Recently I decided to update my original Inception book cover for a number of reasons.

I think it resembles an original Penguin book much more accurately now that I’ve adjusted the size and layout to follow the Marber grid, and changed the font to match the original styles. A quick layer of dirt in Photoshop to age its appearance also helped add a bit of texture and realism to the design.

Inspired by my recent post regarding a series of book covers based on famous films, I decided to jump in and give it a go myself.

Since I’m still reeling from the excitement of ‘Inception’ I decided this would be the subject matter for my designs. And since I’m fond of the classic Penguin Books style of books covers, this was my theme. Sorted.

Hopefully the illustration should make sense, particularly to those who’ve seen the film or at least a trailer. In keeping with the stand out element of the city curling in on itself from the trailer and posters, I decided to focus on this for the illustration, but opted to go for a retro, simplistic style, which was common for many Penguin published books from years gone by.

The above design is obviously very similar but I’ve instead opted to use the character Cobb’s dradel as the illustrative element, which is used in the film as a ‘totem’ (a unique object, the exact properties of which only the owner and sole handler knows, which they use upon awakening to ensure they are actually awake and not still within somebody else’s dream).

I’ve recently updated the first design, which you may wish to take a look at; Updated Inception book cover.

If you fancy having a go at creating your own covers, you may be interested in my Penguin book template.

Any thoughts, opinions, or critiques are welcome so feel free to leave a comment. You can also view these on Flickr and comment that way. Be sure to also grab my RSS feed or follow me on twitter to stay up to date with new posts.

I’ll admit, I’m a little slow posting these (over a year too slow it would seem) but great designs are great designs, regardless of age, so I’m bringing them to light again.

Flickr user spacesick has created a number of quaint, retro-inspired book covers based on several famous films. The “I can read movies” flickr set features novelizations of Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Batman Returns to name but a few, all of which use simplistic, recognisable elements from the films in question to illustrate the cover.

If you’ve seen the film then the cover illustrations should make sense to you. If not, just enjoy the cool, retro designs.

It’s well worth checking out spacesick’s blog too.

What do you think of these? Perhaps you know of similar projects? Or maybe you’ve created something in the same vein? Be sure to leave a comment and let me know!

45 freePhotoshop brushes of classic pin up girls with a retro 1950′s appearance.

Why not also take a look at my Alberto Vargas pin up girl brushes too?

*PLEASE NOTE*

I’m afraid these are NOT for commercial use due to me not owning the copyrights to the original images the brushes were created from. Please do not use them for commercial purposes.

Not sure how to install them?

Simply extract the brush_name.abr file to your Photoshop brushes folder, for example;

Windows: /Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop/Presets/Brushes

Mac OS: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop/Presets/Brushes

In Photoshop, from your brushes panel, click the little arrow and choose ‘Load Brushes…’. Simply select the brush file and it should load into your palette.

Enjoy!

This set features 41 raunchy pin up girl images created by the legendary ‘girly picture’ artist Alberto Vargas.

Giving me credit isn’t required but I really appreciate a link back to this page so others can find the brushes, plus I always enjoy getting comments.

If you like these then you may be interested in my similar set, 45 retro pin up girl brushes.

*PLEASE NOTE*

I’m afraid these are NOT for commercial use due to me not owning the copyrights to the original images the brushes were created from. Please do not use them for commercial purposes.

Not sure how to install them?

Simply extract the brush_name.abr file to your Photoshop brushes folder, for example;

Windows: /Program Files/Adobe/Adobe Photoshop/Presets/Brushes

Mac OS: /Applications/Adobe Photoshop/Presets/Brushes

In Photoshop, from your brushes panel, click the little arrow and choose ‘Load Brushes…’. Simply select the brush file and it should load into your palette.

Enjoy!