Thumbnail Mock-Ups

 I've started with some rough sketches of a couple of thumbnails. I'd like to design a couple more ideas for some variance, and then I'll seek feedback on what idea would work best. 

I've kept the same elements in both ideas #1 and #2: A live Plesiosaur in its marine habitat, a graphic map showing the Eromanga Sea and White Cliff location, an opalised fossil (will reference from available images of White Cliff specimen), and the unfossilised opal in its different stages. 

I've found text placement tricky around the illustrations as I need to consider how most of us habitually read information from left to right. While the placement of elements may look nice, the hierarchy of information when reading can throw off the whole design. There is a certain narrative I would like to tell with a chronological order of the following events: the existence of the sea, to its recession and consequent opal-solute drainage into the ground to form with the fossils. The goal is to communicate these ideas in harmony with both the text and illustration. 

Idea #1 was the first iteration, I liked the flow-on of the underground and underwater view, however if strictly following the narrative of the timeline it should be flipped (may have to experiment with this layout). There is also an awkward space in the middle under the title that would need to be filled with text or some other element. 

#2 has a much better hierarchy and visual flow, while still keeping all the same elements.