Latest Cover Design - Rogue Retrieval

I haven't had a lot of time for arting, which is frustrating and makes me a little sad - but I have had a lot of writing and publishing happen, so I can live with that. This month I created a cover for my latest novella, Rogue Retrieval.

I sourced my picture components from Dreamstime.com, and found a good science-fiction style corridor by Savagerus, and another shot of the girl I've been using to represent Cutter, from Yekophotostudio. Those links are above.

I also used GIMP to compile the cover.

Step 1: This never varies. I create the base with the font and layout I'm using to brand C.M. Simpson's fiction.

Step 2: I find a background, in this case Savagerus's corridor, and position it on the cover.

Step 3: I isolate my female lead from her background, using the Outline and Cut functions in GIMP, and import it as a layer into the cover file... and then I use GIMP's Flip feature to face her the other way.

Step 4: I resize the background, and then trim the image so that nothing is hanging off the edges (even though it can't really be seen; it's just tidy, and I like tidy).

Step 5: I use the Erase tool in GIMP to remove the pieces of background that give the female character a light-coloured outline, in an attempt to make the two pictures seem to be one.

Step 6: I save the final cover.