Anatomy of a Book Cover #1: Among The Midnight Stars
Explaining my creative process when designing premade book covers
Hi and welcome. Anatomy of a Book Cover is where I explain the design elements and creative choices behind the premade book covers I create. All premades are available for purchase at my shop, Fearless Book Design. Please read on for a full breakdown of the cover above and how you can own it.
What I Made
A somewhat dark and moody book cover that works for romance. It can be contemporary or fantasy or even sci-fi considering the inclusion of the starry sky.
Why I Made It
It’s a cover that hints at mystery, love, and intrigue. An author looking for something that feels adventurous or like an epic love story would be drawn to this couple.
How I Made It
Searching for the perfect stock photos can be an hours-long affair if you haven’t already compiled a library or collection or images. The couple is a stock photo and they have been shrunken down to emphasize the larger-than-life desert setting they are dancing in.
The colors are a mix of filters, layers, and overlays. Photoshop can tweak colors in a million different ways. No set color palette was chosen in advance, because by experimenting with the Hue & Saturation setting, I knew I would land eventually on the color combo that felt ‘right.’ A warm color like orange with a complimentary color like dark blue just works!
For text, I wanted to keep it simple by going with a sans-serif for the author’s name and the other small text. For the title, because the couple is so small and the sky appears to be so vast, I had to choose a big cursive font to give it that romantic feel.
When I ended with was a premade book cover with text that stands out, color that conveys the right mood, and a couple that sets the stage for the type of story the author wants to tell.
How You Can Own It
‘Among The Midnight Stars’ is a premade book cover available for purchase in my shop, Fearless Book Design. Premade covers are a cheaper and faster alternative to custom book covers. If you’re curious, please head over to the site to learn more.
Next time: A fantasy book cover!