Woken Furies

1. John Harper December 22, 2008 at 2:34 AM

   The last of the Takeshi Kovacs books (sadly). The plot concerns a return to Harlan's World, so I added a bit of an elliptical arc to the design to suggest a planetary horizon.

    
2. Scott December 22, 2008 at 2:09 PM

   I will admit to being somewhat mystified at how you got this image from that photo. Are you some kind of wizard? Have you traded your soul for the ability to conjure cool graphics out of blurry, ill-conceived photos?
   
   If so, then it is doubly important for me to tell you how much I like this cover, and indeed this entire series. Each book is distinctive, and yet they look great together. One can imagine how their spines would look when placed together on a shelf as part of a boxed set. (Please feel free to design these spines if necessary.)
   
   Once again, fine work.

    
3. John Harper December 22, 2008 at 4:36 PM

   Thanks.
   
   Each cover uses a different set of manipulations to achieve the effects.
   
   The first one uses Distort > Polar Coordinates to drastically alter the look of the image. Then a radial blur, with tweaks to color, saturation, and levels, then some air-brushed spots of highlight and shadow.
   
   The second uses Distort > Pinch and Radial Blur (Zoom) to distort the image, then I went in and messed around with a brush using Blur and Smudge.
   
   The third started out like the second, but then I used Distort > Glass to create all the ripples and energy lines. Then I took the image, reflected it down the middle, and played around a lot with the various sections to get a pleasing shape out of the swirls.
   
   In short, start with a blunt instrument (a Distort, Blur, or whatever) then go in with the finer tools and tweak.

    

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