Under observation...

I've been intending to post about my most recent piece of digital art, Observation Point for a while, so finally here we are.

One of the great things about bouncing ideas around for book cover projects is that there are inevitably ideas that come out of the mix that have potential to be pieces in their own right, and that's exactly what happened here.

This was my original mono sketch – which wasn't right for the cover in question, but I felt it had something about it which I was keen to explore further.



As I've said countless times, it was the science fiction and space art of the 1970s and 1980s which first caught my imagination as a boy and that ultimately inspired me to create my own art – and it continues to inspire me to this day. There is certainly a gentle nod to that special era of SF art in my work, and that was certainly starting to come across here.

A simple image, of an enormous space vessel, in orbit above a planet; a classic SF image. The planet was originally going to be the Earth. But then I had a last-minute change of heart, and decided to make a heavily cratered moon instead.

This was when I discovered that craters are not as easy as they look. It is all about the light and shade, and getting the shape right. Which at first, I didn't. My initial craters were very shallow and more resembled a large pitted orange than a moon!



If these were impact craters, then we needed to see that impact, and the build-up around the edge. But once I'd worked more on really giving the craters more of a three dimensional texture, the piece really started to come together.

When it comes to painting starships or other alien structures, I've started to adopt a much looser approach. Providing the style is consistent with the rest of the piece, and that the perspective is accurate, then I don't mind it looking a little more sketchy or impressionistic rather than something too crisp and clean, which has that evident "digital" look to it. 

The craft itself isn't massively changed from the original sketch, and despite the slightly rough and ready appearance, it still has a good deal of surface detail and texture:



Rather than showing a scene of a spacecraft in flight, I decided to have it floating in space, in an ominous Rama sort of way. And through that, came the slightly unsettling title of Observation Point.

And here is the finished piece...



...nicely rounded off with some text specially written by Richard Hayes:

A spacecraft orbits a heavily cratered moon, the distant sun of this star system casting its light across the scene. The vast size of this vessel’s engines tell us that it has travelled far to reach this point, but they are now cold and silent – it has reached its destination. Even so, there is still much activity aboard the craft. Lights appearing through windows show that its occupants are busy going about their work, and its surface is covered with sensors and antennae which suggest that its role is to measure and analyse data.

We are left in little doubt that these space travellers are here to observe something, but we are not certain what that can be. It might be some feature on the surface of the moon below, or on its parent planet which lies outside our view. What we can be sure of is that the civilization that sent this spaceship to this remote location had the resources, and the will, to dispatch a sophisticated mission – possibly for purposes of scientific research, or perhaps for some more sinister reason.

Judging a book by the cover

Now, I’m not proclaiming to be the god of book covers, but what does irritate and frustrate me (as both a reader and designer), is just how many dreadful science fiction book covers make it out there on to the shelves, real and virtual. 

Fortunately, there are a lot of very good covers; modern designs, unusual approaches and beautiful illustrations. But then you get those who give the rest a bad name – where a wonderful painting or piece of artwork has been ruined by bad typography. With almost twenty years’ experience as a professional graphic designer, its time to cast a brief eyeball over this common offender.

You know the type… a tacky 3D effect, or badly coloured gradient shading that instantly transports you back to the 90s. Naff free fonts that are often illegible. Or worst of all, a combination of all of the above! 

Then there’s the corroded typeface. Ah yes, that old chestnut. They’re a bit silly, but I admit, they do have their place. Just. There are plenty of these out there – some quite good ones – but if you’re going allow a designer to put a font like this on your front cover, then at least make sure they take a clean and existing typeface, and manually corrode or fragment it themselves in Photoshop. Not only does this make it unique to your cover, it also avoids repetition on the characters. Look at most battered typewriter fonts for example, and the same cracks in the same letters appear in the same place. Lazy. With a DIY approach, you’re in control of how extensive the damage to the text is, with a subtle approach often working best and preserving legibility.

But back to the 3D font. There really is no excuse – get rid of it, unless you really do want your book to look immediately dated and not particularly serious. But, hang on, I hear you say – doesn’t it have its place? Well, it does – but moreso in computer games and cinema than book covers, in my opinion. I can understand the need to make the title stand out as an element on its own, but the problem is, it is so often badly executed.

These are examples of some of the clichés commonly found on SF book covers. But I find too much font treatment is just overload, and ultimately, it distracts from the artwork. And in some cases, it renders your all-important title illegible. That word again. An instant fail.

Then there’s the dreaded 'Sci-Fi' typeface. This frequent offender is often narrow in width, sometimes with angular edges – or if not that, its something which resembles the characters from a 1980s digital watch. Basically, it cheapens the whole affair. An artist hasn’t slaved for hours over your beautiful cover art only to have it tarnished by a tacky, stereotypical typeface. 

These fonts often crop up online or on TV when everything is lumped together under the slightly cheap and somewhat nerdy, acne-ridden 'Sci-Fi' banner. It's Sci-Fi, therefore it must have a science fictiony kind of font, right? Wrong. Any serious author will of course, know that the preferred terminology for literature is science fiction or SF, with 'Sci-Fi' reserved for film and television. But that shouldn't be an excuse to cheapen the genre with a naff typeface.

While I agree that sometimes you might need to emphasise the typeface on a cover (depending on what its sitting on top of), the key to a successful execution is subtlety. Just keep any font treatment to a minimum.

The much-maligned drop shadow deserves a mention. It can be effective. But it can also render your background artwork completely flat. Again, best avoided or used with subtlety – for example, if you're batting with a light coloured text over light areas of artwork, the right amount can provide the required definition.

The choice of typeface is absolutely crucial – this is a whole sub-subject in itself. It can indicate the style or time period of the book and it also defines the genre. If I’m working on a cover illustration, I see it as part of my job to work on the text too, as it really is an extension of the cover art (whether it be illustration, montage or photograph). The choice of font helps build your brand and can often be a defining touch on a cover.

Needless to say, this sort of thing isn’t restricted just to the SF genre, but at a time when SF literature is very healthy, and the self-publishing market vibrant and buzzing, there really is no excuse for a bad front cover.

Next time, we'll talk about bad Photoshop montages. Until then...