The author says:
Here is a revised cover of A Bee In A Big Universe. A funner readable font-Better beehive-bee moved more center and down – moon as a crescent – planets moved a bit – tree reduced in size. I hope you like it. I’m just trying to improve my cover, lots of things I like about the cover just needed improving. Darker blues don’t work. because of the interior page colors. I think it looks good. I was hoping to find out what looked better the newer version or older one and to make improvements. It looks better on thumbnail.
[original submission and comments here]
Nathan says:
I definitely think that this version takes the best parts of the other two. The flower is immediately apparent to a preschooler, the bee’s solid eyes aren’t as psychedelic, and the hive no longer looks like the poop emoji. 🙂
I would make the title twice as big (shrink the flower and tree to give it room).
Other comments?
https://imgur.com/tnTpIqj
try something like this with the words meshed with the image.
(this is a PNG of the title to save from having to remake it if you liked it.)https://imgur.com/YbeJqat
font: Ohno Blazeface
PS. I added just a hint of shadow to the bee to make it look like it was flying out a bit.
I still don’t think the tree and hive add anything. It’s still too busy.
I also don’t care for the timid byline.
As usual Shelley is on to something.
The title is too uniform
The flower still overwhelms the cover… and the beehive is still not working. I would eliminate the latter.
I have to agree with Ron’s assessment about the Beehive. It’s just not adding anything at all and in that vein, it’s distracting from it. I’d nuke it.
I’m not overly wild about the title font, but it’s not terrible. Somedays, that’s about as good as life gets. 🙂
I still think the title needs more work. Just look at other exiting picture books, like this one:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71NkXyJEN2L.jpg
I’m not crazy about the tree and beehive either. Also, the byline and name should be the same font.
I think both flower and tree are overpowering and don’t add anything. Even children of picture-book age don’t need props to understand what a bee is.
The story is about a bee who flies through the universe, among planets and stars and outer space. This picture looks like a bee having a brief wander through the local meadow. The stars in the sky aren’t enough to suggest he’s about to travel into space.
Another thought: The book is about a SMALL bee in a BIG universe, with scale being one of its themes. This picture shows a huge bee absolutely dominating its environment.
To go in an entirely different direction, you could run with the original inspiration in the previous post: “I thought the meadow with all the bees and flowers looked like the universe.” The bee could be shown flying up and out of his familiar meadow and into the starry sky.
Or an overhead view of a meadow dotted with flowers blends into a view of the universe, with the bee crossing the transition area from one to the other. A dark green meadow with pale flowers, dark blue or black space with pale stars, and then a bright yellow bee would show up well even at a small scale. A dotted line behind him could indicate movement and direction.
Pretty good ideas.