The finished version of the DVD inlay for Gears of war : Emergence.
Overall i find that the back cover and spine are near perfect (to my standards at least), but the front cover could have been done far better the reasons for this are;
- It makes no sense, this is because there is a fair amount happening and that the focus isn't precise, as with most other covers
- The quality overall of the image isn't terrible, although there are jagged edges to the imported images/ layers, such as the "Corpser" (Spider) has some jagged edges
- The cutout of the city, i used a previous project in which i had cutout a city beforehand, i decided this to be better than a single building, this isn't a perfect cutout and i have done this do the best of my ability
Positive points to the front cover;
- The red silouette is fantastic, if i were to recreate this image, i would definately do this part the same mainly because it goes with the theme overall of gears of war and fans of the series can identify the character
- The juxtaposition of the calm lake next to the dying city, i did this mainly to create a sense of emergency and a sudden catastrophy
- The models (flying), i used concept art and pictures of toys to create these parts, because they aren't taken from a video game, there is a sense of realism about them- especially since they are miniature
Overall success of design to implementation was fairly successful, especially the spine and back cover, again the front cover was changed for reasons i will mention next.
The differences with design;
- BBFC logos, i decided to remove them from the spine and front cover mainly because i felt it wasn't necessary because we were tasked with creating the cover itself, although i have included it on the back to give the overall cover a sense of realism
- Xbox 360 cover design, i had changed my design (in my head) and included it in my draft, i later decided that it affected the overall quality of the image and decided not to include it- the reason it affected the quality is that it limited my image size, in which i needed a fair amount and the fact that i personally prefer it the way it is now
Overall i kept to the design, keeping predicted images in the same area, same with titles and legal info.
In the end i decided to change the image for the front cover (from the single building to the city) because i felt that the wasn't much possibility for exploring potential skills with the single building because the image was already filled with this building, i felt that switching to the city gave me the space i need to add in other images and explore potential.
If i were to do this project again next time, i would change the front cover mainly because i am unhappy with it currently, the reason for this has been mentioned previously, although next time i will definately do more research into the subject and look into other peoples work and see what i can learn from that, although i explored the overall tools, etc, i feel that research would have benefitted me far more than what i have done.
Although i feel that the spine and back cover are good, next time i will research into making it more production level quality, as with the front cover.
Techniques used;
- Effects, i gave an outer glow to the city and the title text to make it stand out more against the black background, i felt this was necessary because otherwise the city would blend in with the background and be hard to see, i also gave the "marcus" layer a red overlay to create that 2d flat silouette effect.
- Levels, i used this on the back cover for an image, and on the front to bring out the red darkness, as i was trying to get red of the slight blue overtone to the city, as the image was taken during daytime
- Layer mask (Brighness and contrast), i also used the pen tool to outline the city, in which i made a layer mask, and transferred it over to the B&C, i did this as stated before to remove the blue/ light overtone to the city
- Opacity, i had gotten a dust texture for the image, and decided to use that to filter the black background to give the effect of smoke, i felt this was necessary because it brought the focus from the reader forward
- Basic tools, such as selection, placement, magic wand tool (to remove white parts of an image)
- I have included an outside image on the disk, i felt this was necessary as some work went into it and was included in the finished product overall, i have used levels and effects to alter the image, this image has been altered twice (once for back and spine) in which i would edit the settings for certain parts and then import
- Filter, i have decided to use a blur filter on some of the "Reavers" (flying monsters), mainly because i wanted to give the effect that they were party in the smoke of the background, just to give it a sense of distance and to try and avoid a flat image
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