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HALAZIA GRAPHIC CONTEST by treasure-maker !!!

Imma straight away head to the main part and infos of the editing and keep the pep talk for later cuz I've a damn lot of things to write lol.

TYPE- Book Cover

TITLE- Ruby Red

GENRE- Mystery/Thriller/Suspense/Adventure

FACE CLAIMS- Bae Suzy (Alex Kim), Timothee Chalamet (Anonymous Inviter)

BRUSHES- mine

:::: M Y   E N T R Y ::::

--- PLOT CONTINUATION ---

Alex Kim, well known in the town as Detective Kim after so many cases handled by her for almost 10 years now. Her father was a well known government's crime investigator, but Alex as a woman couldn't inherit that position, but her skills, passion and intuitions ended up making her a well-known private Detective at the end.

So when this detective got an invitation along with an elegant ruby necklace, she couldn't stop herself from smelling something fishy about this. Her doubts became more prominent as soon as she tore open the envelope and read the invitation. That exact handwriting, that bloody ink and wax seal, that same address and yes, that same ruby necklace! She knew in her mind that all are connecting somewhere.

As Alex reached the aforementioned place in the invitation, she found herself in an eerie forest. The road seemed dark and eerie too, even the carriage driver mentioned why nobody comes here for almost 10 years now.

Yes, 10 years ago she herself came here too and solved her first case but this was a beautiful park and not a forest back then, and ever since then this place was abandoned by the citizens by strict advise of the government. Then why would a person will invite her to come here? Well, this exact question is what irked her mind to come all the way here after seeing that invitation.

That ruby necklace and the invitation with red ink resembled the exact signature proofs of the case that she solved in the year, 1886, i.e. almost 10 years ago from today. The criminal used to make these exact kind of red rubies, out of human blood by serial killing and used to gift bloody red ruby necklaces to his next victims and call them out in this park to kill them- every part of the case is still vivid in her mind and with that she advanced towards where she could notice flames and burning smells of wood coming from.

But soon she felt as if she's in a maze (not a love maze ofc but probably a death maze), she saw more than 1 places where woods are burning like in bonfire but none around and with that she felt someone following her from behind as well. She tried to call out randomly but inside she knew it's all a trap and she isn't going to give up either.

She got the news of his prison escape and literally the whole town is after catching him after the government announced a large sum of money for the first one to catch and bring him alive, but it was her case, her first case, which is why she felt a duty to put an end to it all by herself. Which's why she's here today.

But little did she know that this time its not just about solving the case and capture the serial killer, but to solve the riddles of a mad criminal who fled from jail just a week ago with an aim to take revenge on her! He doesn't care even if he ends up in jail or get death sentence after this only if he get what he came for-

"That ruby red coloured blood of yours is what I desire."

As if the forest yelled that to her with different frequencies several times forming an echo, cuz she couldn't find anyone. But it was him...the one who was giving the creepiest smile at her from behind, standing meters away from her, under that hooded hat- waiting to rip apart her flesh with that shining blade.

"To make my last ruby."

--- DESCRIPTION ---

Okay so I've decided to set the whole story back in the Victorian Era, i.e. from 1886-1896. Though maybe you guys might think that valentine's day might not exist that time, but lemme tell you they used to celebrate the day for a long time, much before this Era in fact. Maybe it wasn't some romantic day like today, as the meaning gradually changed like any old customs but people used to celebrate this day. So I thought, why not go back to that Era?

This idea ofc came from Enola Homes series, since I'm planning to buy all the books first before watching the movies. Even though the plot isn't that special and more importantly I chose Mystery-Thriller genre, so had to keep an unexplained ending and obviously we're writing it for a reader and a book cover, so obviously not everything should be given away with just the description I believe.

So here I only sticked up till the part where the scene of the cover exists. The rest must stay a mystery for the future readers of the book XD

And about the typography- I'm tbh embarrassed that I couldn't actually choose either of them, since the text placement needed to be something that we get in vinage stories, that old style type and again somewhere it looked crowded and thus I ended up with 2 T.T

I even wanted to go for an aesthetic blend type cover but ended up with this, cuz I suddenly got inspired by my Treasure Island's book cover lol.

--- ELEMENT DETAILS ---

The cover scene shows when she's looking around to find his presence while standing in the maze he created for her, when he's standing right behind her almost hiding under the shadows.

1] As it is set in the Victorian Era, I used dress references to give off the vibes of that Era. Even I used curls for Alex that's kinda relative of that time's hair style.

2] The elements- open envelop with bloody wax seal, red ruby necklace, knife, hooded hat, dark coloured attire and fire blazes, is what I added as main details.

3] The typography part shows how he breakout of the prison just to take revenge on her, which became his ultimate desire- the ruby, the dripping blood from it and the broken font is its resemblances. Also I used vintage fonts to give off the Era vibes.

4] The background is set in the abandoned park which now became a forest, so I basically used a forest Pic with vines and tall bushes covering it everywhere. And also the time of the day I chose is almost or already evening, since the light and shadow that time remains enough to go inside a forest without much light aid. And even if she needed to flee from there, she can do it without being noticed. (That's in the remaining part of the story and shows the ending which I didn't reveal and kept mysterious XD)

5] Also the filters are done according to that old vintage style to give off the vibes.

:::: R E S O U R C E S ::::

I tbh wasn't sure about this contest in the first place, first my exams were going on, second this was damn hard of a concept oh lord! And more importantly the contestants line?? Gosh all the best editors joined this one!

Ngl but I'm super scared knowing the fact that mine won't stand a chance in front of either of the entries lol. But again this wasn't just for winning after all, at least I didn't join this round to win I can assure you that. My love for challenging myself and risk it all along with the joy of joining with few of my fav editors are what made me join T.T

Anyways- enough with pep talk today, cuz I already wrote sm for the description and plot.

You guys take care! Bye! ❤