Category Archives: Client Work

Cover Reveal and Review – The Devil’s Third

This is the third and final book cover for Rebekkah Ford’s Beyond the Eyes trilogy, as well as a few of the promo pieces I put together for it. You can see the wrap-around cover here: http://sbibb.deviantart.com/art/The-Devil-s-Third-Book-Cover-423981244?q=gallery%3ASBibb&qo=0

SBibb - The Devil's Third - Book Cover

Facebook Banner:

SBibb - Devil's Third Promo

Bookmarks:

SBibb - Devil's Third Promo SBibb - Devil's Third Promo

A bit about the cover: All images are my own, and I used the camera’s timer to get a few shots of me posing for the main character. We had a couple different ideas to work from, and when the first didn’t work out, it turned out handy that I’d done a few standing poses as well. Side note for photography– it can help to take multiple angles and poses in case one doesn’t have the desired effect. Photoshop CS6 to blend everything and photomanipulate the hand reaching out from the text.

(See the the previous covers for the series: https://sbibb.wordpress.com/2013/03/05/dark-spirits-cover-reveal/ and http://sbibb.deviantart.com/art/Beyond-the-Eyes-Wrap-Around-309769699 )

And now for the review. 😀

Disclaimer: Paranormal romance isn’t my preferred genre, and therefore, my opinions may be skewed compared to that of someone who regularly enjoys paranormal romance.

Overall, an enjoyable read. The characters have a realness about them that I enjoyed, and the description of setting was wonderful. (Seriously, I read one passage that made me think I could smell a rainy autumn day. Descriptions that really engage the senses like that make me a happy camper).

My favorite part of the story was where Paige goes into Carrie’s memories (so-to-speak, trying not to give away spoilers). The visuals were awesome, the pace really picked up (the beginning was just a bit slow, but served well to remind me what happened in the previous book), and the plot revealed a few nice tid-bits of information about the dark spirits.

I also enjoyed the magic system and finding out more about their world and <spoiler>the different doorways Paige can open. I actually would have been interested in seeing more of the different dimensions</spoiler> but we also got to see other new abilities, as well, which I enjoyed reading about.

That being said, there were a few downsides for me. A minor thing, but I did notice more typos in this story than in the previous ones. Also, there were several times I felt like something convenient happened or wasn’t fully explained. In all fairness, I was reading this in ten minute intervals while on break at work, so my attention wasn’t completely focused. Might have been different if I’d been able to read it in longer intervals.

I didn’t really get into the romance between Nathan and Paige, but then, I don’t typically read stories for the romance. And Brayden… I still kind of want to strangle him. I did, however, like seeing more of Ameerah’s character, and I also liked seeing the new characters, like Pip.

For me, I think my favorite book out of this trilogy was actually Dark Spirits. I really liked the interactions between Bael and Paige in that story, but I liked seeing Paige’s new powers in this one. Overall, though, I think this was a good series that paranormal romance readers are likely to enjoy. 🙂

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Cover Reveal – Slip Sliding Away

This is a wrap around cover I did for Barking Rain Press.

(You can find the book here: http://www.barkingrainpress.org/dd-product/slip-sliding-away/ ).

SBibb - Slip Sliding Away

(See a larger version on my Deviant Art Account: http://sbibb.deviantart.com/art/Slip-Sliding-Away-Cover-394872911 )

For this particular cover, I actually did a photoshoot (three, to get the angle and items right) of my own. The publisher wanted a desk with the drink on it and the photos, and when I first started trying to put it together with stock, I realized I’d have a much easier time if I just set the shoot up myself (especially since we’d just finished that dresser…. which worked well for a desk setting). I set up the glass, notepad, and alarm clock, as well as used an empty picture frame and two gift cards to hold the place for the photos. (Note to self: Next time someone has the stock photos they want used already picked out, just print them off and put directly in the image… it’ll save editing time later). I also changed the card reflections to that of the stock photos (from Shutterstock). For the alarm clock, I quickly discovered the numbers weren’t going to appear on their own (same reason you can’t have your shutter speed faster than 1/200 or you get a black line through your image). We had considered using a digital font for the numbers on the clock, but I found the LEDs just faintly showed in the image, had so I used the overlay tools to bring out the parts I needed.

I also changed the color of the overall image so it’d look more like night (I played with in-camera color settings, but found Photoshop was a bit more versatile for me). I did try to angle the lights (Alien Bees) so they’d look more like a lamp or low window.

