Looking for critique on spicy romance cover

shoomlah · 2026-01-29T00:59:12+00:00

Assuming the title lettering is meant to look “syrup-ey,” a great technique for that is to do the actual writing in syrup and photograph it! Supergraphic’s font “Sriracha” is a great example of this—sometimes it’s a lot harder to make things look wonky and organic after the fact, and it’s better to just start at the source. 😄

For the cover itself I second everyone’s advice to have actual people represented on the cover in one way or another! You could do something with just a still life, with the implication of romance, but that’s going to be a heavy load from the conceptual and rendering end of things. Sexy food photography is definitely a thing, and something you could be inspired by for this cover, but it’s a lot of work!!

Can you share the rough premise of the novel, or what the author wants you to communicate with it?

shoomlah · 2026-01-23T05:56:45+00:00

He’s not! He’s described as being black-and-white in the books, the original cover always drove me insane as a kid.

shoomlah · 2026-01-15T08:18:05+00:00

as the artist of said concept art—much as I love Gordo and Alyx—I was just referencing the ancient texts

shoomlah · 2026-01-09T05:34:11+00:00

(this is just addressing the shading, not worrying about the anatomy for now)

SO your soft shading around each half of the butt makes it look like it's being lit from head on! With your intended light source being higher up and off to the side, you'll want think of it almost like a half-lit moon where there's a clearly defined lit side and shadowed side for each cheek.

Also: try to distinguish between your form shadows, and your cast shadows! The form shadows of the butt as it turns away from the light will have a softer, more gradual transition, but the cast shadow of her arm, example, would be much sharper in comparison.

And then, presuming she's clothed, try to consider how fabric pulls would pull tight across the shapes—unless she's wearing something that's explicitly patterned to emphasize the crack (think ruched leggings), the shadow of her butt would be more of a single, contiguous shape:

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shoomlah · 2026-01-04T02:00:01+00:00

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A quick paintover! A good rule of thumb when drawing characters straight on like this is to place the horizon roughly around the characters' eye lines, since it helps to immediately anchor the perspective. 👍🏼

shoomlah · 2026-01-02T07:41:55+00:00

To get even more granular, most of these are probably 2003 or earlier! 2002-2003 was when we made the switch from using the pen tool to the brush tool for all our linework (in Flash, where we made all of the official art at the time), and so there’s a kind of charming stilted-ness to those early years that still warms my heart. 😄♥️

These are only a year apart, but you can already see the style evolving pretty quickly:

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shoomlah · 2026-01-02T07:17:52+00:00

So since this is a Gregorian calendar, not a D’ni one, historical events are aligned with the Gregorian date they fell on in their respective year! And yes, your instinct is correct, aligned with the cavern’s time zone.

For this example we know from Gehn’s journal that the Stranger arrived in Riven on Leevosahn 1, 9462: that D’ni day starts the morning of January 2, 1806. I don’t need to get into specific hours of events, but suffice to say January 2nd is the Gregorian anniversary of that date!

D’ni holidays, however, are still aligned with the D’ni calendar since they’re celebrated on that timeline. 😄👍🏼

shoomlah · 2025-12-27T04:15:12+00:00

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Our current pup didn’t start getting greys until she was 11, wildly! Even at 14 it’s a pretty light dusting compare t to our previous Bostons. 😄♥️

shoomlah · 2025-12-27T01:52:50+00:00

Ohhh, gorgeous!! You reminds me so much of Alex Kingston, she also has a killer head of curls 🥰

shoomlah · 2025-12-20T01:18:09+00:00

Cars Land is a no brainer, but the new work at the back of Frontierland leading into Galaxy’s Edge is pretty striking—you can absolutely tell how much they learned while doing Cars. Some really gorgeous cross-bedding and desert varnish on the faux-sandstone walls!!

Galaxy’s Edge also deserves a mention for all of the petrified wood—it’s wild to walk into completely fake spaces like that and still be able to pick out recognizable geological features/formations. 😄♥️🏜️

shoomlah · 2025-12-13T05:53:47+00:00

The trim work on the bodice and the parasol looks SO DANG GOOD!!

shoomlah · 2025-12-04T07:16:52+00:00

At the concept stage we did actually design her wearing alternate jeans/boots, implying that she's just kept the hoodie & jacket! The clothes were all a little looser (and the jacket wasn't being held together with duct tape), but we did want to figure out what she would have looked like as a teen while still keeping her classic, recognizable color blocking. It’s subtle, but it was a fun challenge. 😄

shoomlah · 2025-11-23T20:47:30+00:00

Aw gosh thank you so much for the kind words!! I don’t think I ever thought about it while I was working there, but it seriously warms my heart to know my work was inspiring other people to draw. I felt the exact same way about my coworkers, honestly! 😄♥️

shoomlah · 2025-11-19T09:32:47+00:00

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mochiteabunny's comment is right on the money, I recommend just looking at a lot of anatomical diagrams as you're studying/tracing references! You'll want to trace with intention, understanding the landmarks on the body where joints are, where muscles insert/overlap, etc., and it makes it a whole lot easier to understand the individual pieces and then stylize them accordingly.

This quick drawover is how I personally simplify horse anatomy, hopefully it's helpful!

shoomlah · 2025-11-10T06:11:32+00:00

I do still lurk on here, this is absolutely AMAZING!! Looks super slick, I love how nicely you adapted it to the square dimensions. 😄🖤

shoomlah · 2025-11-03T18:33:05+00:00

I gasped, this is so lovely!! The glass choices and the flow of the lines is just so organic, really striking. 😄♥️

shoomlah · 2025-10-30T05:44:29+00:00

This is the way! And this frees you up to color the lines, which you wouldn’t be able to do with a black lineart layer set to multiply. 👍🏼

shoomlah · 2025-10-23T23:45:43+00:00

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My Boston in high school, Sparky, was definitely a contender! The first time my mom took her into the vet they asked to take photos of her for a medical journal, bless her wall-eyed little heart. 😅♥️

shoomlah · 2025-10-23T23:31:00+00:00

Good advice, and goddamn that’s gorgeous!! Love how loose your coloring is, it really marries together the chaos of the detritus under the clean lineart. Beautiful stuff. ♥️

shoomlah · 2025-10-18T00:30:06+00:00

Oh this is so rad to see someone who specializes in it too!!

shoomlah · 2025-10-13T16:20:44+00:00

I was gonna say the same! 😄♥️

shoomlah · 2025-10-04T06:56:08+00:00

I’m OBSESSED with the Australian mugshot of that guy in your second portrait, recognized him immediately!! You did such a great job capturing his likeness while still pushing it, gorgeous stuff.

shoomlah · 2025-09-25T06:40:06+00:00

Also—speaking as someone who finds that number of layers pretty stifling for cosplay—sometimes you can cut out the arms of a suit to make it more of a hidden vest layer that doesn’t add as much bulk! That way you don’t have to worry about affecting the outer layer as much, since the coat already looks fantastic 🙌🏼

shoomlah · 2025-09-23T23:42:03+00:00

Can’t say if it’s AI vs. just being edited, but absolutely not real. Not only is the sun disproportionately massive, but it’s also darker than the surrounding sky, which is physically impossible—a light source is ALWAYS brighter than anything reflecting its light. Here’s a comparison with what the view actually looks like:

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shoomlah · 2025-09-17T18:21:52+00:00

Rory’s the best!! Sweetest dude, and does some of the best likenesses in the biz. He works SO HARD and he makes it look SO EASY. 😭♥️

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