Cover Makeover #8 and this one I almost didn’t do.
You see, just last week I posted THIS and this week’s challenge is about one of King’s books, The Green Mile. Is this irony, or what?
I had the choice of doing either the novel or the movie. I opted for doing the novel. Here is the original cover (I assume one of many):
I don’t have any photos of prisons, of green trucks, of anything like the above, so I read Wikipedia’s entry for the book to get a feel for the novel. On a side note, in the process I confirmed my lack of interest in reading it.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah . . . making the cover. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I picked these shots . . .
Interesting, no?
The hallway of arches is from Old Fort Jackson in Savannah, Georgia. I cropped it and played with the colors to get this:
Next, I wanted to add three elements to the scene. I don’t have a photo of an electric chair, but I did have the photo of the mattress spring. I figured the two cross springs and a few loops might give the impression of something electrical. I blended the spring into the background at the end of the hallway.
A few of the covers have a vintage truck driving at night (probably John going to heal the warden’s wife). I took the B&W truck and tinted it . . .
It too got blended into the hallway, and I added the beams of light in Photoshop.
Here’s what that looks like.
The third item I wanted was a reference to Johns presence in the hallway. Of course, I don’t have any such photo . . . but I could hint at the ghost of his shadow.
I liked all of that. I did move the shadow a bit when I added the writing . . .
I thought the cover was a tad too dark, so I bumped up the exposure and increased the saturation.
As usual, I like my effort . . . but I’m sort of biased.
I hope this exercise in a bit of escapism has entertained you. If not, don’t tell anyone about this post. Unless there is someone you don’t like, in which case point them here so I can add them to the long list of people who hate my guts.
That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.
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. . . my FP ward . . . chieken shit.
I thought exactly the same thing when I read your King-writing post last week!!! Hahaha. Oh well, regardless of your feelings for the book, you’ve done an outstanding job with this one and you’ve made me realize – I think I need to do some editing school!! Thanks so much for joining again. Love it.
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The editing I did is fairly basic. The headlight beams were the most involved and all it required was watching a five-minute video (http://bit.ly/1Jg0cBt).
Thank you for the compliment.
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My pleasure. I was impressed. I have Photoshop in the CreativeCloud subscription. Just have to find time to learn.
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Fantastic effort! I think I’ll go and remove mine now….
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Don’t do that; one’s efforts should never go to waste. And thanks.
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I guess you’re a successful author when your name appears twice the size of the title. I never read the book but I liked the movie and your cover compliments that nicely.
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I’ve not read the book or watched the movie, but I cheated in reading a bit about the plot. Thanks.
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I always wonder about that . . . to me it points to selling the book based on the reputation of the author rather than the actual work. But I suppose that’s part of the strategy in getting the work noticed in the first place.
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Excellent photos Emilio and the covers look great!!
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Thanks, Norma. It was fun playing with it.
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I don’t know what possessed me to watch the movie, except perhaps because it starred Tom Hanks. But your book cover hit the mark very well. And your explanation as to your choice of photos and processes is always very interesting. Good work, bro!
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Cheerful, ain’t it?
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Yeah, it ain’t.
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Wow! You should go into the cover design business! ‘Cept the bedsprings do look rather like … bedsprings! 🙂
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Ah, but if I hadn’t shown them beforehand . . .
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Quite genuinely, I did guess by scrolling down to the last images by mistake before I saw your component. I thought of sex but electricity didn’t enter my mind. (And no, that isn’t because I think of nothing else but sex!)
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Not sure how you get sex out of that . . . and no, I don’t want to know.
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Very creative, (of course….!) You could find an interesting nich hobby/career, but it might work best if you did this BEFORE the books are released! NIce work! M 🙂
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Believe me, if they ask BEFORE the books are released, I’m gonna want to get paid.
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This is very nice work. I like it a lot.
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Thank you; I appreciate the feedback.
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I have that book! (I’ve seen the movie, too.) And I like your cover w-a-a-a-y better than the original! 🙂
HUGS!!! 🙂
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Why, thank you. Perhaps I found a new calling.
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You have! Now figure out how to get hired! 🙂
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This one is really fabulous. It is a pleasure (and lots of lessons) to read how you did it. Thanks!
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Thank you for your kind words and thank you for providing the challenge.
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It is my pleasure and I am very happy you enjoy to take part in it.
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