Terminatress (Book Cover Contest)

Content: |  Concept  |  Stocks  |  Colours  |  Robotic  |  Shading  |  FX  |  Finalization  |  Results  |

Concept

To keep up my practice during the semester break, I decided to scour the internet for various projects and briefs I felt I could use to improve. One of the projects I decided to take on was this book cover graphic contest by deviantART stock photographer Cathleen Tarawhiti. The rules were pretty simple. The main photo had to be one of the stocks she provided in the post about the contest, and any other stocks used for the graphic had to allow commercial usage. My first idea for the contest was to turn the stock model into a cyborg.

Breakdown

Stocks

To start with, I needed to decide on which of her photos I would use, and hunt for any other stocks I might need along the way. I decided to use the stock photo, pictured left, as well as:

What a Mess by deviantARTist cyniknet

Cables 06 by deviantARTist 6470

And several metal texture photos I took a few years back.

Hollows Insider (Fake Magazine cover)

Content: |  Concept  |  Cover Image  |  Typography  |  Result  |

Concept

To start with, I knew I wanted to make a magazine based on Kim Harrison's Hollows book series. My initial concept was going to have the three main characters of the cast, in front of a Gothic cathedral. As I started thinking of how I would do the layout, though, I realized that would likely be a very busy cover image. In the end, I decided to use Rachel Morgan, the main heroine, only.

This decision made the process simpler and faster, at least in terms of finding the resources I wanted to use. I went with a search through deviantART's stocks and resources category, to start, and quickly found almost the exact images I had in mind.