Another cover

[ffutures]

This one I like a lot. It has Mars. It has stars (thanks APOD). It has a rocket (amazing what you can do with a lava lamp and image editing software). It looks hand drawn thanks to various graphic filters. And it has the right 1930s look, I think, maybe more detailed than a real magazine of the period but it'll do.




Later

I think I may change it to

Forgotten Futures XI:
Planets of Peril

Roleplaying in the worlds of
Stanley G. Weinbaum's
1930s Science Fiction

Makes it clearer that it's based on Stanley Weinbaum's SF, not 1930s SF in general.

Comments

[speranda.livejournal.com]

Yes! I really felt there ought to be a prominent image of a planet and now you've got one. Very nice old-fashioned presentation too.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - The previous one I knew was just a placeholder, this is something I can really live with.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I know you! :o)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I like the concept but it looks a bit too obviously CGI, I think. If you could give the 3D script and the rocket a more painted look it would feel more authentic (like a cover of Amazing Stories etc.) and less ... cheap in a way.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I sort of see what you mean, but the script is a Windows Metafile object, not actually part of the image but a separate graphics object and may be difficult to modify that way. I'll see what I can do. The rocket maybe needs to look more like a drawing - I can think of a couple of ways to do that, I'll see if they improve it.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

For the script, you could simply select the green sides of the letters and make them a solid green rather than shaded. Very roughly done in a few seconds, if you spend a little more time, you can trace the outlines better:

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's not a bad idea. Here's a slight rejig of the rocket, is it more what you had in mind?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* Basically, the whole image should be a bit "flatter" for the more authentic look.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Yes - I see what you mean - I'll take a look tomorrow evening, I've got to get to bed.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

But you're leaving out the most iconic Weinbaum image ...

Tweerl.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Ummm. I'll have to try to draw him at some stage, but it won't be easy for an artist of my spectacular lack of talent. I really don't think that one will be the best cover picture.

[jordan179.livejournal.com]

Kyra Zelas (the "Adaptive Ultimate") would also be cool but (1) isn't really linked to the space stories, and (2) would be very hard to do right ("cute little wide-eyed innocent-looking cold-blooded killer"). She's always been Nightmare Fuel for me, because her ultimate power was to make people like her.

[doctor-toc.livejournal.com]

That's more like it!

[johnreiher.livejournal.com]

Looks good Marcus! However, I'd go with a black outline on all the lettering. The white outline blends the text into the background too much.

As for playing around with the script, if you're using Office, you can copy the script and then use the Paste Special feature and paste it in as a picture. Then you can play with that in whatever program you're using to manipulate the image.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm doing.