I like it too, because it has character, which few pictures do. But the asymmetrical distorted face just bugs me. And the ketchup stains on the collar. And the composition problems (lack of space below the subtitle, timid placement of trees, etc.) For some reason my brain didn’t see them as creative choices, but as mechanical problems that need fixing. Maybe I’m oversensitive.
Stating the obvious: I don’t think those stains are meant to be ketchup. (And maybe “owl with bloodstains” feels scarier than “owl with ketchup stains”.)
Well, if we’re going to be picky, neither does the owl look like an owl. It’s not that sort of picture. But I suggest that “blood” is a more likely answer to “what do those red bits indicate?” than anything like “ketchup”.
But it does. It’s stylised, but it is certainly an owl, not a crow, a hawk, or a tit. As to the reddish brown bits, they match the colour of the pixel droppings in the bottom left of the cover, I think. Hard to say what was in the mind of the graphic designer...
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. The red looks (I think) about as much like a bloodstain as the owl looks like an owl. That is: no one would mistake one for the other, but the resemblance is there and you can certainly take one as an indication of the other.
I like it too, because it has character, which few pictures do. But the asymmetrical distorted face just bugs me. And the ketchup stains on the collar. And the composition problems (lack of space below the subtitle, timid placement of trees, etc.) For some reason my brain didn’t see them as creative choices, but as mechanical problems that need fixing. Maybe I’m oversensitive.
Stating the obvious: I don’t think those stains are meant to be ketchup. (And maybe “owl with bloodstains” feels scarier than “owl with ketchup stains”.)
They don’t look like blood either.
Well, if we’re going to be picky, neither does the owl look like an owl. It’s not that sort of picture. But I suggest that “blood” is a more likely answer to “what do those red bits indicate?” than anything like “ketchup”.
But it does. It’s stylised, but it is certainly an owl, not a crow, a hawk, or a tit. As to the reddish brown bits, they match the colour of the pixel droppings in the bottom left of the cover, I think. Hard to say what was in the mind of the graphic designer...
Perhaps I wasn’t clear. The red looks (I think) about as much like a bloodstain as the owl looks like an owl. That is: no one would mistake one for the other, but the resemblance is there and you can certainly take one as an indication of the other.
That might be meant as a reminder of the inhumanity.