 

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Cover Reveal – The Light of Day

Today we have another cover for Melange Books. This one was fun to do, largely in part because of playing with expression to achieve the mood I wanted to convey. For example, take a look at this stock photo: (http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-female-health-care-worker-image22294246) and compare her expression to the final cover. Liquefy filter and puppet warp tool in Photoshop– extremely useful. I made it so she no longer had as wide of a smile (based on the description of the book, I didn’t think a super cheerful tone would be in the cover’s best interest). Once I eliminated the teeth, I raised the chin, tweaked the corners of her eyes and lips, and even changed the nose and wrinkles of the cheeks just slightly to achieve the desired effect.

The other big edit that came for this one was using multiple pictures for the guy in front. Since he was supposed to be in a hospital gown, I had to add that in, which meant I needed to show more of his back. As a result, I merged three different images together to create the final picture.

And, on a final note: When you need a certain angle but the stock photo cuts off too soon on the person, the strategic placement of colorful title bars can prove useful. 🙂

SBibb - The Light of Day Cover

Photoshop CS6.

Stock photos from: Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-female-health-care-worker-image22294246
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-black-business-man-image1723303
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-docotor-s-office-image11152240
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-portrait-young-female-doctor-examining-male-patient-image29672475
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-young-african-american-man-flexing-triceps-his-studio-shot-image30583323

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The Blind Vampire Hunter – Cover Reveal

Another cover for Melange Books. For this one, I got to have a bit of fun with piece-parting images together (we wanted a very specific kind of cane with the older man, and part of it I digitally illustrated), as well as manipulating expression. (If you look at the original image for the vampire, she has a slightly different expression. Eyes, eyebrows, and mouth changed position slightly to get the effect I was wanting for the cover. Goes to show that the liquefy and puppet warp tools can both be extremely helpful when you’re trying to achieve a specific mood. Also helpful when you have a stock image that is almost what you want, but not quite right. 🙂

 

SBibb - The Blind Vampire Hunter - Book Cover

Photoshop CS6

Stock from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-fashion-hard-rock-girl-black-cloak-image29546626

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-grandfather-blowhole-boss-man-thinks-portrait-cane-image31520111
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-family-home-night-image19659116
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-thoughtful-older-man-image24460795

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Cover Reveal – Penny Pony and Nickel-Bred

I know I usually just show one cover at a time, but in this case, I wanted to talk about creating book covers that are meant to be part of a series. These two covers are for Melange Books’ young adult line. In this case, I worked with the author to find images that worked well for the book (and in the case of Nickel-Bred, the author actually suggested the picture from Dreamstime, and it worked well without needing to be changed). For these covers I had set a specific style of editing and formatting. A block of color above and below the photo, with the title on top and the author’s name at the bottom. Position varied a bit, but I kept the same font in both. Keeping the scheme the same, it should be easily visible that they are of the same series or type of book. Also, being that they are meant to be of a more realistic/contemporary nature, I didn’t do a whole lot of extra editing. I did edit for lighting effects (see the stock images listed below for the changes), and on The Penny Pony I changed spot color and added ear tufts per the author’s request.

So, even thought the colors are different, the style remains relatively similar. Something to think about if you’re designing a cover or having one designed, is how well can you tell the book are of the same “brand” or series.

SBibb - Penny Pony Cover SBibb - Nickel-Bred Cover

 

Stock Images for The Penny Pony:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-appaloosa-pony-portrait-image20085031
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-appaloosa-coat-image888990

Stock Images for Nickel-Bred:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-arabian-horse-portrait-image12661463
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-arabian-horse-image25455479

 

Photoshop CS6, as usual. 🙂

 

By the way, if you didn’t know, you can find my work at my Deviant Art account, where I usually upload book covers before I talk about them here. 🙂

http://sbibb.deviantart.com

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Wolfman Owner’s Manual – Book Cover Reveal

Today we have a cover a bit different from the romance covers I’ve been doing. Today we have a cover for the horror genre from Melange Books. 🙂

SBibb - Wolfman Owner's Manual Book Cover

 

Let me tell ya, this was fun to do. One, because it involved the anthropomorphic art I enjoy (yay, werewolf!), and two, because it involved a lot of the photographic manipulation I also enjoy doing. Take a look at the original stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-timber-wolf-growling-iii-image8983996
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-shirtless-young-athletic-man-growling-outdoors-park-beijing-image31106656
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-young-woman-screaming-image10656977

In order to create the wolf (which, while working with the author, I realized needed to be more werewolf-like and less anthro wolf), I used a human base to get the pose and body structure. Then, using the wolf image, I cut and pasted sections of fur across the body, paying attention to the direction of the fur. I varied the opacity in areas on the face and chest in order to show just a bit more of the body structure underneath. I also cut and pasted section of the wolf’s face along the man’s face so it fit better. Then the puppet warp tool, the perspective and skew tools, and the smudge tool, became very good friends.  They helped to get the wolf-man look I was aiming for. I added in the girl, gave the wolf-man an arm, and played with lighting (opacity layer) to make everything fit together, then finally added the text. The background I did in the early stages.

