Making a cover

I just finished up a cover for a new project I'm working on and because it was kind of a battle and I scanned and saved numerous times I figured I would give a run through on the process. Seeing as how I can't really explain the imagery I'm hoping it'll be a quick one.

First I worked up a handful of cover sketches and sent out my favorites. We finally agreed on an image of our main character standing over New York city. In the background would be an actual street map with hands stitching the city together. Then I got to work painting old hands, our hero and drawing (hopefully) recognizable New York buildings.
Then I started putting the pieces together in Photoshop. Playing with the elements, experimenting and trying new things was a lot of fun but ultimately these just weren't working for me.
All the streetlights and glowing billboards became a mess and just didn't work. And with the figure in a profile like that he just didn't command enough attention. It was already too busy and I hadn't even added the stitching and thread yet. So I re-worked the entire design. I went in closer on the figure, muted the city a little bit, added the stitching and loose threads (which for anyone interested were made in illistrator) and changed the hue of the background to more of a green so that the red string would pop out more. I'm much happier now. The logo is still being worked out and a part of me wishes I left more room for it, but I'm confident it'll still work out ok.

And there you go!