Tag Archives: book cover design

July 23, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Screw the Devil’s Daiquiri

This is a cover for Melange Books.

In this case, the author wanted an illustrated cover to fit with the style of story he’d written. While I primarily deal with photomanipulation, I decided to give it a try. My first couple attempts ended up looking too cartoonish (which the story is not), so I finally decided to go with a heavily altered photomanipulation using Photoshop CS6. That is… the table is illustrated, the devil tail is illustrated, and the daiquiri was created by using a combination of several Photoshop Filters (Cutout and Notebook at varying levels of opacity and filter options). As for the face and fingers, they’re a mix of illustration and photomanipulation. Though their base is in a photo, I painted in and masked out sections to create the overall look the author wanted. The eyes went through a number of revisions, mostly using the liquefy tool, then painting the pupils and light reflections back in. The hair horns were actually unintentional at first, but the author like the look, so we tweaked them to make them more specific to the image. I also toyed with letter placement of the text to add to the mood of the cover.

Anyway, this is the result:

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-curly-hairstyle-young-beautiful-happy-healthy-woman-hair-over-white-background-image33054669
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-black-martini-most-popular-cocktails-series-image5087594
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-aggressive-girl-hands-long-red-nails-isolated-white-background-image33061224

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, book cover illustration, dark humor novel, illustration in Photoshop, Melange Books, photographic manipulation, Rayme Michaels, SBibb, Screw the Devil's Daiquiri, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint

July 16, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Take Back the Memory

This is a cover for Melange Books.

For this cover, I actually strayed a bit from the art form, but I based the cover proof on the information that was provided. Since the book was described as women’s fiction, I researched a few recent covers in the genre and tried to apply the coloration and theme of those types of covers to this one, including hinting at the location of some of the scenes in a washed out image below the text (dividing the cover by the scene and character seems to be one fairly common trend among book covers).

The author had already found a workable image for the main character, and since it was from the main site the publishers use to pick up a subscription from, we were able to use that stock image as part of the cover.

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-young-cowgirl-hat-portrait-image32934876
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-african-safari-jeep-image24805178
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-water-texture-image79337
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-paper-texture-image1495336

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as Augustine Same, book cover art, book cover design, cover design, Melange Books, SBibb, SBibb's Photographic Illustration, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, Take Back the Memory, women's fiction

July 9, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Red Sun Over Panama

This is a cover for Melange Books.

The novel is an espionage/mystery novel with a historical setting, and based on the art form, I pictured a setting or rising sun over the ocean with the WWII Japanese flag behind it. I had a few questions based on what I’d read on the form, though, so I sent an email to the author before creating anything to clarify a few points in the story. I’d thought about having some sort of era based aircraft in the background, but I wasn’t sure what would be appropriate to the story. Turns out there weren’t any references strong enough to warrant having it on the cover. However, in corresponding with the author, he mentioned an idea for the cover that sounded very similar to what I had in mind. So I went ahead and created a proof based on a combination of both those ideas, and in the end, this is the result.

In the case of the flag, I used the stock image for the basis, then extended the suns rays so that they would bleed off the edge of the cover. Another thing I found that may be useful to keep in mind is that deep reds don’t seem to want to translate well from sRGB to CMYK for the print version. As a result, I found that curves adjustments and color balance adjustments can be rather useful in trying to match the CMYK print version of the cover to the RGB ebook version.

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-islands-scenic-ocean-image7860079

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-sunset-image14014412

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-kamikaze-image8000487
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-grunge-folded-paper-texture-image5110364

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, CMYK print conversion, cover art, designing a book cover, espionage novel, H. Paul Doucette, historical novel, Melange Books, mystery novel, Red Sun Over Panama, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint

June 25, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Murder In Her Dreams

This is a cover for Melange Books.

For this cover, we wanted a dream-like feel to accompany the idea of the story, in which the main character is having symbolic dreams involving a black rabbit attacking a man. While we stuck with the initial positioning and texturing I created, my first proof used a contrasty red and yellow theme. For the final, we decided to tone it down to purple and blue and black to give it a more dream-like feel.

This is is the end result:

Stock photos from Dreamstime:
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-man-green-jumper-34-image2456679
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-jumping-jack-rabbit-image13466896
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-torn-metal-texture-over-rusty-grunge-backdrop-image15468411
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-grunge-blue-painted-wall-texture-background-image14562711
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-wall-texture-may-use-as-grunge-background-image24050441
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-abstraction-image1251511

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover art, book cover design, cover design, creating a book cover, Dreamstime, Melange Books, Murder In Her Dreams, Nell DuVall, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, stock images

June 18, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Emma and the Cutting Horse

This is a cover for Melange Books.

For this cover, the author had already received permission to use a silhouette image from the National Cutting Horse Association, so I used that as my starting point before creating the rest of the cover. In this case, I put more emphasis on the title and surroundings (while I initially had a stable in the background, I switched the image to an arena per the suggestion of the author). Since the book was meant for younger readers, I looked for a font that had a more kids-y feel while still relating to the story.

This is the end result:

Silhouette image used with permission from National Cutting Horse Association.

Other stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-empty-horse-arena-image25648103
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-tall-grass-image15537678
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-field-tall-grass-image11303386

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, book covers, cover art, Emma and the Cutting Horse, Martha Deeringer, Melange Books, National Cutting Horse Association, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, YA books

May 14, 2014 · 6:00 am

Behind the Scenes – The Art of Madame Whitsome

This is a cover for Melange Books.

