Sun, May 16, 2021 at 4:36 AM
David,
A quick glance at your sketch tells me that it would be rather a lot of work. Naturally, one has to put in an amount of work to make the space station.
The size of the space suited figure in the front is the part that causes concern. As it is currently so large in the layout this means that the attention to form and detail required to bring it off successfully would not be insignificant (for that read: "lots of time required").
It is also such that by putting that large suited figure in the foreground it necessarily pushes the GM Box Hauler and container load further back into the middle ground of the image, reducing it in size and making it that much more difficult to appreciate all the work we have invested in detail and concept.
All that said, I think the concept can be tweaked so that it works comfortably.
Do you have any concrete thoughts related to the design and form of the space station? Were there any pointers on same in 'Voice From the Void'?
The graphics mouse,
- Ignatz
Sun, May 16, 2021 at 11:30 AM
Ignatz,
Okay, that one's a bust. It's kind of busy, anyway.
Honestly, out of my league with this sort of stuff. I have no layout skills of any kind. You only have to look at my horrible covers to know that!
Maybe a close-up of a ship moving into position to link-up with the cargo frame, while another ship that's already linked-up is floating in the near distance (so the reader can see what the close one is actually trying to do)? I don't know. This just isn't my bag.
Or, we can go in another direction, and show the ship in the foreground, and a loaded cargo frame in the background. The other ship for the cruise is in the process of linking up with the frame, implying that the one in the foreground is approaching to do the same.
That way, we display how the ships work together, and how a ship works with with a frame, while yet showing off all the wonderful details of both. No spacemen floating around, no stations in the background, maybe just a few drones zipping around for fun?
You're absolutely right, of course: there should be no new models required for this. We've got a LOT of great material to work with now. It's only a matter of how to position them on the page.
-David
Sun, May 16, 2021 at 11:36 AM
David,
I'm not opposed to the idea of the spaceman, but the size of same, relative to the cargo frame and ship, is the concern. Truthfully, a number of space suited figures would also provide some scale. If they are smaller in the graphic then I don't have to worry so much about the detail and complexity of the figures. So I guess it is finding the happy medium.
The same issues apply to the space station, but we already know that it would be relatively smaller and so I wouldn't have to go crazy on detail. Might even be able to find a space station model under creative commons that I could alter. Same goes for our spaceman. I'll look around.
I'm trying to stay flexible on this while keeping both a sane approach to the work load and an eye on a good result.
- Ignatz
Sun, May 16, 2021 at 12:16 PM
Ignatz,
I'll leave that in your very capable hands. I'm not married to any particular idea. the whole "spaceman, ship. space station" combo was only to try and wedge in as much visual information as possible, but that's not as important as a striking presentation. I doubt it would be anywhere near as impressive as the ship is all on its own.
I mean, what's the goal of a cover image, anyway? It's to entice a potential reader into picking the book up and maybe "buy" it. In our
case, there's no money involved, of course, but the principle is the same. We want people to go "Ooo..." and "Aaah...", and then download the game. After that? Well, maybe they'll try it out and have some fun. Maybe they'll find their way over to the audio or written novels. Maybe they'll do none of that.
One thing I've learned while doing all this Stardrifter stuff is that you never know what sort of impact or influence you're going to have on individual people. Though the overall attention my work has gotten is minuscule, it's still found its way to some truly amazing places and people. I count you among them, of course, but I've also heard from Borneo and Japan and Brazil and South Africa. Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and the UAB. Russia, China, Jordan, India. True, I have yet to hear from Antarctica or the International Space Station, but maybe someday! Who knows?
-Ignatz