King Kong (2005)

[magnumrulz]

I do appreciate your opinions. Like I mentioned before, both artworks were done by fantasy artist Ken Kelly. They were done around 1990-1992 I believe. I do not know if he was commissioned or just inspired to do them. To my knowledge, they were never used for any promotions for the movies. The front cover work was titled The Mighty King and the back was titled Monster Island.

I do agree with the thoughts about the back being a bit much. Once everything is on, I may change it. I just thought it would be cool to use it since it is also done by Kelly. Another possibility is to shrink it and use it in the layout.

I think I am sticking with the front. I have always loved this painting. I have a giant lithograph of it hanging on living room wall.

Speedz0r - I have to disagree with you. You said "might get rejected if there's not enough relevance to the original film". How can it not be relevant? It's a movie about King Kong and the artwork was inspired by a movie. Sure, it may not resemble THE KK in this version, but none of the Kong movies look the same.

I don't want it to sound like I am attacking you. Sorry if it may come across that way. I respect everyone's opinions. There is nothing wrong with us having different views about something. I see to much war of words on other message boards with people attacking others. That's not me. I might put my 2 cents in and leave it at that. I've been flamed pretty bad on other boards (rollercoaster related) and choose not to post anymore.. In the short time I've been here, everyone seems pretty civil and I like that!

I think we all get a certain "high" from getting compliments when we make something. I know I do, especially when I am not an expert when it comes to computers. I am always amazed to see what some of you can do in Photoshop! I got into Paint Shop Pro because that was the affordable alternative at the time. I just know the basic stuff, even after using it for years. Hell, I never knew about compression settings until last week! LOL

[ctaulbee]

QUOTE (magnumrulz @ Jun 14 2019, 11:55 AM) Another possibility is to shrink it and use it in the layout.

That's a good idea, it could be a large part of the back but not all like it is now

I have used non-studio art on covers myself, it's a matter of taste I guess.

[Speedz0r]

That's fine my friend, just wanted to give you my opinion. I was thinking more towards, using poster art created for the old turtles (the turtles form the 90's) on one of the later film of the guys, it "can" get people confused. It looks like the old KK but is for the new KK, kind of thing. Like the scene on the front where she is sitting there in only a skirt, where as in the 2005 version she has a dress and a jacket (robe). So for me the arts relevance is toward the old movie rather then the new one.

[sauron]

I get what Speed is saying and I do have to agree with him that it can cause some confusion as the artwork is for an older film.

Anyway, my feedback on the image above would be to remove “Peter Jacksons” from the spine and only have King Kong. I would also reduce the size of Peter Jacksons name on the front to allow some breathing room above the name and title.

Have you also tried using the universal template that is available to download in the resources? It would make the back layout much better, I would also recommend trying to use drop shadows only where possible.

[Speedz0r]

I think sauron is trying to say,

QUOTE (sauron @ Jun 14 2019, 08:36 PM) trying to use drop shadows only where possible.

as little as possible. Text in general looks better without it and it's easier to read Looking forward to see how you organize things

[sauron]

QUOTE (Speedz0r @ Jun 14 2019, 08:40 PM) I think sauron is trying to say, as little as possible. Text in general looks better without it and it's easier to read Looking forward to see how you organize things

Yeah sorry that’s what I meant to say, doing too many things at once lol

[magnumrulz]

I am learning to cut back on the use of drop-shadowing. I've always used it to help an element to read better against the background. So, now I try adjusting things instead of taking the easy way out and then compromise the quality.

[bazzah]

Darkening/lightening the background always has better results

[magnumrulz]

I got back to working on the cover again. I took a few days away from it and worked on others I had started. I find it helpful to step away from a project before frustration sets in.

I took a couple of suggestions and changed the "Peter Jackson's" above front title. Looks much better IMO. I also removed it from the spine title.

Now on to the back. I did try and reducing the size of the background artwork. But, it just didn't look right as I tried working around it. So, I changed it back to original size. Surprisingly, it did not come out as bad I thought it would. IMO, it doesn't look that busy. I lightened it so everything is readable. For the content, I looked at other covers to see what they had done. I eliminated some of the details from bonus materials and used a shortened version of the synopsis to free up space.

[attachment=41435:king_long_2005.jpg]

[ctaulbee]

I still think you can show more of the back artwork by making it smaller and have a cleaner layout as well, maybe match up the colors a little better and tone down the blues, pick some different colors on things especially the title.

A quick mock-up of one way this artwork could be made to work better.

[attachment=41437:Kong2005.jpg]