Category Archives: Photo Illustration

Spring Cleaning and Price Updates

Hello there. You may have noticed my blog got slightly reorganized. Added a page for my short stories, removed the pages about my portrait work (can still be accessed via http://www.sbibbphoto.com), and redid the pricing page. Thought it was time to do a little organization. πŸ™‚

The good news is that the pricing page should be easier to read, and also shows examples for the different types of book covers. If you’re looking for a new book cover, be sure to take a look. Prices start at $50.00 plus the cost of stock images.

Please let me know if there’s anything you’ve found particularly helpful on this blog, or anything you’d like to see more of. πŸ™‚

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Cover Reveal – Eine Kleine Murder

 

 

This is a cover for Barking Rain Press.

 

You can find information about the book here: http://www.barkingrainpress.org/products/eine-kleine-murder/

 

Stock from Shutterstock:

 

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-8152831/stock-photo-music-with-antiqued-finish.html?src=lb-17693636
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-70536322/stock-photo-black-ink-spill-near-red-pen-on-table.html?src=lb-17693636
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-127477826/stock-photo-conductor-s-baton-and-music-score.html?src=lb-17693636
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-114364699/stock-photo-vintage-heart-chain-locket.html?src=lb-17693636
http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-58387336/stock-photo-open-bottle-of-red-ink-isolated-on-white.html?src=lb-17693636

 

Photoshop CS6.

SBibb - Eine Kleine Murder Cover

 

For this cover, the Photoshop puppet warp tool came in extremely handy. If you want to know what I mean, take a look at the stock photos, the locket in particular. That chain was straight when I started, but I wanted it to curve around the baton, as if it were laying against a table. Yay for photoshop. Also applied various filters and did overlay for dodging and burning, and even added in the shadows on the inkwell. πŸ™‚

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Project Northwest – Cover Reveal

 

This is cover for Melange Books.

 

Had a bit of fun with this one, since I’d done something similar with the numbers effect before, and it gave me a chance to work with more of a “movie cover” style image. πŸ˜€

 

Photoshop CS6.

 

Stock Photos from Dreamstime:

 

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-man-holding-gun-image24841327
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-seattle-skyline-sunset-washington-state-image16298240

SBibb - Project Northwest

 

For my bits of insight on this one, I’d say that this is one that reminded me of playing with style and effects with lighting. I got really lucky with the stock image of the man, which is extremely sharp. However, when I was first creating the image, the draft felt a bit dull and lifeless. For whatever reason, I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t looking like the earlier covers I’d created.

This was the final proof I’d created, before we’d decided to use the stocks. Problem was, it wasn’t popping.

SBibb - Project Northwest Cover Proof

So I went back through my old portfolio and looked to see what was different. The one that really stood out to me was a cover I did for my 1000 Words project:Β http://sbibb.deviantart.com/art/The-Magician-Cover-297327050?q=gallery%3Asbibb%2F33403924&qo=4

Then it hit me. I went back to the Project Northwest cover, and applied the same type of lighting techniques (using overlay to dodge and burn, as well as the high past filter for sharpness). It made a world of difference. I guess the moral of the story is, sometimes it’s good to look back at what you’ve done in the past to see what did and didn’t work, and lighting can make a scene completely different. πŸ™‚

 

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Catrina’s Cowboy – Cover Reveal

 

Hello, there. Uploading another cover for Melange Books.

 

This is a bit different from my usual covers, in that only one photo was used (though I did do a bit of manipulation to it), and I used the color overlay and texture to add special effect to it. Photoshop CS6.

 

Stock Photo from: Dreamstime: http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-roundup-image12597472

SBibb - Catrinas Cowboy Cover

As a sidenote, since I’m wanting to get back into adding bits of insight I gathered from the project when I post these covers, I thought I’d share a few things.

With this being a single photo, I went about the process a bit differently than usual. The author wanted a picture of a working cowboy, so I ended up selecting a stock photo and choosing a single element to focus on (take a look at the original, linked above, and you’ll notice there were originally more cowboys in the picture). I also did some photoshop to edit the man’s appearance to make him look a bit more like the character she described in the book, then added special lighting and effects. Just because it was a single photo didn’t mean it couldn’t benefit from some editing, especially to give it a more romantic look (the book is a romance).

Not only that, but I also played more with text placement and creating a border overlay. I was reminded of how some covers will have that border around them, and wanted to play with that idea.

Anyways, I hope this has been helpful. πŸ™‚

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Lightpoints – Cover Creation Process

Just thought I’d mention that Peter Kassan, the author of Lightpoints (I did the cover) has recently posted a blog post about the cover creation process. Thought others might be interested. πŸ™‚

Read about the process here:Β http://peterkassan.com/2013/03/blog/

 

SBibb - Lightpoints Cover

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Dark Spirits – Book Review

Alright, so Rebekkah Ford gave me a copy of Dark Spirits as part of the payment for the book cover design, and now I’ve finally had the chance to read it. Yay! So, this is my review. In the meantime, look forward to an interview coming soon from Rebekkah Ford. πŸ™‚

SBibb - Dark Spirits Cover

 

Blurb:

Now immortal, Paige is emotionally and physically stronger than ever. She must find the location of the ancient incantations to prevent mass genocide. But the war against good and evil is spawning another war–a battle between the dark spirits themselves. Paige is saddled in the center of both growing revolutions and is ready to take on the dark forces. But Nathan’s overprotectiveness prevents her from taking action, and he’s hiding things. Paige’s personal life gets more complicated when Brayden arrives back in town and offers the equal partnership she desperately craves from Nathan. Then there’s Carrie and Tree, her two best friends and only family she has left. Unfortunate circumstances thrust them into Paige’s dark world, giving her no choice but to allow Nathan to arm them with combat techniques in hope they’ll be able to protect themselves. Meanwhile, Paige is having visions and discovering abilities she was unaware of. When Anwar comes to visit, his weird behavior alarms her. Could he be turning to the dark side? Time is running out. Paige not only needs to find the incantations but also to untangle the bands around her heart and make a decision that could leave her with a life worse than death–a life of betrayal from the ones she trusted most.”