Of course, one of the factors that gets to come into play with creating an image with a lot of variation due to the puppet warp tool is that the final image doesn’t look quite like the proof image. A section of fur isn’t laid the same, the mouth doesn’t angle quite right. When that happens, I try making the image stronger than it was before, using what I learned in the initial set-up to make the final look more complete. In this case, something wasn’t quite right. The wolf didn’t look as imposing as before. So I made a copy of the image as a whole on a new layer (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E) and used the perspective tool to make the wolf just a bit bigger, a bit closer, and the girl a bit smaller. The change was subtle, but did a lot to help. 🙂

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JoAnna’s Rescue – Book Cover Reveal

Hello again, long time no-see. But, fear not, I have a book cover to reveal. 🙂

SBibb - JoAnna's Rescue Book Cover

Today we have “JoAnna’s Rescue,” another cover for Melange Books. This one is for a romance novel. This is another case where a collaboration between the author and illustrator can work out well. In this case, the author had an idea of what she wanted, and provided links to a couple images (from Dreamstime) that she thought might fit. However, we wanted a snowy, blizzard look, so I photoshopped in the snow and put the images together. In the long run, the publisher suggested we might also want the guy’s face on the cover (to suggest the romance aspect of the novel), but we didn’t want it to be the main focus. So the author found one she liked (Fotolia), and I added it in, blurring the image a bit an lowering the opacity so that, while it is closer to the viewer, it isn’t the first thing to catch the eye. 🙂

Photoshop CS6.

Stock images from Dreamstime and Fotolia:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-country-scene-farm-house-winter-image24715572
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-winter-portrait-young-beauty-image26384705
http://us.fotolia.com/id/27527058

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Cover Reveal – Shadow Trail

This is another cover for Melange Books.

SBibb - Shadow Trail Cover

 

Photoshop CS6. Stock from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-woman-red-snowmobile-image17555834
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-forested-shoreline-winter-fog-image7463413
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-young-woman-winter-portrait-image8065139

Sometimes cover design is a process of elimination. Sometimes you hit a design everyone in the cover design process likes the first time around. When I read the cover art form for Shadow Trail, an idea formed, and searching for stock, everything was right there. I placed the elements did some tweaking, then presented it to the author. It worked, yay!

So we put the final cover together with a few more tweaks. As a side note, fonts can help a cover stand out from the rest. A while back I purchased a package of 10,000 fonts, and every once in a while I’ll check to see what I can find there, especially if none of the fonts I currently have are quite working right. (http://www.ultimatefontdownload.com/) Granted, some of the fonts are available for free, if you’re willing to look for them, but here everything is compiled into an easy to search area, for which I use Font Viewer to find what I’m looking for. 🙂

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Cover Reveal – Freeing Abigail

This is another cover for Melange Books.

SBibb - Freeing Abigail Cover

This is another example of how using a single photo can work for a cover. It’s something I’ve seen more prominent in romance/contemporary works. For this, I used ( http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-loving-young-sensual-couple-champagne-bed-image17978822 ) from Dreamstime. This is also a case where the author requested a specific photo. We worked through several potential images before finally deciding on this one, and I changed the hair color of both models to fit the characters, along with fading the image and applying filters and blurring effects to get the final cover image.

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Cover Reveal – Unfinished Business

This is the cover for Unfinished Business, from Melange Books.

SBibb - Unfinished Business Cover

Stock Used:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-syringe-cup-coffee-image17032004
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-close-up-gold-french-coin-napoleon-wooden-table-image29942453
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-france-map-image10577480

For this one, the cover turned out to be relatively simple to do. It’s a suspense/thriller. For this, since it is supposed to have a noir feel to it, I used a dark blue primary color, as well as a grunge tinge. Originally there was a thumbtack on Paris (in the stock photo), but at the request of the author, I placed a syringe over Marseilles, where part of the story takes place. I also looked for French coins as part of the cover texture.

The point of doing this is to give readers a sense of what the story is about, and small nuances can make a world of difference in how a cover looks, and whether or not it is picked up by readers. Not only that, but if it’s picked up by the right readers. A cover can get a lot of attention, but if your cover looks like a paranormal romance, and the book is hard-sci, it’s not going to get the correct attention, and may even get negative reviews because the readers didn’t get what they expected.

Something to keep in mind when creating concepts for book covers. 🙂

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