Let’s take a look at the Destroyers Soul cover. I loved the previous cover, and there wasn’t much I would change about it, except for the fact that he’s looking away and consistency was one of the goals during the rebrand. The shot should be waist up and facing the camera. Cue intense image search for a model that was similar enough to that beautiful back tattoo on the original cover.
The awesome part was finding this guy! He is “almost” exactly how I envisioned Walt, except more tattoos and more body hair. Sacrifices were made because whoever this model is, he’s tough-looking and has exactly the right contrast of almost no hair on top and a goatee.
Would you believe I almost didn’t pick him because he didn’t have enough tattoos?
Well, that’s where 30 YEARS of Photoshop experience came in handy. I purchased a couple of clip art illustrations, did some modifications, including a remembrance banner for Walt’s father, and went a little crazy getting them in place. You may be able to figure out which of the other two tattoos wasn’t original, but I’m hoping I did a good enough job that it will be a difficult task.
As always, the background gets a detail from the book. On the old cover, the torn fabric was visible on the large text, and broken glass on asphalt was the background detail. Since the torn fabric is MUCH more symbolic for this story (the tearing apart of families and clubs)—It became the backdrop for my fictitious Walt on the cover.
If you squint, you might be able to make out differences in the two sides of the faded fabric. It is only hinted at with colors, but if you’ve read the story, the juxtapositioning of color mottling is deliberate. The change of accent color on the word, “SOUL,” also reflected a choice of “sides” the story revolves around. While I loved the white, it didn’t stand out very well. The original use of white was for surrender or death, versus the blue means freedom. We’re looking ahead, not behind, folks!
The last detail was the addition of the “Hagerstown” text to the bottom rocker. Walt is one pushy guy.
To read Walt’s story, click here.
