Album cover - feedback is appreciated!

[TheIceHeLater]

Hi!

Been working on an album for about a year now and it will soon be finished. Decided to start working on the cover art for the album and could use some help with feedback.

[worjord]

Great texture. You should overlap those antlers. The two "almost kissing" in the center is drawing the eye to the tension. For the rest of the composition I would say extend the antlers out so that you have a equilateral triangle on its end in the square of the background. Arrange it so that you have the eye nearest to center as you can. I really like the white patch on the neck it defines the shape of the throat really well.

[TheIceHeLater]

Thanks man! Now that you point things out it gets much more clear.

[TheIceHeLater]

Here's an updated version. Is it better?

[worjord]

Yeah, now the antlers standout against the yellow. You changed some of the values and it is really popping. The little background hints are really nice too.

[bradyscott]

The background texture is very nice, but there is very little texture in the deer. Adding some fur texture and bumps on the antlers would give it some more interest imo.

[TheIceHeLater]

Thank's for the feedback guys!

will definately try and add some furr and bumps on the antlers.

[Suncut]

The antlers are giving off a really soft and round appearance right now, not bony at all. I suggest going back to some antler reference and adding more structure to them. Actual antlers have flat bits and wide bits and most of all are not universally tube-like.

[Spellsword95]

I think that neck is too fat. Deers are gentle and graceful creatures, therefore their shapes should be slim and smooth. Also add more specific light source to make him less merging with background

Fun fact: This cover immediately reminded me of another blue deer - "Blood Mountain" album art by Mastodon. Check it out

(Click to enlarge)

[TheIceHeLater]

Thanks Suncut! I actually liked my stylised version of the antlers but I'll make one version with a bit more realistic feel to it

Spellsword95: Yeah, I've thought about the thickness of the neck myself. Thanks for bringing it back into my head! The light source wont get much more specific as I like that the painting blends together. Don't really know why though Might try and make one with a specific lighting just to se how it looks!

Thank's again guy's!

[TheIceHeLater]

Here's an updated version with some textures and a smaller neck. What do you think?

[Vernalis]

I really love this! Beautiful color scheme... Are you using a reference though. The antler to the right seems a little strange in terms of perspective, however, I still love this.
I don't think it takes away from it too much at all, and yes lovely textures.

[TheIceHeLater]

And here's the final(?) version:

[TheIceHeLater]

Vernalis: Thank you
I used a couple of references at first but freehanded most of it. Yeah it might be a bit strange as you say. Might fix it later on!

[Lulie]

Overlapping the antlers is good, but now there's a tangent where they meet and they almost look like they're connected to each other. The antler closer to us looks a lot longer and bendier than the one behind, which looks like it's been flattened. Did you map them to a perspective?

What kind of deer is this? Can you post your ref? Searching for 'male deer', most of them have much larger ears and a much narrower, more boney face. They have quite defined eye sockets, whereas here you have a smooth curve from the top of the head down to the nose. Their ears aren't attached at their widest point to the head, but are more like almonds -- start from a point, get fat in the middle and narrow at the end.

The ears also look like they have contradicting perspectives. The head in general is almost totally in profile (because we can't see the other eye at all), but if that's the case the ear should be much further back on the head -- currently, it's sticking out of almost where the deer's other eye would be.

[TheIceHeLater]

Thank you for the feedback! Again when someone points it out for you it get's much more clear what's wrong.