Book Cover Process
The development of a cover for my novella Ray of Lightning, just released, was a bit agonizing and I feel it is still in process. But, showing the process to this point may be helpful to someone. The first challenge was to capture an image both representative of the story and attractive at a glance in a small frame.
Visualized two main characters in Adobe Fuse and made the scene in the 3D function of Photoshop.
Sketched and adjusted models adding wheelchairs using Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and Photoshop. (focus of eyes, hand positions and dramatic lighting)
Background colors and texture representing the energy of each character.
Character colors and lightning.
Title and author. (handwork over the font)
Wanting to simplify and unify, I applied the cut out filter and adjusted it by hand. I'm still not completely satisfied. It does stay mostly legible in thumbnail size. You artists of greater skill are already thinking how to do better. It is not always the best for the author to do his own cover! Suggestions welcome.
