i'm 99% sure i saw ash / nighwvngs do this
with their records covers so credit to her !!

as everyone and their mother know, dreadnaught
is my pride, joy, and personality so
it only felt appropriate to display an evolution of all
the cover designs i made for them <33

( i realize i did one of these before,
so consider this an update ! )

2020

as most of you know, before dreadnaught came
time spent with you—it was 12 chapters and so script heavy it was pretty much a character insert with zero development so i decided to scrap this first plot and rewrite it !!

cover-wise, procreate was (and still is) my best friend
and this was all i could get out of it bc i was still getting the hang of it
also fun fact: the title is part of a lyric from the elton john song, "i guess that's why they call it the blues"

procreate again !! was inspired by one of ashton's old star wars covers that had an x-wing on it and added a little millenium falcon
got a little heavy-handed with the eraser bc procreate doesn't have a select subject option like photoshop does
( also who lied to me and said this looked good. . .but the titling slaps so i'll take it as a win )

procreate, my bestie, always at the scene of the crime
but we've gotten marginally better this time !! i think i was partially inspired by a game of thrones poster where they look like they're entombed or something, thus the overlay border and the drop shadow to further emulate the entombed, set-in-stone feeling

last one of 2020 and we've moseyed on over to photoshop ! this is very much a star wars novel-style cover

i manip-ed milian's head onto poe's body and it looks really good imo ! but as to why i duplicated them and put a motion blur over it. . .i can't answer for that crime and my designer brain bleeds a little bc i keep doing things that aren't necessary

2021

i'm 99.9% sure this cover is the one that's stood the test of time and lasted the longest and it's probably because it actually matched the vibes and aesthetic and theme of the story that dreadnaught is—and it's also my nicest looking one if i do say so myself

but what's funny is that i technically modeled the cover after the prequels posters, even though this is an original trilogy fic. . .maybe i'll try making one of the vintage style posters from the og trilogy

technically the same vibe as the one before as the same resources were used and i believe this is where i started the rewrite process again—vigilante milian was on the rise hehe

i also realize that i put milian in front a lot hmmm i know in most cases that's how some designs showcase the main character, but i feel as though in my case, both luke and milian are the main characters which is, yes, obvious but i also describe them as two sides of the same coin a lot of the time, they are a force dyad !! scales equally balanced !!!

2022

BATMAN VIGILANTE MARAUDER MILIAN MY LOVE MY LIFE—his sexiest era yet ! i saw the batman the night before i made this cover and my brain was already running a million miles a minute over the ideas i was getting and what i could possibly do with the new plot i had

as for the design process, i knew it was gonna be dark and maxence's house of gaunt resources were perfect for it

i enjoy the little "blood" splatters on the title as for the gothic-style type that helps reflect the energy for the fic

i'm still trying to decide if he got his scar from something or someone or if he puts it on deliberately as to skew his facial description so no one can recognize him

to be honest, i technically only made this bc my brain was giving me a case of impostor syndrome lmao yikes

the vibes are all over the place and it looks cool, but i feel like it's not telling me a lot. idk how to explain but sometimes i can look at covers and get a feel for the story just by examining the design. so this one's cool, just doesn't tell me enough. or maybe it does. . .

back to the drawing board !

and we've finally reached the most recent cover !! have to be one of my best works if i say so myself <3 it's technically simpler from the last one in terms of design and execution but to me it tells me a lot more about the story and the mood that i was aiming for (or maybe the color scheme is just more cohesive lmao)

and this concludes our graphic evolution !!