Tag Archives: photomanipulation

October 11, 2017 · 7:33 pm

Behind the Scenes – Hunter of Mysteries

A cover for Melange Books. For this cover, we wanted the cover to resemble the other books in the series, Night of the Hunter, Demon Hunter, and Hunter in the Darkness. Ultimately, I played with having a brighter background lighting (the sunset) in this one compared to the storm-based backgrounds of the previous colors. We kept the lighting on the model fairly consistent with the others. Also, I had to change the position of the ruins to have it better fit the positioning of the model. Per usual, the character is a composite image in order to create a more accurate rendition.

This is the result:

Hunter of Mysteries - Book Cover

Hunter of Mysteries - Back of Book Cover

Stock images from DepositPhotos:
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-abstract-smoke-moves-black-background-image48826804 – fog

https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photos-dark-ominous-rain-clouds-lightning-image18357018 – lightning sky

http://depositphotos.com/50429945/stock-photo-beautiful-fiery-orange-and-purple.html – sunset sky

https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-capital-fortress-kingdom-urartu-van-turkey-image22014223 – castle ruins

http://depositphotos.com/19531251/stock-photo-handsome-man-pointing-with-gun.html – man body

http://depositphotos.com/39716297/stock-photo-knight-and-princess-love-each.html – head

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, cover art, cover design, fantasy, Hunter of Mysteries, Jack Slade, Melange Books, paranormal, photomanipulation, Richard Dawes, SBibb's Photographic Illustration, thriller

May 31, 2017 · 11:03 am

Behind the Scenes – Star Sword

A cover for Melange Books. For this cover we wanted to keep with the theme of the previous books: Dragon Sword, Sword of Doom, and Sword of the Quest. I used the same model (piece-parted to get the pose we wanted). In order to try speeding up the process, we fully discussed the author’s vision for the cover before I started piecing everything together. I asked him to clarify a few of his ideas, and we managed to get this put together withing four proofs (minor tweaks on each. I toyed with the idea of the flames pouring over into the series title to add more drama and flare.

This is the result:

Stock images from The Dollar Photo Club (Site now defunct):
katana and three images of the (same) model

Stock from Dreamstime:

https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-photo-bonfire-flame-fire-forest-autumn-flames-image34236555 – fire
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-meteor-shower-isolated-black-background-image49030556 – meteor
https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-roche-rock-ancient-ruined-chapel-perched-top-rocky-granite-outcrop-known-as-located-mid-cornwall-dedicated-to-st-image32326080 – ancient ruins
https://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-black-smoke-red-flames-photo-special-nature-protection-action-intended-to-make-better-habitat-rare-heathland-image39123676 – lower fire

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as A Wolf Slayer Saga, book cover, book cover design, cover art, designing a cover for a series, fantasy, fantasy series, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, Richard Dawes, SBibb's Photographic Illustration, Star Sword, Stephanie Flint

April 22, 2016 · 7:37 pm

Behind the Scenes – The Rovers

This is a cover for Melange Books. For this cover, the author already had an idea of what image he wanted used for both the front and back. However, the stock image we looked at initially was marked “editorial only,” so that one wasn’t available. However, we did find a similar photograph on the Library of Congress website that didn’t have any known restrictions, in part due to its age.

So, though it was black and white, I retouched the image and filled it in with color, along with sharpening the picture. (Ironically, while I retouched the back cover image as well, I removed the color from that one). We also found a free font that resembled the baseball logo of the referenced team. This was the result:

Book Cover - The Rovers

I changed the border a bit for the front and back of the print covers, due to the trim lines.

Book Cover - The Rovers - Print Edition

Back of Book Cover - The Rovers

Primary stock images from the Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/item/91725980

We had a modern-day image we considered using, but couldn’t due to licencing restrictions.

