Tag Archives: Melange Books

March 11, 2015 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Nairobi Bloodstar

This is a cover for Melange Books. In my first proof, I gave this more of a historical movie poster look, but upon learning the book had a bit more of an action-thriller bent, I put more of a focus on the train wreck explosion than the scenery and characters. Still, I added texturing to give the cover the historical feeling, and I played with the coloring (we wanted the red highlights for the ruby). After playing with positioning of the title and the hands with the ruby, this is the final result:

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-old-stained-paper-texture-beige-image39122645

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-savanna-landscape-africa-amboseli-kenya-image29222114

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-black-hands-pills-two-african-holding-pain-image37001611

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-ruby-polished-slice-image9155467

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-giant-explosion-image11628125

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-train-crash-accident-image43972160

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, book covers, Carole Hall, cover art, explosions on book covers, historical novel, Melange Books, Nairobi Bloodstar, photographic illustration, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, texturing

March 4, 2015 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – The French Couple

A cover for Melange Books. For this one, they already had the main art they wanted on the cover, but they wanted the title redone and a few adjustments made in regards to the overall effects. For this one, I mostly played with adding color to the dark halo around the model’s head, and played with the placement and color of the text so that it felt like part of the cover. This is the result:

The publisher provided the image to be used on the cover.

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Tagged as adding text to covers, book cover, book cover design, cover art, creating a book cover, Melange Books, Nic Penrake, SBibb, Stephanie Flint, The French Couple

December 17, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Fairy Christmas, Darling

For this cover (Melange Books), I started with a similar concept to the final image here, but different models. To create the characters described on the art form, I originally did quite a bit of piecing various stock images together. But since the publisher wanted to try to stick with stock images they’d already purchased, I took a look through the available options. Turned out we had one that worked quite well, and only used one stock piece instead of… five? I think? There were several.

Sometimes it’s better to go simple.

For the rest of the cover, I worked on blending everything to have a wintery romance feel, and used Christmas textures to add to the feel of the cover and enhance the title. I kept the back and front covers to a similar color scheme, but I changed the position of the texture images to create the back cover.

This is the result:

SBibb - Fairy Christmas Darling Book Cover

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-red-barn-farm-yard-wind-mill-other-buildings-image33905325
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-little-cute-girl-butterfly-wings-adorable-girls-under-blossoming-apple-tree-image40844285
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-magic-wand-image23000346
2380782 – No longer on Dreamstime?
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-gallic-rooster-5-years-old-image14539620
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-simple-rustic-christmas-trees-snow-two-cut-out-wood-standing-front-wooden-wall-falling-snowflakes-festive-image34089609
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-red-christmas-lights-abstract-background-made-material-image32919894

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, Christine Arness, Christmas book cover, cover art, Dreamstime, Fairy Christmas Darling, Melange Books, photoshop blending, romance novels, SBibb, Stephanie Flint, stock images

December 3, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – For the Love of Ruthie

This is a cover for Melange Books.

For this cover, I wanted to portray a happy, light-hearted tone, so I used bright, vivid colors. I also used a font with a swirly influence to give the title and author name a fun, romantic feel. The pig is Ruthie, so I gave it a prominent place on the cover. The text I wrapped around the couple in the scene so that the faces remained clear. The author requested that there also be a cat and tri-colored basset hound pup on the cover, so I included them near the couple’s feet.

Once the concept was approved, I blended the full-sized stock images together (using multiple layers and masking, and retouching the background between layers).

This is the result:

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-young-couple-standing-over-white-background-image37973502
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-cute-basset-puppy-image23115808
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-pink-pot-bellied-pig-image29172888
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-abandoned-wooden-farm-house-image23179806
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-cat-yawning-image19233539

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Tagged as book cover design, book covers, creating a fun romance cover, farm romance, For the Love of Ruthie, Melange Books, photographic illustration, romance novel, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, Tenaya E. Jacob

November 12, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – The Doors

This is a cover for Melange Books.

For this one, I used texture overlay (the mosaic around the edge), as well as scene creation to create the desired stormy atmosphere and remove some of the birds from the original haunted house stock photo. I added in the girl, then at the author’s request, gave her longer hair. There are benefits to finding pictures where the hair is similar in color and goes roughly the desired direction you want it to go.

My original proof for this cover was too dark and gray, looking more like a horror novel than paranormal, so I lightened it a bit with the various blue and green tones to give it the sea/ocean-side feel, while still keeping the stormy atmosphere.