***

My Review:

Quick Disclaimer: I don’t typically read paranormal romance, so what I may say might not be the same as someone else who reads a lot of paranormal romances. That being said, on to the review!

The characterizations were definitely enjoyable. My favorite characters were Tree, Max, and Ameerah. Even though Max had very little screentime, he stood out as a nice guy. I’d like to see more of him, though I’m hoping he doesn’t cause complications to the already iffy relationship between Paige and Nathan. Tree has the awesome “I’m a protective friend” aura, but he isn’t quite as overprotective as Nathan, so that’s a plus. Ameerah was a really neat character, and I hope to see more of her in Devil’s Third. I want to know more about her.

Again, I enjoyed the “Old One’s” character, and how his personality showed in Dark Spirits. I expect we’ll see more of him, and I do hope to see more about the magic and the different dimensions and such. Some of my favorite parts in Dark Spirits was in dealing with Carrie and Nathan’s witchcraft, as well as the mention of the different dimensions and types of dark spirits.

A large part of the story focused on Paige and Nathan’s relationship, and I was fine that they were having to work out a few issues… such as Nathan’s over-protectiveness (I’ll give Paige that one; he could’ve avoided a few problems by simply taking her with him), and Paige’s conflict between Nathan and Brayden. I did like Brayden’s character in this book better, but I kinda wish Paige wouldn’t be so quick to forgive and trust him. Needless to say, he doesn’t have my trust yet, and both Nathan and Brayden are a bit too obsessed with “protecting” Paige.

One downside I found for this story is that Paige’s emotions are all over the place. Granted, she does have the new-immortality-heightened-emotions thing going for her right now, but when she seems to have the hots for Nathan at almost any random moment, it felt like she should have spent a little more time learning to control them. On that note, there were times the descriptions felt a bit wordy, especially in regards to the characters emotions. It felt like we got a lot more information than necessary, or information we could have guessed on our own. But I also don’t read much in the way of paranormal romance, so it might just be a personal preference.

I did really enjoy getting to see both Paige and Nathan’s point of view. It threw me off at first, because I didn’t expect it, but I think it added to the story, especially during some of the scenes Paige doesn’t witness. It also gave a good deal more insight into Nathan’s character (and his brutality), and it makes me leery of him. So I think it adds an extra bit of intrigue.

The greatest thing about Dark Spirits is that the plot kept pulling me back to it. I wanted to know what happened next. Since I read it during break times at work, I was often having to sit it down right in the middle of a “But… what happens next?” moment. Though it felt a bit heavy on the description, it painted a clear picture of what was going on, and I didn’t get lost. I could easily remember what was going on. A very nice thing to have if you can’t read it in one sitting.

Formatting was good; it was easy to read, and I only noticed a couple typos. The beginning (first two chapters) was a bit slow, but it did well to remind us what happened in the previous book and what was going on in the meantime.

Dark Spirits was an enjoyable read, I really enjoyed the ending, and I look forward to reading The Devil’s Third. πŸ™‚

***

You can find Dark Spirits on Amazon. πŸ™‚

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Dark Spirits – Cover Reveal

SBibb - Dark Spirits

This is the cover for Rebekkah Ford’s “Dark Spirits,” the sequel to “Beyond the Eyes” (see the first cover here: http://sbibb.deviantart.com/art/Beyond-the-Eyes-Wrap-Around-309769699 ). πŸ˜€

All photos are my own (except the photo of the girl, which was taken by my husband, Isaac). Originally it was just going to be the dark spirit and the body at its feet, but Rebekkah and I decided the cover needed something to give it just a bit more of a young adult feel. I started by looking through stock sites, but realized it was extremely hard to find a non-cheesy person looking terrified or running in fear. So, my husband (who was standing behind me at the time) asked me to read the description of Paige (the main character). I did, and he pointed out that I could work my “Photoshop Magic” to give the girl red hair… and half an hour later I found myself posing as the MC. Random fact of the photoshoot. Anyways, this is the final wrap-around cover. πŸ˜€

It’s a YA paranormal romance. πŸ˜€

Read the book:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Spirits-Beyond-Eyes-Volume/dp/0615756549/
Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-spirits-rebekkah-ford/1114506937?ean=2940016397214
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/286383

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An Age of Mist – Cover Reveal

SBibb - An Age of Mist Cover

 

This is another cover I did for Melange Books. πŸ™‚

Stock from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-serious-preteen-boy-image21381697
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-misty-fjords-national-monument-alaska-usa-image780119

All other images are my own. Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4.0.

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Cover Reveal – Lightpoints

SBibb  - Lightpoints Cover

 

New cover for Melange Books. The author was friendly to work with, too. πŸ™‚

Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4.0

Stock used:Β http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-young-lady-sunny-cityscape-image9151825

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-george-street-sydney-city-image18813469

All other images and artwork (putting in the individual light points) are my own. πŸ™‚

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Cover Reveal – The Lone Werewolf

SBibb - The Lone Werewolf

 

This is a book cover I did for an upcoming book, The Lone Werewolf, from Melange Books. Β The stock images used are from Dreamstime: (http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-angry-wolf-image18076302 and http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-heritage-days-image2981113). All other images are my own. πŸ™‚

 

I used Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4.0.

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