I haven’t read it, so I can’t comment on the writing, but I think the cover is very informative. Witch Doctor’s cover does a very good job of marketing itself to prospective readers that would be interested (although I’m probably not one of them).  Even the logo is eye-catching.

• The character’s personality comes across in his appearance.
• I like the twists on actual medical symbols (Caduceus’s snakes become demonic leeches, the medical staff is replaced with a bloody sword, and even the Red Cross gets subverted).
• The red, white and black color scheme is striking.
• The art is actually similar to what you’ll see inside the book.  One thing I find annoying is when the cover looks really solid but the art inside is at best mediocre.
• The cover gives me a very good idea of what the series is about.

Artists have changed Robin’s visual aesthetics many times over the years and few characters needed the changes as badly as he did. By comparing two different costumes, one of his early ones from the 1940s, to his appearance in the recent Young Justice cartoon, we can see that no character is beyond redemption with some changes to his costume. Both designs are of the same hero, using some of the same costume elements; however each costume tells a very different story about the character.

Classic Robin Costume Elements

Pretend that you have never seen Robin before and look at this image of his classic look from the early days of the character’s conception.

• Muscular body
• Bright green, red, and yellow color scheme
• Bland figure 8 mask
• No pants
• Elf boots
• Fluttering cape

What Went Wrong with Robin?

This combination of visual elements turns Robin into a visual train wreck. His muscular body brings forth a highly masculine appearance, yet the bright green, red, and yellow, which are all equally prominent in his outfit, have a very childish, nursery rhyme appeal to them. Is he a man with super strength who can go toe to toe with Superman, or is he a child playing in the backyard? It’s difficult to tell with this image.

His mask lacks defining shape, hindering any real means of expression on his face and looks more like an afterthought than an element woven into the construction of his costume.  An absence of pants adds further confusion by bringing too much focus to his legs and giving the impression that he’s an Olympic swimmer, rather than a superhero. His elf-esque boots look unrestrained and ready to flop off at any moment, while the cape fluttering behind him has a bolder look than Robin himself.  Robin looks so confused that it’s unclear whether he’s going to enter a strong man contest, play with some action figures, go for a swim, make toys for Santa Claus, or get sucked away by his cape.

New Robin Costume Elements

Now compare that to a new redesign for Robin’s look from the Young Justice cartoon.

• Athletic body
• Dark red and black dominant colors with yellow accent
• Face-shaping eye mask
• Pants
• Functional looking boots and accessories
• Dormant cape

What Changes Made Robin Look Different?

You’ll notice that this Robin keeps some of the same elements and seems to have a more cartoonish shape, yet the tone creates a more serious appearance. So, what happened? First, Robin’s body shape has changed. He has an athletic, slender appearance that gives him the look of an agile gymnast, rather than that of a bodybuilder. Robin keeps the red color scheme, but darkening the shade makes a world of difference and black replaces the green, which meshes with the red, rather than creating conflict. All of which consolidates his age and abilities. He’s a teenager. He doesn’t have super strength and he’s probably pretty nimble.

The eye mask has been reshaped to frame and fit Robin’s face. Notice the use of pointed edges on the bottom, which encourage eye movement to the rest of the face. The white parts of the eyes also compose a larger portion of the mask, giving him a more expressive face. His skin-tight pants draw no attention to his legs and his boots have a secure and realistic appearance. Tiny details to his accessories, like the addition of small pouches to his belt and cosmetic changes to his gloves, all combine together to give his costume a functional look. His cape no longer pulls attention away from the rest of the costume and resigns itself to a supportive role in his outfit.

This illustration of change shows that a hero can present a much different image to people by reconstructing the visuals of his costume. Remember that a hero is the conduit through which the story is told and your audience needs to get pulled into the message of the story in a glance. Using a distracting costume can confuse your audience about your hero before they’ve given your character a chance, but by reshaping the outfit to fit the story you want to tell, even a mess like Robin can be changed!

This article is by Ryan Heuer of BuySuperheroCostumes.com, a place where men and women can find great superhero costumes, from Robin to Rorschach.  

