMOF, the reason I like the second one better is *because* it's offset [g]. And because I was able to do the gradient properly at the edges.

Anyway, I do appreciate the feedback, though!

[archangelbeth]

Hmmm. How does it look if you pull the image down just a smidge, so it's not half the background behind Conconully, but no more than a third or less? (Or is that what the new one looks like? *goes to look*)