Friday, March 16

It's Alive! Thumbnails

Today I got some thumbnails from the It's Alive! artist R H Aidley. They're hand-drawn sketches to get an idea of the layout and composition. I've got to look them over and either choose one of each of the options or suggest a different layout.

He's sent me examples of most of the artwork, I'm not going to post them all here, but I will post a few examples. Please bear in mind that this artwork is obviously a long way from being finished. I'd appreciate some feedback :-) As usual you can click on the images to see a bigger version.

First up, the artwork for the 'Arms' card:

Personally I'm leaning towards number three - not sure why.

Secondly, the 'Coffin' card artwork:

Originally I was thinking something like numbers two or three, a simple object like the body parts. But the coffin is conceptually different - it's a wild card that can be used instead of any other part. Maybe the number one, with a scene will convey that better.

Next up the 'Villagers' Uprising' card artwork:

Number two here was my suggestion - the crossed torch and pitchfork to symbolise the angry villagers marching on your castle. However, now I thinking something like number one will again better convey the difference between this card (bad stuff) and the other cards (good stuff).

Finally, here's his take on the exterior of the player shield which hides your progress from the other players:

This is exactly what I asked for, and he's made it look much better than I imagined.

What do you make of it? Likes? Dislikes?

9 comments:

Phil said...

Cool!
I like 3 for the arm, as 1 and 2 look a little tensed up to me. Number 1 is in a nice position though.
I like 1 for the coffin, I think you are right about a 'scene' working well here.
I like 1 for the villagers for the same reason.
The player screen looks great too!
Shaping up to be a top looking game.

Jackson Pope said...

Thanks Phil. It's nice to get some feedback. I asked for feedback on the Border Reivers artwork on the Geek and got some really good advice - well worth doing.

Cheers,

Jack

Mal said...

My preferences: 2, 1, 1, and yay!

:)

Dave said...

I'd say 3,2,1. I just love the arm sticking out of the second coffin!

I agree with Phil, the player screen looks absolutely brilliant. It's gonna be a good looking game...

Jackson Pope said...

Thanks for the feedback Mal & Dave. It was a toss up for me between 2 & 3 on the arm, and I think I chose 3 as the sleeve helped differentiate between arm and leg. The arm poking out of the coffin is cool, but it makes me think of someone buried alive trying to escape - whereas I definitely need a cadaver in the coffin :-)

Cheers,

Jack

Mischa said...

I like the 4th arm, actually. The others all sort of look like they came off a dead superhero. Phil's right, though- #1 is in a good position. Pardon the pun, but does handedness matter? Do I need a left arm and a right arm, or just two arms?

The 1st coffin is the way to go, too! Maybe not that precise angle and composition, but the scene works well.

I really like the #2 crossed pitchfork and torch, but the backlit mob has a nice ominous atmosphere to it.

The screen does look like it's shaping up to be awesome, given the sneak peeks of the full-color work.

MDK

Jackson Pope said...

Hiya MDK,

Thanks for the feedback. It's nice to hear that the first coffin and villagers' uprising are popular, as I really liked them. You've got a got point about the 'superhero-ness' of the arms too - I might ask him to tone it down a bit - they are supposed to be brawny villagers.

Cheers,

Jack

Anonymous said...

Can I stick my oar in too?

Arms No.1
Coffin No.2
Villagers No.1

Great sketches, and I really liked the cover..

'The Wife'

Jackson Pope said...

Hey!

Thanks for your vote :-) Hurry home.

Love,

Jack