From Ace of Spades.  By the way, some pictures had been displaying incorrectly, but P. Mac fixed the issue.  Thanks, PM!

Kurt Wenner, a former NASA employee, now uses his mathematical skills on things that people actually care about. Like Spiderman optical illusions! Speaking of Spiderman…

As if the nipples on the Batsuit weren’t bad enough.  To be fair, though, it was the 1950s (Detective Comics #241).

DISTINCTIVE:

TOO BLAND:

2. To stand out to prospective customers in a comic book store, it needs to be easily readable at 10-15 feet. If that sounds difficult, look at some of the following logos after walking to the other end of the room. Even at these shrunken sizes (50-75% smaller than they would appear on a real cover), the good ones are legible.  Be sparing with unusual font selection and text effects, because these can limit readability.

LEGIBLE (at a quarter of its actual size!)

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?

3) Don’t use too many colors. I would recommend limiting the logo to two.  First, that will make it easier to color-coordinate the covers of subsequent issues with the logo.  Second, having too many colors may make it look garish.

SICK (AWESOME)

SICKLY (EWW)

4) Generally, I think it’s easier to read title text that is lighter text on a darker background (or outline). Note: this is virtually the ONLY time it is acceptable to use light text on a dark background!

HARD ON THE EYES (AND NOT JUST BECAUSE OF THE APES)

MORE LEGIBLE (AND APE-FREE)

6.  Don’t use objects to box in your text. If you let the text overrun the background object, it’ll create an impression of depth and will draw the reader’s eye to the title text, which should usually be the focal point.

AWKWARD/BOXED IN:

BETTER:

(Also, the color selection on the JLA logo is significantly better).

Thanks to Joe Acevado and Joe Klein for gathering these logos.

I also liked this one of Ironman.

I paid a name artist five months ago in advance for a pin-up for [series name].  In fact, I’ve had several artists, mostly old friends… all consummate professionals.

Just this one artist, who seems to be a bad actor. At the time he said contact him in two weeks and he’d give me an update on the status. Two weeks later I emailed him — nothing. I’ve been emailing him every few weeks very politely at first. Still no response at all. My last couple of emails were more strongly worded and in my last one I told him I’d be telling everyone I know on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and on our blog about it and name him by name. Hell, I’m thinking I’ll put out a press release, too.

What do you think? Does he get away with it, and I have a lesson learned, or do I go nuclear on his ass?

Don’t go public about backstage drama.  It can only make the situation worse.  First, verify what you can. Is he actually being delinquent? You would look like a damn idiot if you accused your artist of going AWOL and it turns out that he was actually in an emergency room after getting hit by a car. (It happens).  At the very least, do not stumble into a slander lawsuit until you actually know (rather than suspect) what is going on!

If you have an editor/publisher, address any concerns to them and discuss whether you need to replace your artist.  Unlike publically accusing your artist of fraud, replacing your artist does not open you up to a slander/libel lawsuit if it turns out his absence was totally innocuous.  If you don’t yet have an editor/publisher, make the determination on your own.  It will cost you time and money and you’ll probably have to scrap most of the work by the original artist.  It’s highly bothersome and usually unprofessional for an artist to go missing for several weeks, but switching to another artist may well be a cure worse than the disease.

Finally, besides getting back at your original artist, going public doesn’t actually help you in any way.  It certainly doesn’t make it any likelier that he’ll come up with the art for you.  It may raise questions about your professionalism and will probably make you look inept.  (Don’t give yourself a reputation for workplace drama).

Some other general ideas to minimize problems with your teammates:

• When you work with freelancers, pay no more than half upfront and the rest on completion. This increases the artist’s incentive to complete the job.  It also limits the amount of money you lose if everything goes to hell.
• Work out a schedule ahead of time. I’m not sure what the case was above, but making your expectations clear is usually helpful.
• Maybe exchange phone numbers. You may be uncomfortable asking for this if you’ve never actually met your freelancer.  However, when you’ve committed yourself to paying somebody thousands of dollars, I think your business relationship is strong enough to justify this request.  (At the very least, as a matter of customer service).
• Business etiquette: when should you call (rather than e-mail) your freelancer? Since a call is more intrusive than an e-mail, I would only call if your artist hasn’t responded to an urgent e-mail within 1-3 weeks.  For example: the artist misses a deadline by more than a week (without explaining why) and doesn’t respond to an e-mail requesting a status update.  If you call your artist, politely remind him about the schedule, ask if there’s anything you can do to help*, and ask about when he thinks he can have the art in to you.  *Unless he needs clarification, there probably won’t be, but offering is still friendly.

