This was out of my usual comfort zone, because I don’t think I’ve ever designed a romance book, let alone a historical romance book, but it was a fun opportunity nonetheless.

Angela already had books 1-4 designed, so I had the extra challenge to mimic her typography and style, while also finding stock images that represented her story well.

For Bride of the Rockies, I had to rebuild the World Fair in the background. I relied heavily on public domain historical images for the skyline, and more adjustment layers than I even want to think about.

For Flame of the Rockies, I was actually able to use some old drafts from an entirely different cover, so the background went much faster. I was able to essentially drop it in place and put my focus on the model and lighting. I guess this is why I hoard old Photoshop files. You never know if you’re going to be able to make something out of them.

As much as it pains me, I thought it might be interesting to show a first and second draft of Bride. I always think it’s fascinating to see other designers show their bad drafts, because it reminds me that not everything we crank out is perfect on the first try. I don’t think I sent any of these drafts to the author, and I think if I did, I’d be unceremoniously thrown out the window for attempting to sell such embarrassments.

The first isn’t a complete draft. It was me playing with stock images, testing compositions, things like that. I didn’t get far on coloring or lighting before I realized it wasn’t going to work. If I remember right, the book started on a ship anyway, so I decided to move the protagonist out on the water so I could push the World’s Fair into the back to make it easier to work with. (When things are in the distance, it’s harder to spot the blending and perspective issues that might come up.)

The second is what happens when you get so caught up in your work that you don’t notice you’re fine-tuning trash. I don’t know what the girl’s neck is doing, but it’s not normal, and if I had stepped away from the computer for a few days and come back, I would have seen the problem immediately. But at least the lighting and color started taking shape, and I really started bringing out a shine to the woman’s dress.

The final had me swapping out the face to avoid that weird neck issue. I bought myself the stock images I knew were working, strengthened more of the color, contrast, and lighting, and slapped the typography over it.