Monday, February 2, 2015

What Went into That Cover?

I thought I'd share the design process for one of my latest and most complex book cover designs.

Before:

After:



After Natalie D. Wilson and I had a great, informative chat on the phone, I felt I had a pretty good grasp on her book, Rohan's Choice (available in paperback and ebook).

We needed a vineyard setting...


...with a larger villa...


I also turned the sky pink and added a couple more trees.

Then we needed a big, buff, Rohan character looking off at the villa.

So I found a man who was already looking somewhat the way we needed...

Then I "turned him around" by darkening and blurring. Now he was a semi-buff silhouette that could be facing either toward or away from you. I painted a new hairdo for him, and bulked up his shoulders and arms.

The picture ended too soon, though, so I borrowed this guy's pants...


...and added a sword...


Then all I had to do was work with the title and other text. That was a piece of cake, comparatively.

I had so, so much fun with this cover! 

Want to see more? Check out my design portfolio here: http://perryelisabethdesign.blogspot.com and my gallery of premade covers here: www.selfpubbookcovers.com/perryelisabeth




12 comments:

  1. Wow! That is so cool!!! Amazing job. ;)

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  2. Wow! I'm impressed. You did a great job and I never would have thought of doing what you did to get the right guy. :)

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    1. Thank you! It was fun to figure it all out! :)

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  3. Wow, I'm so impressed with your design abilities! I never would have thought that you could mesh all those photographs together to create one seemless-looking cover! Amazing job, Perry!

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    1. Thank you! This was one of my more complicated covers, so I'm glad it came together well. :)

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  4. As the author, I am very impressed with the result and found your post on the details of the design process intriguing. I got to see some of the process, but not all of the individual parts that went into it. I'm so excited to get my other covers redone as well!

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    1. So glad you enjoyed both the cover and this post! I'm looking forward to working on the others as well! :)

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  5. So much fun to see a little of your "behind-the-scenes!" :) I love seeing what others put into their cover designs! Design is great! :)
    ~Amanda

    "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding." Proverbs 3:5

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    1. Glad you enjoyed it! Design is definitely great! :)

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  6. That is great getting to see how it all worked out! I love the cover.

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    1. I'm so glad you found it interesting and that you like the cover! It's a fun process. :)

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