School Assignment.... What a bitch. [Warning, Large Images]

So anyhow, for school I have to design a book cover, the topic I have chosen is a reinterpretation of the famous play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" written by William Shakespeare - Focusing upon the sinister side of the play, and in the form of an illustration book. So far I have created 2 concepts, both of which I partially followed tutorials for (in an attempt to extend myself).
So, what do people think? Feedback is appreciated. (Zoom out of your webpage to see the full images properly).

 

First one is actually amazing, just looks the part.

 

perfect tut link plawks

 

I think it would be a little overedited (1st one).. Just for like a book.

 

They are so amazing, graphic artist please?

 

The first looks like an okay book cover. The second though, looks like a movie cover. I honestly love the concept of the second one. Simple, yet, sophisticated.

 

First one is amazing, I saw that tutorial before. The only thing I can say is that the white around it looks gay.
On the second one:
I like the text, it's really nice. But the background looks kinda bad and I don't know what that thing is in the bottom-right. It also looks low quality (background), a bit.

EDIT: Zooming out makes the second one look a bit better.

 

The first one is amazing, definitely go with that.

 

Please link to the guides, because im hardly believeing you made those

 

You've got some room for improvement on your screws going into the glass/plexi

Leave a bevel where each screw goes in on the glass. Realistically, you'd be cracking the glass if you screwed in something straight to it. Having the bevel around the screws implies that you prepared to have screws in it prior to placing the glass on it.

Note also that you should consider using a different wood grain, even if its the same style of wood for the raised piece. This piece is larger than the background, therefore cannot simply be a cutout/copy of the background.

 

The second one is good, but for the book cover I'd use the first one.

 

The second is good, I think I saw a tutorial like this somewhere, probably an abduzeedo tut. Good job on it;]

As for the first; one suggestion I would make is to make more variations of the screw-heads. Rotate a few, burn a few, give one or two a more rusty look, it will just add to the realism. The reason I'm point out something of little significance is because the piece is basically at it's best right now, but one thing I'm worried about is the fact that I've never seen a book with this kind of cover... the most elaborate book cover I've seen is probably the Ink Spell book (I think that was the second, I don't remember what the first is called) but it's still a good creation, nevertheless, and I'm sure you'll get plenty of "ooo"'s and "ahhh"'s;]

 

Both of em look like an A+ to me lol

 

The first is amazing. If you have a link to the tut, I'd like to see it.

The second - the gradient is a bit too ominous for the play. There's also something weird going on with the lighting; the light source on the blades of grass doesn't really fit with that hitting the background.

 

text it owns

 

I had originally saved the tutorial as a bunch of screenshots, and unfortunately I edited away all signs of where I got the tutorial from. But I managed to track it down for you, so here ya go-
http://psd.tutsplus.com/tutorials/t...ate-a-richly-ornate-typographic-illustration/
http://psd.tutsplus.com/text-effects-tutorials/create-a-spectacular-grass-text-effect-in-photoshop/

Cheers Kadaj! Took me a good 4 hours, so I hope the effort shows >_<

Thanks..... Look above, but I didn't post them with you in mind.

I've been thinking just the same. But thankfully the project is more about the design process and the level of skill- not practicality or suitability.

....Thanks I guess?

Cheers KIABIN... You're actually the first person to prefer the second one! I really like the general concept I had in mind with it, so I did a bit more than what the tutorial did in order to fit my theme. Referencing to the topic, the second would definitely be more suited.

What white are you talking about? I can't seem to see any prominent white area that might make the composition look worse :S
The text was the most arduous part of the piece, the background and all other imagery was a bit more rushed- In the developmental stages, I'll most likely try and improve this quality.
The bottom corner, on my screen and on the printout of it, it looks of normal quality to me - and it's a burnt corner of the paper.

Cheers Sara, yea I'm a lot more pleased with the outcome of that one - I've still got a lot of changes ahead for it though.

Piss off. I shouldn't have to prove myself to you... think what you like, the tutorial links are above. And if you still don't believe me, I can send you the .PSD files - and if you would like to talk to KIABIN or another active member of this forum, they can vouch for my ability and whether or not I would be able to make these.

Oh I see, so potentially an ellipse flushed inwards to create a slightly larger hole surrounding the screw heads? It might be a bit more complicated for the smaller screw heads, but with the larger ones it should be easily achieved Thanks for the great suggestion!
And do you mind elaborating a bit more on the wood grain? I'm not sure exactly what you mean...

Cheers Rhodesy

I sourced it from PSDTuts+
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm actually going to go and make a few changes now with that in mind- I don't want it to seem too uniform, so what you said makes sense
Like I said in a previous response, I fully agree - but thank goodness it's more about the design than anything else. Ahhh god, I hate people looking at my work in real life haha.... it just makes me embarrassed and awkward- I can't handle compliments well...

Finger's Crossed aye?

Thanks heaps Sin, I posted the tutorial links above for your benefit
Like I said, the book is a reinterpretation, so the aim is to focus ON the sinister themes of the play, despite it not actually being the dominant theme...
Haha yea, the lighting needs a fair amount of work done on it, but it's comments like yours which are EXTREMELY helpful when developing my knowledge and Graphics skills, because I know what I need to work on!

Yes......?