Throwback! I've been thinking of doing this for awhile. This chapter will show the evolution of my editing skills; the good, the bad & the ugly. I'm pretty proud of what I can do today, but in the past, I was pretty horrible. Extremely horrible.

Let's take a look at one of the first covers I ever made for myself:

Saved on December 7th, 2014. It's in a folder titled "really bad old covers" otherwise known as the hall of cringe. It hurts to look at.

This. Oh God, I remember being so damn proud of this. It was the best thing I'd ever made at the time. Believe it or not, this was actually made before Virus. I really took a step back with that train wreck. I still feel like this has potential with less brushes & a colouring; too bad I never saved things as PSD files back then, so I can't fix it.

This was made November 30th, 2014 & was probably the best thing I ever made in 2014-2015. The drop shadow will forever haunt me, but I love the demon look & I actually took a few ideas from this & remade them into a new cover a few days ago.

This was made May 10th, 2015. I was getting a little better, discovering more of Photoshop's features, but it's still making me cringe.

This was made on a six hour drive to PEI, July 7th, 2015. I still didn't know what a colouring was & refused to let go of drop shadows. I discovered textures though! ...But I didn't really know how to use them.

I made this for my friend on October 1st, 2015. Still clinging to drop shadows, but improving.

This was probably one of the first good things I made. October 23, 2015. I know it's not the best, but I'm still proud of it to this day. It was for 's story, Dead Hearts.

Bit of a time gap since I lost my Photoshop for awhile (laptop broke, had to buy a new one, couldn't figure out how to get it free without getting a virus so I ended up buying it). June 7th, 2016. The drop shadow has made a return.

Also June 7th, 2016. A colouring! Crappy text placement & too much lightning, but progress.

No drop shadow? A colouring? A decent background? Holy shit. June 20th, 2016.

August 23, 2016. Entered into a contest under a different name. Didn't win/place, but still extremely proud.

August 27th, 2016. Inspired by my old Grim Reaper cover.

And lastly, my banner. August 28th, 2016. While I still haven't mastered the art of making my own colourings (I get 99% of mine from Deviantart), I have come a long way & am so proud of myself. I know I'm not the best, I doubt I ever will be, but I'm happy with what I can do.

It may take a lot of cringe along the way, but the more you do it the better you get. Don't delete your old "cringey" works, keep them & look back on them, be inspired to do better. I look back on Virus & things I make now look like they belong in a museum (until I take a stroll through other graphic designers' books & return to reality).

I'll probably look back on this chapter someday & cringe at the last few.