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.

Latest Cover Design - Miguel Unmade

The first cover of the year is done and dusted and even approved... funny that.

It features original art from PhilCold at Dreamstime.

And words by me.

As you can see from the cover steps below, it was a simple cover to create, and the art work is what makes it.

Step 1: Update the short story template to the desired title and sub-title:

Step 2: Choose your art, resize, and position it so that you achieve the best effect for your cover. (Note: not all of Phil's original art can be seen here; you'll have to go to Dreamstime to check it out.)

Latest Cover Design—Dear Tiger: Omnibus

Since the plan is to release an omnibus collecting all six stories in the series, I decided to design the omnibus cover as soon as the cover of the sixth book was finalised. All images were sourced from artists and photographers on Dreamstime.

I started out with the template I’d used to create the covers for the books in the series, and then added in the Roberto Pirola planetary background I was using to link the series together. I thought about using FengYu’s photograph of the letter I used for the first book, and added that in, as well.

Since the monster eyes by Plus69 were a major feature of two covers, and represented the main character, I chose to include them on the omnibus cover, as well. I also wanted to include Junichi Shimazaki’s spaceship, as there is a lot of space travel in the series. And, finally, I wanted the Ruins (sourced from Vincent St Thomas), because ruins are featured throughout the series.

As you can see, that meant the cover image was too crowded, so I had to remove one of the elements. I ended up taking out Feng Yu’s pictureof stationery as letters quickly become emails in the stories. This meant I needed to re-position Junichi’s space ship, before adding in the eyes that represent the other changeling characters in the story. The eyes were given new angles by using the Rotate Tool in the Toolbox.

First each pair of eyes had to be positioned, and then the layers linked by clicking on the chain icon beside each. Once linked, the eyes, the Rotate Tool was selected, and the eyes pivoted to their new position. These icons had to be unclicked before the next pair of eyes could be positioned, as everything with a chain link that had been clicked turned when the Rotate Tool was used.

The eyes I used were sourced from Hanna Darzy's Thai Cat, Plus69's Monster Eyes, and Panaceadoll's sets of eyes.

The final cover looked like this: