Alfie Cover Revisions

I always like it when folks share the thought process that went into their illustrations so here are some of the revisions to the cover of "Please Write Back!" I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted. I knew I wanted Alfie holding an envelope and I wanted the title of the book on the envelope but alas, nothing is easy. I quickly added some color to each sketch in Photoshop sometimes with color it's really apparent when something is not working. Here's version number one..
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As you can see, the title hasn't been decided on yet. I don't think this version is too bad but it was pointed out that not everyone might realize that's an envelope he is holding.

Here's number 2...


The envelope is more readable but this one of those times where adding the color made a huge difference. The pencil sketch looked okay but once I added color is was very apparent to me that he looks naked! Yes, I know it's not like his funny little red shirt actually covers anything but it's like Donald Duck with out his sailor shirt, he just looks weird naked.

So here's try number 3...


This is okay but we lost the lettering on the envelope. And I don't like how the title looks scrunched into the corner.

And here is version 4 which we all agreed was the best version...


Here's the final art. We just changed the background colors so it didn't look quite so much like the first book.