This is a cover for Melange Books. For this cover, the author requested that we create a template for the cover which could be used for future books in the series. After some tweaking, I settled on a frame to border the main image of the cover, along with placing the silhouette of the gavel and the text. It should be fairly easy to duplicate (especially since I keep notes on each layer about any blur effects and such), though we’ll need to purchase another licence for the gavel from Dreamstime for each cover.
Whenever I make proofs, I leave notes for myself in the layers, that way I can easily replicate any special effects I did for the proof on the final. For example, if I used a lens blur on a layer, I’ll make a note that looks something like “51-41-119 Lens Blur” for the name of the layer. Anything that I commonly change, I’ll make a note of. Sometimes the notes get long, and I’ll copy them into Word so I can read them, but the result is that it’s much easier to complete a final image, especially if there’s a month or so between creating a proof and receiving stock images (which happens when creating proofs in advance of a stock subscription purchase).
Anyway, this is the final cover for Separate Lives, by Rhonda Strehlow:
Also, an example of how the basic back cover might look (I set it so that color blur is optional, and they may change the signature to one of their imprints):
Stock images from Dreamstime:
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-judge-gavel-image16964080
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-texture-creamy-white-rice-paper-torn-edges-isolated-white-background-image29821402
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-table-hotel-bedroom-image27784531
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-business-people-image11661512
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-brown-package-paper-torn-to-reveal-white-panel-ideal-copy-space-image34962594
Stephanie Flint - Author and Artist 