Those of you who've kept up with me know that I DO NOT use Photoshop or any Adobe product when designing covers. I wanted to prove that I could design well without a hefty program and its price. I took a stroll through the other side and decided to design this with my sister's Photoshop. Check out the tutorial and let me know at the end if you see a noticeable difference between how I design with and without Photoshop.

Anyways! ClarityNMercy messaged me a few weeks ago about possibly doing a cover for her paranormal-romance book. One of the things I loved about this request was that the more she told me about the story, the more excited I got to read it [which I'll end up doing now].

The Request:
-A Latina girl
-Guy with black hair
-Royalty free stocks
-Paranormal and Romance (mystery, too!)
-Design has to be flexible enough for a series

--Challenge Accepted!!--

Design Process: 7+ hours

So I started with a base picture, which in this case is a very mysterious looking city. I love this picture because of the amount of open space I have to play with as well as the fact that it's not so flashy that it grabs too much of the viewer's attention.

First I'll darken the picture and add some extra vignetting around the edges.

Next, I'll googled 'Satanic magic circle' and picked up the one that looked decorative enough, but also subtle enough that I could add some decorations of my own. Blow it up and stick it over the sky. I erased a bit of the edges

Face claim time! She had asked for a dark haired, Latina girl and a guy with dark hair. I wanted to add some mystery so I decided on keeping the guy's back turned. I really like the composition for this as it feels like I could do different face claims, positions, and magic circles for sequel or prequel covers [if she requests from me XD].

Next, I'll spruce up the magic circle by adding some same-colored smoke and flames around it.

To really amp up that magic-y or supernatural vibe, I'm going to make this satanic circle look like it's been activated. I took a lens flare brush [color dodge mode] and painted on a Screen layer. This allows the lens flare to have that uncanny, unearthly glow about it.

To keep our color scheme consistent, I used an HSV/HSL filter on the left side of the background and changed it to match the blue/purple vibe we got going on.

Now to make the face claims feel as though they're part of the picture. I dislike subjects who don't look blended with their backgrounds. Also, my OCD would write a strongly worded letter to my already fragile design mentality if I didn't try to achieve semi-realism in these designs.

The face claims were lookin' kinda bleached out so I adjusted the exposure just a tad. You can see my settings down below.

Next, I had to make the Alice [the girl] feel more cool-toned to match the overall color scheme. So I added a photo-filter over her cutout. Then I took an airbrush and sprayed some purple around her hair, face, and jacket on an Overlay clipping layer thingy.

Next, no semi-realism attempt is complete without properly following shadows. I took my airbrush and sprayed some black on the bits of their bodies and faces. I have a pretty solid grasp of lighting and shadows because I paint, so I don't really tend to use references when doing so. I think my art teacher and concept professor would haunt me from the beyond if I didn't shade things properly.

Last, but never least: the font! After some mixed feelings about using Foglihten, I went for a simple serif. I beveled/embossed it added some color via a gradient clipping layer. You can see the process list in the picture down below. Also, credit to MoranaGlinka and christamariaalaly who helped me with my indecisiveness about the design! ❤❤

And voila! That was the last step! So what do you guys and gals think? Did using Photoshop make a difference on the quality of my designs? Or does it look the same? Let me know!

Btw, big shout-out to ClarityNMercy who gave me as many details as she could. I love working with clients who are patient with me and who let me free-style their covers. You are badass lady and don't you forget that! ❤❤

*Thank you for checking out this chapter! If you like the cover, go and read ClarityNMercy's story. If you like what I do and feel like motivating me, check out the link to my Ko-fi page in my bio.*