I wanted to create something with depth and texture, something that really highlighted the setting “Hell”. After reading the Cover Art Information Form I went online and spent a few hours collecting numerous images from stock websites that I felt would work well for the cover. I didn’t have a complete picture in my head yet. I just had a vague idea of the direction I wanted to go along with descriptions of the characters, storyline, and settings.
Hotter Than Hell is the first book in a planned series so I also had to keep in mind that the books that follow would have to have very similar designs.
Once I finished my image search I selected the couple I wanted to try working with first.
The comp images always have watermarks and they are very low quality but that’s okay for now because all I need to do is create the basic design to show the author and art director. The first step is to cut the couple away from the background.
For this image I decided just to do it by hand using layer masks and the paint brush tool. The pink is just so you can see that the couple has been cut away.
Next, I opened a new file, thumbnail size, with a transparent background and copied the cut-out couple onto it.
Now, I didn’t want the cover to be black & white so I changed the hue of the couple to something matching the background I had picked out.
When that was done I opened the background and copied that into the thumbnail size document.
Next, I added texture to give the whole piece depth. I found a wonderful dried dirt texture and added that over everything with a fade made so that it was more visible at the bottom.
After that came fire, because Hell has lots and lots of fire right?
Once I had all the images situated where I wanted them I made small adjustments, adding shadows & highlights, changing the overall contrast & brightness, and other little things. Lastly, I added the text.
When everything was ready I sent the mockup to the author & my art director for their approval. They both liked the rough draft so I finalized with only a few adjustments.
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