Post Card Border from The Dollar Photo Club (Now Closed)

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-quinn-abbey-image18602883 – Churchyard

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Tagged as black and white pictures to color, book cover art, book covers, cover design, Paul Ferrante, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, retouching an old photograph, SBibb's Photographic Illustration, Stephanie Flint, The Rovers

January 20, 2016 · 6:59 pm

Behind the Scenes – A Wolf Slayer Saga: Sword of Doom

This is a cover for Melange Books. For this cover, we based the style on the first book, Dragon Sword (See the cover of the first book here). The wolf at the top of the cover is the same, as is the placement of the text, and the border on the right side of the book. We also used the same model, though I used two separate images to get the right mood for the cover. I also did a bit of work with the puppet warp and liquefy tools in Photoshop CS6 to get the right build for the character (You can see the original photos in the link of stock images below).

This is the result:

SBibb - Sword of Doom Back of Book Cover
Stock images from The Dollar Photo Club:

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Tagged as book cover, cover art, cover design, designing a book cover, epic fantasy, fantasy, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, Richard Dawes, series design, Stephanie Flint, stock images, Sword of Doom, The Wolf Slayer Saga, using multiple stock images in a cover

November 25, 2015 · 7:00 pm

Behind the Scenes – Requiem In Red

A cover for Barking Rain Press. This is the sequel to Eine Kleine Murder by Kaye George. (Note that the publisher’s version of the cover is slightly different, and I modeled the sequel cover’s border around the main image after their version). For this cover, the publisher wanted to convey the dark mood of the book, along with a hint at the musical themes involved. They provided a couple possible background images and ideas, which I then put together in a rough comp. I also found the music sheets (part of one larger image of multiple music sheets, which I cut-and-pasted, and then used Photoshop CS6’s warp tool in order to place them in varying positions). I also added the conductor’s baton in the hand of the statue, made it look like the baton was the same material as the statue, and added the directional shadow. The goal was to have everything fit together smoothly.

Afterwards, the publisher asked about adding a church in the background, behind the woman’s statue. So I placed the church (careful to get the size and placement in the image right so that it looked like it was in the background), blurred the background around the statue a bit for a focal effect, added more now to the steeple, and also played with the darker sky from the church image.

This is the result:

SBibb - Requiem In Red - Wrap-Around Book Cover
Stock images from Shutterstock:

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=101040352 – musical background

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=22681549 – graveyard

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=15224833 – baton

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic.mhtml?id=22723609 – music sheets

http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-22681552/stock-photo-village-church-in-snow-czech-republic.html – church

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Tagged as Barking Rain Press, book cover design, cover art, Cressa Caraway Musical Mystery, designing a book cover, Kaye George, muder mystery, photomanipulation, Requiem in Red, sequel book, sequel book covers, Stephanie Flint, wrap-around book cover

September 7, 2015 · 8:17 pm

Behind the Scenes – A Wolf Slayer Saga: Dragon Sword

This is a cover for Melange Books. Since we knew we had a sequel coming, we put a little more focus in setting up the basic structure of the cover… the wolf head at top, the series name on the side, and the placement of the title and author name. We also played with the mood, choosing the dark blue color for the forest and the red of the title to create a dramatic, dangerous tone. We chose a model with multiple poses, though I did a bit of photomanipulation to make him look more like how the character is described in the book. I also made both him and the wolf have a more noticeable scowl, and I played with the depth of field to put more of the emphasis on the model.

For the back cover I went with a simple leather texture to match the edge of the front cover with the series title. This is the end result:

SBibb - Dragon Sword - Back Cover

Stock images from The Dollar Photo Club:

https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/64831097 – leather texture
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/48895294 – wolf head
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/59929394 – swordsman
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/45294831 – snarling wolf
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/58438380 – winter forest
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/19521274 – wolf group

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Tagged as A Wolf Slayer Saga, cover creation, cover design, Dragon Sword, fantasy covers, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, Richard Dawes, SBibb, Stephanie Flint, Valka the Wolf Slayer

September 2, 2015 · 8:00 pm

Behind the Scenes – Sojourn: The Deadlands

This is a cover for Melange Books. For this cover, we chose to keep the theme similar to the first book in the series, Sojourn: The Wildlands. To do this, we kept a few key elements: the two characters walking with their backs to the reader, a desolate landscape, similar placement of the title treatment and author name, along with the late evening lighting. Though we tried a couple different proofs before this, we found this one to have the strongest appeal.

