The POWER of THUMBNAILS
Starting Small with YOUR Big Ideas
When it comes to ideation simpler is sometimes better, especially in the beginning phase.
It’s far too easy for our brains to obsess and create something complex. By putting some limits in place, we can build stronger foundations for those ideas to hold and take shape.
The idea of starting out literally, with thumbnail sized ideas helps one work through composition problems as well as figuring out the best way to create memorable ideas that can be read in an instant. This is especially true with illustration. In writing, it’s like coming up with that simple two sentence pitch: What is your story about? As simple as these things can be, it doesn’t mean they are that simple to create.
I have a knack for obsessing over cover illustrations, especially if it’s for my own books. I think first about what it is I want to say about the story. What’s the most important and pivotal idea that will get the potential customer to pick up my book. Then I sweat over how to say it--how will I illustrate it. That’s usually where I get into the weeds about things and inevitably my brain wants to complicate matters. So... back to the thumbnails I go.
Often thumbnailing an idea will help you avoid mistakes, create energy around the idea that you can’t wait to explore as the piece is taken to a rough phase and final illustration. With each step, the resolution of your initial idea should be brought into clearer focus and keep you excited. If it isn’t, go back to square one. Figure out what it was you thought was great about the thumbnail.
Was it the implied motion?
Composition?
The body language of the characters?
Or the depth created in the scene?
There can be many reasons, but finding out where the train went off the rails can help you understand this part of the process even better.
One of the issues I had early on was how much energy my thumbnails would evoke, and how inevitably I'd lose it in the final art. It’s a fairly common problem.
How many times do we look at artist’s sketchbooks and marvel at the unhinged energy? And yet...there are people who still deliver on the promise of a sketch because, through either skill or vision, they've maintained that inertia to the final piece. What I found is, the work eventually succeeds with constant practice and dedication of sticking to the process and doing the work. Rinse and repeat. Of course there’s other things along the way, like getting better at drawing from life, redrawing covers from amazon books as thumbnails, etc.
Another good way of disciplining yourself into not getting too detailed is using a thick marker or a dull pencil. This will force you to make larger shape choices even at a small size. My thumbnails, also tend to be from thumbnail size all the way up to a business card size--which is kind of pushing it. But in the end, I've found what works for me. Give it a try.
In the end Jeremy Haun chose this third variant cover proposal. which spoke more to the story at hand.
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