The Book Cover!

 I have started finishing my final outcome for the cover. Here are the elements I made to put into practice:

 The figure of the nude woman took me several attempts to achieve the right proportions. I knew what posture to place her in, but the outline of the knight piece kept being restrictive of space as I was drawing within. The rain and the knight outline were fairly standard in comparison; with a few simple scratch lines of pen and ink and a bold outline. With these and the letraset typography I have made an alphabet from, I have designed my first draft of the intended outcome. Behold!

 As you can see, I have kept an ongoing theme throughout each side of the cover (including the spine) with the element of the knight piece's bold shape. Being such a prominent symbol within the story, I thought it appropriate to repeat it like this. In the front and back, it is presented almost like a window for the woman and the blurb against the rain. On the spine it looks like a logo. The black background on the front and back emphasise the knight's clear white shape. The same applies to the spine except with the reversed effect.

 The fragmented Helvetica letraset proved to be successful in channelling across the context; that the novel involves crime and a detective inevitably trying to place back the pieces of the puzzle. The rain adds to this effect also because it symbolizes the corruption within the book and also makes the typography look weathered. The rest of the typography used (the quote, blurb etc.) were typed within Photoshop and were chosen for their aesthetic purposes, but mainly because they are far more legible as opposed to the original letraset type.

 The composition on the front runs accordingly as the type circulates around the edge of the knight piece. The same applies on the back but within the shape. The blurb displays careful attention in keeping an equal distance from both sides of the knight shape. It runs along with the shape and even magnetizes towards it when the shape outline expands again (as you read it downwards).

 The main focus within the cover is obviously the woman within the knight piece on the front side. As I expressed, I desired for her back to be on show and her face to potentially peak over the shoulder to show her coy nature. This displays innocence, but at the same time she displays sex appeal, due to her being nude. This then leads onto where her arms are positioned. She reaches for the mouth of the knight piece, which is a symbol of Philip Marlowe (the detective) as though she wishes to control it. That is my main source of context: the power the women victor over the men. The woman within the knight piece could also symbolize that she is playing a game with Marlowe.

 I think I have achieved my intentions well here. My development lead me to something that seemed correct throughout all the progress.