Development of an idea

I was originally going to use the cropped mage of James for the front cover of the book. But it really does not have the impact I feel a front cover should have.

Original family group and cropped image

I have been toying with the idea of using it graphically. I have converted it and used it as a mask to make an image of his face being cut out of bricks. I have used two layers, one where I took all the cement out from between the bricks. This image I place over the original wall and used the mask to cut out the brick. I have introduced a shadow to add to the depth of the image.

Wall face

I have played around with text. Originally I used black type, then in the process of making the intro video I have the extended wall with the type cut out. It seems one idea is feeding another. I felt that that idea of cut out letters did not work for the front cover and I made a version using chalk as the text for the cover.

Wall face work outs

Looking at all three I prefer the last one using chalk.