Monday, November 28, 2016

Shattered Spirit (Totem #4) with a not so shattered cover!


A haunted house isn’t going to stop Ametta Dorn from doing her job.

Frustrated that her family has left her out of the search for the missing totem tokens, Ametta Dorn loses herself in her work. She’s offered a dream job of a complete interior renovation of a famous Cremaschi house. Not even discovering the house belongs to Lucky Osberg can dampen her enthusiasm.

Lucky’s plan to spend more time with her as she works goes awry when the spirit who protects his home tries to murder her. Ametta won’t be scared off, despite being tempted to run and never come back. She was going to flee Alaska and pursue her designer dreams anyway, yet that means giving up on Lucky and the totem that is just within her grasp.

Coming January 9th, 2017.



I think this is one of my most striking covers in the series so far, and it's because of the model with her awesome hair. There's a gorgeous old house behind her, but you can't take your eyes off her. I'm so excited about that, and yet nervous in that I want to share with you how I created this cover.

In the spirit of sharing my experiences creating book covers, I'm going to tell you what I did. BUT, be forewarned, it is likely you won't look at the cover the same way again.

Here's your spoiler warning! Stop reading here if you don't want to know my secret.

I'll give you a minute.

*nom nom yummy cookies nom*

Are you still here?

Okay. That means you want to know what I did.

The model is a composite of several bits and pieces. Yes, it's true. The face is from a different image than the rest of the body. It's the same model, but two different images. The original image I wanted to use had the model with plastic wrap around her neck. When I purchased the image, I thought it looked like frost or ice on her neck, but nope. It's definitely plastic wrap. No amount of fiddling around in Photoshop could change that.

To keep that face, I had to put her on a different body. But then I had another problem: the hair looked too cut out. It was flat and lifeless with obvious snipped edges.

So I took hair from other images (five in total, actually) and gave Ametta that magnificent mussed hairstyle. I learned a bunch of cool hair blending tricks that day.

Please let me know what you think!

22 comments:

  1. Such a pretty cover! Never would've guessed the model was a composite. Impressive!

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  2. Well done! I wouldn't even know it was several images combined.

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  3. Wow! I love your cover. I'd never guess it was a composite picture of the model. You did a fantastic job with it.

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  4. Hi Christine - very clever ... I'd have been hopeless ... but I could do with some extra hair ... could you give me some????

    Cheers - and I love the cover/s ... Hilary

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  5. I love that it's a composite. That's cool. What's even cooler is that you did it. It looks great, Christine. :)

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  6. wow

    You are now my Photoshop go-to ga. Nice work.

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  7. Wow! Love this cover and it was so interesting to learn how you created the model. You're a photoshop rock star. And I can't believe #4 is already on the way! How exciting.

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  8. Heather, Alex, and Natalie, thank you!

    Hilary, you look just lovely! :)

    M.J., thanks!

    Mac, awesome!

    Julie, I'm still learning. I can't believe #4 is close to release either!

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  9. Goodness. You're like Doctor Frankenstein. lol And you can't even tell. You are good!

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  10. Wow! That's an impressive bit of photo manipulation. Great job, Christine. And I do love the results.

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  11. Cool cover! Definitely eye-catching:)

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  12. You already know I love the cover. =D

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  13. You are amazing with putting all that together. I love knowing the stories behind your creations.

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  14. Congrats! You would never know. Looks like you've got a talent for this!

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  15. OMG! You make your own covers?!! Definitely can't tell it's several different photos. I don't have Photoshop anymore, but I didn't know how to use 95% of the features when I did have it. The hair looks so good!

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  16. Chrys, I'll take that as a big compliment! :D

    Lee and Mark, thank you!

    Patricia, I do! ;) Let's see what trouble Ametta can cause for me with book #7's cover!

    Susan, thank you.

    Nick, thanks! I'm doing my best to learn more.

    Krystal, I still don't know how to do everything on Photoshop either, and I have an older version. I'm asking Santa for a new one. :)

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  17. Nice job on the blending. Smooth! I'd never have guessed.

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  18. I would have never guessed it didn't come that way. Love her hair.

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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  19. Lynda, thank you!

    Anna, thanks! The hair really makes it, I think.

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  20. I'm impressed. I would have never guessed your model was a cut and paste job. The cover looks great! You are so talented!

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  21. Great work. It is your most striking. Love the name of the story too. I agree with comment above---You got talent, girl. Congrats on another new release.

    Juneta @ Writer's Gambit

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  22. Whoa, that's totally amazing that you put that all together! So cool :) I would have never guessed. It's such a rockin' cover!

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