Final

To start off my book cover I made a collage of lots of different, brightly coloured, busy patterns. This created lots of layers. 

I scanned my collage into photoshop where I adjusted the threshold to make my image pure black and white. 

Using the magic wand tool I selected all of the black and applied a gradient of warm colours (red/yellow) which also relates to the colour of sunflowers. 

I then created a template for a flower petal and placed my pattern within it. 

Using  a central point I copied the petal and rotated it to build up a flower shape.

I did this until the flower was complete

To further develop my flower I multiplied each of the petals to blend them together. I copied the flower design and layered a larger one behind the original flower and a small one in the middle (which I multiplied). Around the outer layer I added a white stroke. To this white stroke I then added an orange shadow to create depth. 

I the remover the pattern within the outer layer leaving the shadow behind in the shape of the petals. This then created white space. 

When I was happy with my flower design I pasted it into my book cover template. Using my original collage pattern I used this for the backgrounds for my spine and right and left flaps of the book cover. 

I plan to put text on the right flap. As the background pattern is very busy the text may not be legible. I added a white oval which the text could be placed upon. I reduced the opacity of the oval so some of the background pattern was still visible but not over powering. To create a border pattern I hand drew a small flower. I then coloured this and evenly distributed them around the outside of the oval. 

I then connected the flowers with a black line by using the brush tool. This completed the border. 

To start my title I firstly hand drew it in pencil then fine liner. I then scanned it into photoshop where I adjusted the threshold to make it pure black and white. Using the magic wand tool I removed the white so I could place colour within the title. 

Using the magic wand tool to select my desired area I added a gradient to the title. I copied and pasted the title and slightly moved the under layer to give the impression that the text was 3D. I reduced the opacity in the bottom layer so it wasn't too overpowering and multiplied the titles together which gave a nice effect. I then added a white stroke around the text so it would stand out from the patterned background and be more legible.

I pasted my title into my book cover template. Using the hue slider I adjusted the colour of the title to compliment the colour scheme of the rest of my book. I then distanced the stroke from the text which gave a nice outline effect.

I hand drew the second half of my title and repeated the same process as the first.

I added a gradient to the title. I added a white stroke to make the text stand out. I then copied the same text without a stroke on top of the original and added a drop shadow. I then merged these two layers and multiplied them. I then added another drop shadow to the overall title. This then made it very prominent which is what I wanted as sunflowers are the main focus of the book.

To keep consistency I added a hand drawn flower to the spine. I also created an white oval for the text like on the right flap of the book. I reduced the opacity so the text would be legible. To give the text more body I added an orang stroke. Around the authors name I also added a yellow glow so it would stand out more

To fill the right flap I decided to add information about the 'author'. I found an image and edited it into an oval shape to keep consistency. I centre aligned the image and edited it to black and white as it complimented my colour scheme more. I then added the text in the same font as the spine.

For the back cover I created a ring of flowers similar to the one on the right flap which will contain the text. I chose to alternate the colours to make it more interesting and incorporate more colours from my colour scheme. I filled the ring with orange and reduced the opacity so it wasn't so over powering.

I then added the barcode, puffin logo (to the back and spine), price, publisher, website and the country of publication to make the book look professional.

I then added the title of 'sunflower' to the centre of the circle in the flower font I previously created.

Once I added the rest of the text I decided that the flower text didn't look right. Therefore, I used the same font as the spine and right flap to keep consistency. I still wanted the word 'sunflower' to stand out so i made it a larger font. i also added a really thick white stroke. behind this white stroke I then added a red drop shadow to add further emphasis to the word.

After thinking I had finished, I evaluated my work and made a few changes. I didn't like the white space on the back of the book cover. Therefore I used the original collaged background with a red to yellow gradient. I then reduced the opacity dramatically as it was too overpowering. I also left aligned the text in the bottom right hand corner to make it look more professional

This is my final finished book cover.