The client asked me to redesign the cover for their first novel. They wanted to keep a locket. Everything else was open to reinterpretation.

My initial cover that was more 'SF movie poster' - lights and colour to suggest sci-fi. The author wasn't keen on style or protagonist's looks.

I kept the gangsters and car, then I selected 5 different models. One of them was spot on for the author's mental image of the protagonist.

Now I chose the best pose to hold a locket. I photographed my hand holding an item and composited that in. White light around it shows the SF element.

To portray time travel I added a 1920s street, juxtaposed against the present day.

Colour was done by layers of digital painting over black and white images, to marry a range of image sources effectively. I used Krita's textured brushes and blends.

I designed new typography and layout in Inkscape to fit better into the thriller market.