Title: Prototype X Cover Client: Darren Partridge Type: Cover Medium: Digital Software: Adobe Photoshop Year: 2003
The client’s exact words regarding his requirements for the cover illustration were as follows:
"I have the insistent image of a front cover for Prototype-X1 involving the synthesised elements of a sabre-rotored Cierva C30 autogyro darting like a quicksilver dace through a pale azure background, combined with a winter dawn (photographic) image of the ruins of Ripley Priory."
I had my work cut out for me, to be sure.
I worked closely with Darren (despite the massive expanse of ocean that lay between us) over the course of several weeks as we massaged his original idea into what you see here. A photograph of the Ripley Priory gave way to a centuries-old woodcut. The autogyro was slowed down and given a slight “blueprint” treatment. Icons were added. The result remains one of my favorite pieces to this day.