Repulsive Graphics [CFCU]

17🔸 Midnight Moon + Fantasy Rant

I've been doing some research on fantasy covers just because they get requested a lot and I want to be able to make quality ones. Back when I first started learning, I decided to Google "fantasy book covers". You know what I got?

A dress. A girl. And a primary color.
OR
A hooded person. A sword. And a dragon.

Now the second option doesn't bother me as much, but the first one tilts me off the face of the planet. 50+ covers of some blonde chick wearing an expensive gown that probably doesn't exist in her time period.

I understand why they're so repetitive. It's a formula that works, BUT! I think as designers, we should be pushing for change and new mediums as opposed to constantly staying in the "tried and true" areas. Like all good writing, there has to be something different and stand-out-ish about the design.

End of rant.

The Request:
-a girl in a cloak
-fantasy
-forest
-blues, browns, and dark shades
-moon and stars

--Challenge Accepted!--

Design Process: 2-3 hours (w/naps)

So this is the base picture. It's got the girl, the cloak, trees, and enough space to lay our text over. Problem is: the color scheme reminds me of vomit.

First thing I did was change the cloak from blue to red via the color adjustment curves. To get rid of the vomit colors, I desaturated the rest of the background so it becomes a grayscale pic.