Today has been about building the cover for my next book - Birth of the Neví (scheduled to be serialized towards the end of August.)
The Rebound of Power collection was fundamentally romance. But Birth of the Neví is not. There are plenty of romantic elements in the book, but that wasn't the purpose of this book. Hence, my romance cover wouldn't suit this one.
So, what to do...
I thought about where the story takes place and the main themes in the book and that's where I decided to go with this one.
I decided that I wanted an image of Irola for this cover as it plays heavily in this story - and is literally the birthplace of this story. So, I spent quite a bit of time looking through different freebie images of high-rise cities. I narrowed it down to three images, then played with two of them. Threw that one out because I couldn't find a way of merging the shaze into the picture effectively.
Image 1
I started with this image today:
(Image from PXhere )
I reversed it, cropped it to 8x10 vertical, then did my standard edits - enhancing the color, backlighting, things like that. Until I had this.
You can see how dirty the Irolean skies are. You have the Irolean Sound in the background - and even part of the Çtaráña (stor-AHN-ya) coast in the distance. I like this image as it's become Irola because it gives the impression of the size of the city, but also where it is...
I started thinking about leaving it as it is here... and just adding my shaze to it, but something didn't feel right about this. Birth of the Neví has more settings than just Irola... And one of these is the Çtaráña rainforest.
Image 2
(Image from Pexels)
I love this image for the vertical feel.
I do my normal Photoscape edits to the image including some color enhancement, a film treatment (cross process, medium) and a backlight. But I don't crop it this time - I'll leave that bit for later.
Images combined
Using GIMP, I add Image 1 as a layer on top of Image 2.
I place it near the trunk of the foreground trees so that I can feature them as well.
Next, I use the eraser tool (with reduced opacity) on the Image 1 layer to sort of blend the two images together. Here is what I have now:
Now, I need to build myself a new shaze, so will do that in part 2. (I was advised to include a hand holding the shaze so that it ties the human element solidly into the picture. That required a bit more work.
Please catch up!
Rebound of Power is available at a digital store near you! It’s also still FREE – if you’re digital store has a price, try another! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free.
Friendship on Fire is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free – limited time only.
Courage to Trust is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free – limited time only.
Elect to Change is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It’s also still available at Dbooks for free – limited time only.
Ocean of Empathy is available at a digital store near you for $2.99! It has not yet been released on Steemit or Dbooks.
At which point, the Rebound of Power collection will be completed.
Don’t forget!
I’m still offering 1 Steem Basic Income share for any newbie (100 SP or less) who asks me a question which prompts an “Ask the Author” post! I’m thinking about putting these into a Dbooks ebook all its own, actually.
Image Credits:
Cover art based on image from Pexels – creative commons, no attribution required.
Shaze based on a katana from Pixabay – creative commons, no attribution required.
Shaze chapter ender from Wikipedia Commons – used within terms of license – sword adapted for use as a shaze.
Grass texture for maps from Pixabay
All maps/editing by myself on GIMP and Photoscape, both free programs.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Although the penalty of knowing me in real life is that you will influence the creation of my characters; any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Writing and artwork copyright myself 2005-2018 – all rights reserved.
If you are interested in helping me publish these works, please contact me on Facebook or Discord, viking-ventures#2883.
Lori Svensen – A'mara Books & Viking Visual
Banner by @shai-hulud
