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| Beautiful work...art is great...but the way the logo is put on her back is fighting not only the curves of the body, but it just doesnt work on any level for me. There are a hundred ways to get this wrong...its a difficult dilemma. What is your opinion of this cover and how the design element is worked in? let me know. |
Yeah, while it is certainly a striking image, I, too, had problems with the logo placement.
ReplyDeleteThe tattoo isn't dragon shaped, and not specific enough.
ReplyDeleteThe pose is forced, her right hand is crossing her body, so we can see her smoke. I don't know anyone who smokes that way.
The colors are too washed out, should've use color scheme that echoed the paperback's cover, which was a killer design.
Jimmy, I agree with your assessment as to how the image fights the curve of her body, and it also makes one immediately think, "Wait . . . but where's the dragon tattoo?" It's confusing.
ReplyDeleteI also think that using this more sexualized image is too easy. It's like low-hanging fruit. Do something different. That irritates me.
I'll tell you what got it right -- the original trailer for the American version of the movie that used the Zeppelin cover. I never had any interest in the books, the original movie, nothing . . . but they really nailed it with that trailer. It made it all interesting, and I couldn't wait to see it. I felt it delivered the goods too.
I find it strange that some of the American movie marketing and now the comic book cover make a point of exploiting Lisbeth's sexuality, especially in light of what the story is supposed to be about. It's important to note that the original title of the book was "Men Who Hate Women" and not "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."
ReplyDeleteThe artwork is beautiful and I see what they were attempting to do with the dragon tattoo as title shaped as a tattoo. I don't dislike it but I don't love it either. I think what I find to be the most troubling is Lisbeth's attitude in the pose. On the cover she's presented as a strong confident woman. In the book she IS a strong confident woman, on the inside. On the outside she is damanged by her life experience and deeply effected by the mental disability that is at the same time her greatest strength and the cause of her poor social graces. This picture depicts a punk girl smoking a cigarette but nothing more than that. That isn't Lisbeth. That isn't the socially inept cyber genius that we, who know the source material, want to see.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I can respect the fact that the cover of the book needs to draw readers in. Readers that both know the book and do not. Someone who hasn't read the book or seen the movie will more likely be drawn to this cover as opposed to a slightly more 'broken' looking Lisbeth. However I would have liked to see a bit more vulnerability in her gaze or attitude. She was, after all, described in the book as 'ther perfect victim', at least given her outward appearance. Anything else seems to be false advertising.
the design of this falls apart starting with putting the original authors name in giant letters cutting across the top middle of the book. at first glance you might think this series is named Stieg Larsson. Covering that up instantly makes this cover better - but not by much.
ReplyDeletelike everyone else, i do enjoy the actual art. the creator credits at the bottom at fine also.
Now the logo. i understand what the artist was going for,classic pulp paperback mystery cover, but unfortunately they didn't quite get it. while easiest to read "The Girl With" is too big and the size and shape of "the dragon tattoo" is hard to easily read and flows into/creates to much dead space at the bottom.
a better solution would have been to actually put a dragon tattoo on the girl - on her shoulder blade area - big and easily understandable, slide the entire book title down to her lower back area, about level with the "a graphic novel" line. i would also make all the logo text horizontal. finally bring stieg larsson's name down to sit above the title and credits and make it about 10 points smaller.
phew feel free to share with DC's editors. hopefully it's people making better choices then whoever designed the new DC logo!
-J.
The logo isn't the only thing fighting the curves of the body... the art itself is kind of doing that too. I could be totally wrong, but it looks to me like an over-reliance on photo reference and not enough understanding of the actual structure of her back. The light and shadow is superficially correct, but fails to convey dimensionality. If I'm wrong I'm wrong, that's just how I read it.
ReplyDeleteI think it would have looked much better if they turned her a bit more and ran the title down her spine. This would have had the word tattoo running across her hips. Seems to me that would have looked better. I do like the muted colour tones though.
ReplyDelete$0.02 from a non-artist but an art fan.
Let me say that Rooney Mara gave a remarkable performance in the movie which should deny Meryl Streep her 3rd Oscar. The title of the movie is a McGuffin as no explanation is given for her tattoo. The epilogue of the film is too languid but director David Fincher trusted his actress to the Nth degree and for that he deserves our respect. The Vertigo cover is completely divorced from the source material and is a missed opportunity!
ReplyDelete