For this blog post, I’ve also included what I did for the back of the book. I usually keep these fairly simple, and in this case, I took part of the stock image that wasn’t used on the front cover to complete the back. That way the atmosphere remained consistent, while offering something a little different to look at. I used the same texture overlays and adjustment modes to keep the covers consistent, and included the publisher’s logo and barcode information on the back. I also include a separate layer with the author name and book title, that way the publisher can adjust for the spine as needed. I also flipped the back cover image so the white clouds act as a line, leading the eye back to the spine, and so that the dark blue mosaic would act as a frame.

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-man-walking-field-towards-haunted-house-scary-dark-atmosphere-image35050105
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-images-dark-storm-clouds-image2046209
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-calgary-beach-mull-scotland-bay-located-north-west-framed-low-hills-broad-area-machair-grassy-meadow-image42890362
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-beautiful-teenage-girl-outdoors-portrait-jeans-wear-looking-away-image36670484
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-broken-green-wall-tiles-image19929346
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-sad-girl-image22656428

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as Alice J. Black, book cover design, cover art, designing a back cover, designing a book cover, horror, Melange Books, paranormal, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, the Doors, ya, young adult

October 29, 2014 · 8:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Mira’s Hope

This is the cover for the sequel to Mira’s View, from Melange Books.

For this cover, I wanted to keep the same style as the first, with the prominent characters and soft background, as well as the text placement. I added in the snow (see the link at the bottom of this post for the tutorial I referenced) to bring everything together and add extra “oomph.” We experimented with a couple different backgrounds before choosing this one. I also included a second character who plays a large role in the story, and considered bringing in a third character, except that I worried the cover would look busy. I was able to use the same models (Yes, plural. Body and head were different, so as to fit the character description) for the female character, though I did use different stock images of them to help keep the covers varied. It’s the benefit to using Dreamtime’s “Other Stock Images With This Model” link when searching for suitable images. We also included a logline, provided by the author, to help create interest in the story. This is the result:

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-elf-image37703101
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-portrait-young-beautiful-woman-long-flowin-image24770171
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-old-rusted-broadsword-image24282162

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-snow-winter-wood-image13044892

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-man-long-hair-sword-down-holding-to-his-serious-expression-his-face-image36385946
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-attractive-young-man-long-hair-image23350511

Useful snow tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0-4p_65vxQ

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as cover art, designing book covers, Dreamstime, Erin Elliott, including logline on book cover, Melange Books, Mira's Hope, Mira's View, Other Stock Images With This Model, photographic illustration, SBibb, SBibb's, sequel book covers, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, stock images, wrap-around book cover, wraparound cover, YA covers

October 15, 2014 · 8:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Murder In the Cards

A cover for Melange Books, the sequel to Murder in her Dreams.

For this cover I kept to the same, dreamlike colors and textures as the previous book, only this time with symbolism from the second. I kept the same text placement and fonts (and border style), so series/brand recognition can be easily recognized. I also worked to have a central focus on the cover, while blending the various images so they would seamlessly morph from one image to the next.

This is the end result:

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-old-grunge-creased-paper-texture-perfect-retro-vintage-background-image30556007
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-teen-witch-tarot-card-image8216840
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-cobra-2-image14695145
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photography-man-running-work-out-image23320007
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photography-grunge-background-old-style-rusty-image35967692

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work

Tagged as book cover design, cover art, Dreamstime, Melange Books, Murder In Her, Murder In the Cards, Nell DuVall, photographic illustration, SBibb, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint

August 20, 2014 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – SirenSong

Another cover for Melange Books.

For this one, I wanted to convey the idea that the man is the siren, and so I used the fish scale texture and a sort of rippling texture (a slightly Gaussian blurred image of quartz) to hint at the idea of the ocean. The author requested the gold and red tones, and mentioned that the siren works at a theatre, so I played with those colors and the background to give the cover a richer, classy feel. While I usually peruse Dreamstime for stock images, for this one, I looked through the images that Melange Books had purchased earlier during their stock subscription to see if anything matched.

This is the end result:

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-young-guy-long-hair-naked-image23337038
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-gothic-castle-interior-image9182498
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-rose-quartz-vertical-image858416
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-skin-blue-siamese-fighting-fish-image7645918

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover art, book cover design, Dreamstime, Gaussian blur, Megan Hussey, Melange Books, photographic illustration, romance, romance cover design, SBibb, siren, SirenSong, Stephanie Bibb, Stephanie Flint, textures

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.