Purpose: The purpose of this project was to create a grunge style book cover for one of the listed of the listed by Mr. Hayes. By using the past tools learned from Photoshop as well as learning the concepts of grunge, we were called to make a book cover that alludes to this popular movement.

Process (Programs, Tools, Skills, etc.): When making this book cover, I solely used Adobe Photoshop to create this given project and the photos that were used in my project was from Flickr under Creative Commons. The main tools that I used to produce this project was the brush tool, gradient tool, and the utilization of layers with the available blending options. For the brush tool, I created a layer mask to preserve the original image as I used the brush tool to blend the layer and the background in order to showcase the blending options learned previously. In addition, the brush tool was also used in the blending of images together as seen with the boy on the cover. With the brush tool, the gradient tool was also used to provide clean and order within the photos as the cover showcases the basics of the gradient tool on the child.  Lastly, the most important tool used in this book cover was the layers. The layer options provided color balance as the brightness and opacity was complementary to the surrounding objects in the project. With the layer options, I was able to manipulate the photo to be balanced as well as meet the requirements of the project. With the use of these tools, I was able to showcase the design principles of contrast, alignment, balance, space and hierarchy. The contrast and alignment within this project can be seen with the use of different colors of black and white which serves as contrasts to the elaborate colors of red on the cover. In addition, the utilization of alignment and balance can be seen with the visual establishment of foreground and background from the given photos as well as balance can be seen with the simplistic form of the cover. With the balance of colors within the project, space and hierarchy is also established as visual areas of space is deliberately inserted to prevent crowding in these specific areas compared to crowding style of grunge. Overall, the use of the brush, gradient, and layer options helped construct this project that showcases the principles of design with contrast, alignment, balance, space and hierarchy

Color Theory: The color scheme was monochromatic within the use of two different shades of red as it compliments the white and black. The monochromatic scheme between the reds provide a cover that alludes to the book’s motif of survival as killing occurs in this novel. The additional use of white and black provides the book cover with the messiness of grunge being feature within the piece.

Additional links: 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx0apWtEg6PLa2s1ZmlPRzQ3aUk/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx0apWtEg6PLRnlQcndLR1cxcGs/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bx0apWtEg6PLbGZHY2lVdXZzZlk/view?usp=sharing