Front Page Construction

I've spent quite a bit of time working on my Front Cover, and unfortunately I haven't been recording what I have done to my image! This is a small problem, but I will be showing everything I have done to my Front Page so far in this simple-to-understand post! Below you can see the image that I started with when I began on my Front Page;

NOTE: This is the Edited version from my previous Post. The link to this post is in the brackets;(http://alexclarkwgsbmedia.blogspot.com/search/label/Front%20Page%20Planning)

1)

Now a lot of elements went into my Front Page, and many of them are very complicated and involve a LOT of editing (so we better get started...). The first thing that I did to this image is Cut him out of the background using the Extract Tool in Photoshop, as shown by the Screenshot to the right. This is a quick and easy way to cut someone out in Photoshop, and if your careful with what you do then you can get a really nice effect from it. There is also a 'Preview' button in the Extract menu that can be used to make sure you are cutting out the image in the way you want, which I found very helpful.

2)

The next bit that I did with the image was give it a black background. This can be seen in the Screenshot to your left. I chose a Black Background because I wanted to give my magazine a Dark, Dangerous look to it to reflect the genre of music. I also used a Layer Mask to create the feel that the Model was fading out of the darkness. To make the effect look more realistic I used a Faded Black Brush sized at 300 pixels to create the Layer Mask. I chose to leave the models hands in the shot so it didn't look like he was just a floating head. I also used the Smudge Tool on the hair of my model, to make it look a little bit more blended with the background as if he is coming out of the Darkness of the background.

3)

Then I started on the Masthead. This is a VERY complicated piece of work, and to create the effect I used a YouTube tutorial which can be found with the following link (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XppFKFkud7w). The effect that was created was, in my best words, Spectacular. But it may have been a bit too extravagant for the Masthead of a Music Magazine, and I will probably experiment with changing this. To the right you can see how my version of the effect looked on my chosen image. As a small summary, the Masthead is created using a combination of White Faded Brushes, a custom Diamond Brush, the 'Guttural' Font from the following link (http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=Guttural), Motion Blur, Gaussian Blur, different Layer Blending Settings and the Reticulation Filter under the Sketch Tab.

4)

The next step was to add a graphic element to the Front Cover. I decided to make use of the Diamond Brush that I had used in the Masthead to frame the bottom of my Magazine. I then used a Colour Brush to create the colours on the shards, with a Blending Setting changed to Hard Light. This gave it a glow effect on the shard themselves which I felt was very effective for the Genre, a bit crazy and unrestrained. I also used a small Layer Mask to confine the glow of the colours so that they didn't distract from the main image too much.

5)

Then I started to add the proper text. The name of the Band that I have created exclusively for my Media coursework is Hell Raiser. As you can see from the Image to the right, this is also made up of many different effects and layers grouped together to form the Coverline. The letters "H" and "R" are on seperate layers, and each of them have been equipped with a Layer Style, including Bevel and Emboss, Pattern Overlay, Drop Shadow and a Stroke. The rest of the letters are done a little more simply, with only a Stroke and a Drop Shadow for the Layer Style effects. The caption "They won't know what hit them!" is also done with this (less complicated) Layer Style. The Font used for this Caption is called "INFECTED".

6)

Now we move on to the other Coverlines for the Front Page. There is also a great amount of editing happening with these and I may well decide to tone it all down for my Final Front Page (but that's a story for another day...). The main Headline is made of a Font called "Unreal Tournament", and the final word in the headline is in Red to distinguish it from the other White words. The Layer Style effects for the headline's includes an Outer Glow, Bevel and Emboss and a Stroke. The Caption underneath the Headline is in the Font "Your Are Loved", and the Layer Style effects include a Bevel and Emboss and a Stroke.

7)

Now there are only a few small changes that need to be done to my Front Page. We need a Barcode, the Price and the Issue of the magazine. Because it's now 2012, I have entitled this issue the "Apocalypse Issue", because it's meant to be the end of the world in 2012 (apparently...). The Price has been done in the same way as the captions for the Coverlines in Step 6, but the £ sign had to be from another Font so I used the £ sign from "Unreal Tournament". "Apocalypse Issue" is written in the Font "Stenstreet" with the same Layer Style as the price and the coverline captions.




And there you have it! The Construction of my Front Cover in 7 easy steps! Alright, it needs to have some work done to it, but its coming together which is the main thing.

Part Two

Ok, so I've finished my Front Page! But it looks very different to what it looks like here, which is where I started. So, I'll get on with the second part of the construction for my Front Page:

 8)

The first thing I did was change the picture I was using for my Front page, since I felt the image I was using at that time didn't properly show the conventions of my chosen genre. I edited this image in a similar way, using a Layer Mask and a Faded Black Brush to blend my model into the background. Much the same as step one in Part One of my Front Page construction above, I also used the Sharpen Tool to improve the clarity of my model.





9)
After changing the main image, I then changed the Masthead of my magazine. I toned it down in terms of editing and made it much more simple so that it didn't draw the readers attention away from my main image. I went for a Large letter M aligned to the centre, and then framed with the words 'Project Mayhem' to show the title of my music magazine. I used various text effects such as a Gradient Overlay, Stroke, an Inner Glow and a softened Bevel and Emboss to create the desired effect for my Masthead. I decided to stay with the 'Unreal Tournament' font for my Masthead as I felt that it conveyed the conventions of my chosen genre in the most effective way.


10)
Once my Masthead had been completed, I placed the graphic element used to frame my magazine back into the bottom of the page. It's the same layer that as been created before, detailed in step 4) above. I also placed the name of the band 'Hell Raiser' back onto the cover as this was another part of the magazine that wouldn't be changed. This coverline has been detailed in step 5).

11)

Then I added a new graphic element to my front cover, with influences taken from my Preliminary Task. I created an album cover for my band and then, with the same effect used to frame my magazine, I created a sphere that I could used to show a competition in my magazine, with the album as a prize. The colour style and effects used where similar to those used to frame my magazine, however I also used the Smudge Tool to create the effect that the colours where bursting from a single point in the centre of the sphere of shards. The album cover itself was created using several fire brushes found on the internet, the shard effect again and a light effect to give the image a united colour scheme of purples and blacks. The text was made with the 'Guttural' font, and was given a layer style of a Stroke and a Bevel and Emboss, and the colour of the text also changes between white and red to reflect my colour scheme and emphasise the words Win and Inside.

12)

The next thing to do was to add the coverlines back into my magazine. There were a few changes that had been incorporated into these crucial features of my front cover, such as the text had been changed in a few of them, along with edits to colours and they were given more graphic elements to help draw the readers attention. The effects themselves were created using various brushes and colours that matched the colours used in the coverline text.

13)

There was only one other step to take to finish my front cover (again) and this was to add the Barcode, cover price, issue and the Strapline of my magazine. The Strapline; "Turn it up, right up. Metal never dies" was created in an army-style stenciled font with the connotations of chaos and conflict, emotions that are expressed through the facial expressions of my models throughout my final pieces of work. The layer style used for my Strapline included the use of an Outer Glow and a Bevel and Emboss, similar to the styles used before to reinforce the House Style of my front cover. Finally, I also added a thin black bar at the bottom of my front cover to frame my work and allow for another coverline of my magazine to be expressed on the front cover.

And there it is, my Final Front Cover! It's come a long way since an A4 black page with nothing on it. One down, two to go...