I now had the final logo branding for it (in color!) and had to do some redesigning to make it fit as it took up less space on either side of it. Changing from the soft, round bull's eye target to the hard-edged shape of a shield works quite well.
The top portion of the art with Tom & Jerry was nailed down in the previous version, but we simplified the top area by taking out the other characters and just going with the background of the castle. It works better as your eye isn't fighting over what to look at first. Again, I had each piece on a separate layer so adjustments could be easily made.
The lower part was the biggest change and I only kept my Sherwood Forest background plate I drew. Robin Hood and the Sheriff were now added dueling it out and became another focal point as they were placed center stage on the lower portion. To balance it out, some of the better known supporting characters were added. I think they work better than having generic "Merry Men."
The above final cover is the one I liked the most, but I submitted some variants too that played with the sizes of Robin Hood and the Sheriff. Once I submitted them, it was the last I heard of the art as it went through the approval process.
THE FINAL VERSION
The poses of Robin Hood and the Sheriff were changed after it left my drawing board. Everything else basically stayed the same with a minor tweak here or there.
Robin Hood basically stayed the same but they added more "squash and stretch" to both characters. The Sheriff was a bigger change and I'm not sure why they went with a side profile view unless it was merely done to make it look like he was facing Robin Hood directly? The problem is his body pose. He still has one hand on his sword and his left hand is off to the side in the air, but it's now partially blocked from view. It would have worked better if he had both hands on his sword as if he were struggling a bit in battle.
This is why the front 3/4 view is mostly used because it's the most appealing. When I did it you got a clear view of the Sheriff and he was facing Robin. I drew them more like they were just starting to duel. The final version looks like they were fighting each other for a bit. They may have given it to someone who was working on the movie as they had a better context of what was going on in terms of story. I was going by the basic themes of what I knew of Robin Hood (basically the 1938 Errol Flynn film masterpiece).
I could have redone both figures to make them more animated, but possibly time or budget got in the way and they handed it off internally to finish. I was just part of the pipeline on this one. I don't know how close they were to a final deadline or release date because I never saw the thing again until I saw it in a store.
Hope you liked how it came out and the inside look at the process!
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