BEGINNING TO MAKE MY FRONT COVER

Today I started to create my front cover. Using Photoshop I began to edit my main image where I particularly wanted to remove the large shadow behind the model. I used a range of tools including the patch tool, paint brush and spot healing to do this. However I disliked the effect it created as it looked very fake, as well as the processing being incredibly time consuming. After asking some people around me whether I should or shouldn't remove the shadow, they all said I should keep it looked 'quirky' and 'added some extra depth and interest'. So instead I decided just to edit the brightness of the image by adjusting the Exposure and Gamma Correction levels which improved the quality of the image.

I next decided to insert my masthead using the font 'Fiesta' from dafont.com. I inserted this feature but decided it looked too simple and not quirky enough to suit the genre of my magazine. I played around with re-sizing the letters and liked the look of dramatically enlarging the V. By doing this it will draw far more attention to the masthead as well as accentuating the word. I have now decided this will be the official logo of VINYL. To add depth to the word and make it project off the page, I edited it by adding dark shadows.

I next inserted a barcode found from Google images and the main headline 'MILLIE SHARRATT' who is my cover model.I found the perfect font that looks stylish and 'indie' where I played around with different colours to see which would contrast with the main image.

I decided dark green looked best especially compared to the pink option, as green is more closley connected with blue. I lastly inserted a puff advertising a competition as this is a very good way of attracting and intriguing and potential customer.
This is the finished result of my initial first creation of my front cover. I now need to include coverlines and a strap line to advertise some of the articles found inside the magazine. I also need to finalize my colour scheme and all the other conventions such as date and issue number.