Thanks? I'm glad you love my work despite not liking the dumb-a$$, silly custom keyart...WeakySneasel wrote:QUOTE (WeakySneasel @ Jan 17 2017, 05:57 AM) Kernie's work is fantastic, I love seeing it, just like the rest of you - it's stunning, count me as a big fan.
Is it just me that thinks it generally makes the characters look dumb-a$$?
Take the 'keyart' Kernie recently posted: do these look good with multiple characters and their silly, over-the-shoulder glances?
Anyway, great work Kernie - no surprise to see it's so popular.
You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I think the reason this type of keyart proves popular, not just in custom covers but in retail covers and movie posters, is because it's all about the characters. People connect to and fall in love with the characters in movies and TV shows and that's what gets them emotionally invested in the story.
I agree that it might not be the most "artistic" layout in the history of graphic design, and it is wildly overused, but it is popular because I think people like seeing the characters that they enjoy on their movie posters and DVD covers. The casual moviegoer often chooses to watch a movie based on a familiar actor or actress who stars in the film, so it makes sense to highlight them on the cover.
Are the characters on my keyart all looking in different directions? Absolutely. Are they lined up in a rather conventional "flying-V" pattern? Yup. Does it tell the viewer much about the film's story or plot? Nope. These are all problems that I will admit about my own work and I'm actually agreeing with your criticisms.
However, it's a pattern I noticed that I was starting to develop across a number of covers and people seemed to be liking this style, so I continued it. Now, it's about creating consistency across a number of covers within the series. As posted above, all of the Marvel/Netflix shows share a similar style of keyart. That type of consistency is much harder to achieve when creating a less-conventional, more "artistic" and "creative" layout or arrangement.
It's also harder to achieve when you're not in control of what types of images or resources are made available. Believe me, if I had an unlimited supply of high-res poses of each actor for every film and TV show that I make a cover for, along with the time and patience, I might have more options to make something more inventive. But I'm working within the confines of the materials available, and this "flying-V" format seems to work well with the types of images that the studios release.
So while I share Bazzah's curiosity about why you chose to make these complaints in a thread for artwork that you claim to love but also hate, I do appreciate the opportunity to explain a little bit more about my process and the reasons I have for making the type of keyart that I do.
But let's get back on topic and keep telling me how great I am...
P.S. Just to be a friendly jerk, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that All the Kings Men, Goodfellas, and Swordfish all use a similar "group montage" image on their front covers... and these are your covers!! The layout is practically unavoidable!