This is the end result:

SBibb - Sojourn: The Deadlands - Back of Book Cover

Stock images from The Dollar Photo Club:

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Tagged as BD Messick, cover art, cover design, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, post-apocalyptic, Sojourn: the Deadlands, Stephanie Flint, ya, young adult

August 5, 2015 · 8:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Orphans’ Inn

A cover for Melange Books. For this cover, we wanted to give the book a historical feel. The author had found an image of the actual inn in the story, which I used to look for similar buildings. Though we ultimately chose to focus on the feel of the book, rather than use an exact image, the author was able to obtain permission to use a cropped photo of the inn on the back cover. So the picture of the actual inn will be on the back cover, a piece of history that adds to the book’s theme.

I used a similar treatment for both the front and back of the book, using the picture of paper that was nailed to a wall as the guidelines for a frame. The composite image on the front gives a feel for the time period, characters involved, and genre, while the back cover provides room for text. I adjusted the back cover image to make room for the barcode and publisher information.

This was my first time using stock from the Dollar Photo Club, a new stock site that Melange Books uses. While I found that the comp images were very small (which made it hard to render a full mask, which I can usually do with comps from Dreamstime), the final image quality is about the same. I had no problems using Photoshop to resize and align the images with the proof cover.

This is the end result:

SBibb - Orphans' Inn - Back Cover
Stock images from The Dollar Photo Club:

https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/80507187 – map texture
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/61586012 – town
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/73464105 – wagon
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/56496709– girl body
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/65625942 – curly hair
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com/84585040 – paper on wall

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Filed under Book Covers, Photo Illustration

Tagged as Bullocks Inn, cover art, cover design, historical cover art, historical novel, Martha Deeringer, Melange Books, Orphans' Inn, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, Stephanie Flint, YA historical

July 1, 2015 · 8:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Dusk Runner

A cover for Melange Books. For this one, we focused on conveying the genre of the book, rather than particular characters. As such, people who like other fantasy books in a similar vein to this one can easily recognize another book they might enjoy. The author suggested covers similar to those of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series, which reminded me of the cover art for Game of Thrones. I merged the two styles, and this is the result:

For the back cover, I flipped the background from the front cover with a few adjustments. Also, I saved the bow and arrow silhouette as a smart object so that it could easily be resized and added to the spine if the publisher chooses to do so.

SBibb - Dusk Runner - Back of Book Cover

Stock images from Dreamstime:

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-images-brown-leather-texture-image21958744
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-old-yellow-brown-vintage-parchment-paper-texture-image24082203
http://www.dreamstime.com/royalty-free-stock-image-ethnic-arrows-image22897606
http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-image-bow-image11349751

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Filed under Book Covers, Client Work, Photo Illustration

Tagged as book cover design, cover art, Dusk Runner, fantasy novel covers, fantasy novels, Mathias Colwell, Mathias G.B. Colwell, Melange Books, photographic illustration, photomanipulation, SBibb, Stephanie Flint

June 3, 2015 · 7:00 am

Behind the Scenes – Sojourn: The Wildlands

A cover for Melange Books. I had a lot of fun putting this one together. There are quite a few pieces in this particular cover (14 stock images in total), and I worked with the author to get all the right images and choose the best placement for them. For example: choosing what kind of bow the male model should have. Since the art form mentioned a bow, but didn’t specify crossbow or long bow, I emailed the author to clarify. Helpful to ask about these things up front so you don’t spend a lot of time masking out and fitting pieces, only to find it doesn’t fit the story. In the meantime, I enjoyed playing with the lighting and colors.

This is the result: