Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Way Some People Die: Front Cover
Another cover for one of Macdonald's more intricately plotted novels. I've been drawn to collage a lot lately, and these two figures have been placed against a background texture made up of bits and pieces of a dark suit. The collage was then brought into Illustrator, where I used vector shapes (of the man and woman) as clipping masks - the result is the two figures cropped over the top of the collage. The pistol was brought in last. Firstly I ran a 'live trace' over it in Illustrator, which reduced it to a black and white shadow drawing (for want of a better description). I then added texture to this in Photoshop.
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
The Underground Man: Front Cover
This cover took longer to create than I'd like to admit. My first four ideas ended in tears, before I decided to use pieces of my background to 'build' a coffin. I started with a photo of some ground taken at home. I then copied pieces of this ground and pasted them onto different layers, and then made them darker or lighter by adjusting the colour levels. These pieces built up the coffin which has a light border (created as a vector shape in Illustrator and dropped into Photoshop as pixels. I also then used a textured brush to rub out patches of the line). The figure holding the shovel was 'cut out' of more photos of the ground and selectively darkened. The back cover has a close-up of the coffin, of which I was pretty chuffed.
Monday, December 20, 2010
The Drowning Pool: Front Cover
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Zebra-Striped Hearse: Front cover
This is the first in a series I've set myself to re-imagine the covers of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer series of detective novels. I think it's safe to say that with the exception of my dad, no one has taught me more about the important things in life than the ultra-cool Lew Archer. Where else could I have learnt how to track down missing persons, violent criminals and runaway spouses while all-the-while dispensing phlegmatic philosophies on the human condition? Nowhere I tell you. These covers are part design practice and part homage to the greatest detective novelist to ever pick up a pen.
The cover design is done in Illustrator, the elements are created in Photoshop.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Portrait Made of U's
Friday, March 19, 2010
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Pattern with Text: U
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