I really enjoyed putting this one together, especially given that so much of it was playing with how the textures interacted and overlapped. This was a case where the art form gave me enough detail to give me an idea what kind of mood I needed to convey, and the kind of symbolism that might work well, but gave me a bit of free reign as to what I actually did. The result? I had an idea almost immediately that I wanted to try, though it was a while before I had a chance to work on the actual cover.

Of course, the auto-align function in Photoshop CS6 came in helpful as usual, and I also played with various filters and masking to achieve the final effect. One thing to keep in mind when playing with filters, especially if you’re starting with a proof, is that it can be really helpful to name the layer you worked on with what filter you used, and the basic numbers you input into that filter. That way you achieve the same, or a similar effect on the final image. 🙂

Stock images from: Dreamstime.

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-grunge-texture-image19642535
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-grunge-wood-texture-image6312920
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-green-grunge-background-abstract-texture-image33062940
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-musical-notes-image6760767
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-sheet-musical-notes-image1041320
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-angel-wings-digitally-rendered-image-white-feathered-image31948892
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-celtic-harp-chair-image17238791

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as auto-align layers, book cover art, book cover design, Dale Hollin, filters, horror, masking, Melange Books, photoshop CS6, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, The Art of Madame Whitsome

May 7, 2014 · 6:00 am

Behind the Scenes – The Horse Rescuers Anthology

This is a cover for Melange Books.

We played with a few ideas for this cover, and ultimately, we decided to keep to the cover theme of three books going into this anthology. Like the others, only one photograph was used in the main picture, but I did do quite a bit of color changing to match up the characters and horses. Both the horses had their colors changed, the brown horse got a mane, and the two girls had their hair darkened to a brown. I even tweaked the ears on the brown horse a bit, and thus had to play with the background sky. If you do photomanipulation, don’t forget that you can use digital illustration techniques to edit a single image without changing a whole lot else. 🙂

Stock photography from: Dreamstime.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-buckskin-horse-closeup-image203204
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-horse-riding-image26824429

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as anthology cover, book cover art, book cover design, changing colors, Pat Gilkerson, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, photoshop CS6, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, The Horse Rescuer's Anthology, thematic design

April 16, 2014 · 9:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Kragan

This is a cover for Melange Books.

Sometimes the trick in creating images isn’t creating your own image completely from scratch, but combining images and making them look like they’re all part of one logo. For example, the lion crest was its own stock image, but I added the swords in separate. However, I wanted them to look like part of the image, so I erased parts of the swords where they met up with the crest. The result was that it looks like its all part of one piece.

Meanwhile, it’s been a while since I’ve added a logo to fabric material, and I remembered there are a few tricks in Photoshop to do it. Though I didn’t use any one tutorial specifically, these are a few I glanced over before creating the flag image:

This one has some neat tips and reminders (though I only skimmed the video with the sound off). http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/links/go/8308/

This is more of what I was trying to find initially, using displacement maps. http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/texture-map/

Stock images from Dreamstime.

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-ancient-castle-edinburgh-image19198663
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-horse-knight-armour-helmet-sword-hand-image30467774
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-warm-autumn-sunbeams-image16518554
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-medieval-sword-image3628148
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-lion-crest-2-image24850145
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-templar-flag-medieval-combat-society-white-red-cross-waving-wind-against-blue-sky-clouds-image33995287

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover, book cover design, cover art, Dennis K. Hausker, displacement map, Kragan, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photoshop CS6, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, tutorials

April 9, 2014 · 9:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Roberto’s Return

This is a cover for Melange Books, the next in the T.J. Jackson Mysteries.

For this cover, the author already had a pretty good idea of what he wanted, and he even had images of the park he wanted used for the background. However, since it was a recognizable building, I did have the author check on the need for a property release. (Just like models, many buildings and areas require property releases. It’s a good idea to check before shooting in an area to see if you’ll need one). The author was able to get permission, and so we were able to proceed with that image.

I also ended up doing a bit of digital illustration (Photoshop CS6) to piece everything together. Since we wanted a very specific pose, and the author had the outfit necessary, he had a friend model for him and shoot the image, and then I picked out the stock images of the man’s head to best fit the character. I added in a different sky, since we wanted sunset, and we tried to mimic the baseball text for the title itself.

Side note: Since most of these covers have been revealed by the time I post them, and since I usually try to post behind the scenes information when I reveal the covers on my blog, I’m going to start calling these posts “Behind the Scenes” instead of “Cover Reveal.” Sorry for any confusion. 🙂

Stock Photos from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-afroammerican-businessman-points-finger-up-image29241340
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-sunset-sky-image24432770

All other images provided by author. Photograph of Doubleday Field used with permission.

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as A T.J. Jackson Mystery, baseball player, book cover design, cover art, Paul Ferrante, photographic illustration, photoshop CS6, Roberto's Return, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint

April 2, 2014 · 8:00 am

Cover Reveal – The Last Conception

This is a cover for Melange Books.

In this case, the author had a stock image in mind, and it worked out quite well for the cover. I had my own textures that I used to create the overall, papery text. Otherwise, I just played with color tonality, blending modes, and text placement. I gave the bottom of the cover a darker brown color to represent dirt, and the author asked that the main image be green to symbolize life. This was the end result. Simple, but elegant. 🙂