Monday, January 18, 2010

Spacey thoughts


Hi all,
This is the spaceship design for my book and I was hoping for feedback on coloring and design. The kiddo and his pet (thus the two chairs) that go inside aren't done yet, but I wanted to play with colors and see what worked in space. Any thoughts? This is all done in PS in CS4.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I like the cute simple cartoon design of it all. Even the squiggle framing of space looks quite nice and fitting.

I only have two things of contention - the stars are all the same size - I think you might want to vary the size of them to add a little more depth. I like the very subtle swirl behind it all.

And the other thing is the color of the ship. I think the red is very loud...and I wonder if it would benefit from being toned down a bit. Is the ship supposed to be red? If so, maybe a more subdued color would help a bit.

but that's just my opinion...

pete said...

I agree with Isaac about the star sizes, too. Some variance might help, in terms of size and color intensity. Maybe a planet?

I also agree with Isaac on the red ship - it's color is so intense but it's also a really beautiful. Maybe throwing some white highlights on its frame would help bring its volume down.

You might also consider going darker in between the plates of the ship's exterior...to show how it's segmented...or show rivets or bolts.

I like the composition and how you've overlapped the ship with the white background and nebulous star field! And the the way you've adjusted color on and behind the window is very effective!

Can't wait to see characters sitting in there! :)

Christy/Tiddly Inks Digitals said...

Thanks guys...I definitely just threw the background in there to post it here. :( I should have taken time to vary the stars...I just went pop, pop, pop with the same brush...LOL :) This isn't a real scene from the book. I was just working on color and style for the editor to see. That is what I get for hurrying at the end. Working out the colors and technical stuff in the ship took a long time so I was done at the end. LOL

Since you both agree on the red, I will consider toning it down. He travels to lots of different planets and I needed something that will pop both large and small. The editor loved the color choices, so we will see if it gets changed. I like the suggestion of darkening some areas, so I will work on that. Maybe I could add some silver into the mix and tone it down that way too.

Thanks again. :)

Pixiewinkle said...

Christy- I agree with the guys. My first thought was that the stars should be brighter as well. I love the color choices. The red pops so well on the dark background. I know that it is bright- but it works for me. As Pete suggests, if you layer it with white highlights it might tone it down to a level everyone likes. The red will be hard to miss throughout the pages.

Can't wait to see it with the characters inside!