These six paintings were done by Andreas Rocha, Dan Milligan, Dan Milligan, Howard Lyon, Dan Milligan again and Alp Atiner.

2.  It needs to stand out at a distance of 10+ feet.  The single most important audience segment for most comic book covers is prospective readers browsing through a comic book store.  Before they examine the product, you have to grab their attention.  Bold color combinations are one effective way to do so.  I find that scenes involving motion (particularly extraordinary motion, such as a Batman karate leap) tend to be more eye-catching.  Obviously, it helps if something interesting and/or unexpected is  happening.  More on that here.  Finally, the title/logo should be legible across the room (at least 10 feet). 

3.  Focus on what’s different or unusual about your series.  One recurring type of awfulness is a pointless closeup on something mundane.  For example, if you do a closeup on a character’s face, show something unusual about him.  For example, if you’re doing a G.I. Joe-style story about a macho soldier, instead of just zooming in on his face, maybe he’s facing the reader with a smile while an enemy in the background is taking aim at him.  Depending on the level of extraordinariness, maybe you’d have the soldier shooting at the target without even looking that way.  Also, even if the character looks deliberately generic like Peter Parker, use elements like emotion, pose, lighting, perspective and setting/scenery to make the shot memorable.   

4.  If possible, work in what’s at stake.  For example, place a character in danger.  Depending on the plot, that might be physical danger or the risk of losing something (s)he values.  For example, a romance might show the two characters breaking up and/or bitterly fighting, which would be more interesting than just seeing them enjoying 100% happy, conflict-free love.  Save “happily ever after” for when the story is over. 

5.  Assume that the typical prospective reader knows nothing about your work, especially early on.  (A lot of readers jump in a series at some point other than issue #1).  Is it an effective introduction?  Does the cover make sense to somebody that didn’t know the characters and story beforehand? Is it easy to discern the gist of the series from the cover?

Bonus #6: Put some thought into the perspective. Ground-level, head-on shots are rarely the most interesting way to show something happening.

Irregular selections have gotten vastly cleaner. The edges will usually be irregular around a person’s hair, an animal’s fur or whiskers, any object moving fast enough to blur (such as helicopter rotors, as seen in my header) and around glowing objects, among others.  If you’re working on a comic book with lasers, fireballs or other glow-heavy effects, you’ll probably have a lot of irregular edges.

Mixer Brush looks like it’s useful for turning photos into attractive paintings and possibly cartoons. That would be really useful for me: I like using photos for backgrounds, but it looks weird when cartoons are placed on photographs.  (See my header above–the cartoon characters clash with the photographic office and skyline). Alternately, if you’d like to use a photo for your background but want it to look more distinct or extraordinary than it would as a photograph, the mixer brush may make your life a lot easier.

Puppet Warp. You can assign anchors to your selection and rotate it in a natural-looking way.  For example, if you assign an anchor to to the joints of a human arm and wrist, you can take a picture of a guy raising his hand and rotate the arm so that it’s at his side.  I wouldn’t feel very comfortable using this professionally for a comic book (because your art is done to order and should not need to be rotated artificially), but it might help make minor adjustments quickly instead of contacting your artist and waiting 1-2 business days for a response. Also, I’d generally prefer not to bother an artist with something really bizarre and nitpicky like asking to straighten out an askew hat.

Content Aware Fill is so good at removing objects it’s scary.  This is more useful when you’re working with photographs rather than original digital artwork, but I could sort of see myself using this professionally.  (For example, to declutter a picture I’m using for a background).  Also, removing ex-lovers and political dissidents from photos has never been simpler.

I’m still waiting on the background and I think I can redo the text when I return home a few weekends from now.