Hi everyone! This is a CD cover design I did for fun and practice. It's a plain photomanipulation work this time, and although I don't very often get to create in this style, I love dark art very much so this one I still keep in good regard.
![BindingRitualsmallJPG.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/rowye/FZXcAm92-Binding-Ritual-small-JPG.jpg)

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The art is inspired by a [song by Samael](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uK6qBpssKQ) and it all started with a stock photo from [Dewfooter](https://www.deviantart.com/dewfooter). This guy has *amazing* stock for medieval characters and it's all free (please still check his rules if you choose to use it). A lot of the artwork is based on heavy use of Analog Efex 2 from the [Nik Collection plug-ins](https://nikcollection.dxo.com/?awc=18165_1596738867_14b80430ea372492718af4e0619a8cdc&utm_source=affiliation&utm_medium=awin) (I'm using an older version that used to be free, and that I believe you can still find legally somewhere in the internets). There aren't that many things that the filters do that you couldn't do yourself in Photoshop but the offer is so large that you would need to know a lot of different techniques. One way or the other, using filters for certain things can just save a lot of time. Since I always use those plug-ins, I generally try stuff with them early in the process. I save that filter setting in a Smart Object so that I can paste the effect over again once I'm ready to test. I could also just save a filter preset instead, but I found quickly that I end up with dozens of them and it's very unhealthy. :D In the process animation the filter isn't visible but for most of the time I worked knowing how what I was doing was going to look like in the final version.
![bindingritualanimation.gif](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/rowye/4QtF5hjm-binding-ritual-animation.gif)

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Here are the stocks I used: https://dewfooter.deviantart.com/art/Black-Death-6-310174129 by Dewfooter https://mjranum-stock.deviantart.com/art/Time-of-the-Dark-K-1-125905154 - 1 by mjranum-stock https://elandria.deviantart.com/art/1923-08-UNRESTRICTED-564262189 by Elandria https://frozenstocks.deviantart.com/art/UNRESTRICTED-Graves-PNG-Files-131571528 by frozenstocks https://frankandcarystock.deviantart.com/art/Snake-443596624 by FrankAndCarySTOCK https://yellowicous-stock.deviantart.com/art/mountain-goat-4-493170811 by yellowicous-stock https://evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/Porto-Cathedral-354016567 by EveLivesey https://cgartiste.deviantart.com/art/Tainted-407405310 by cgartiste https://www.flickr.com/photos/joeross/4571525121 by Joe Ross [https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterscherub/24037457584](https://www.flickr.com/photos/peterscherub/24037457584/in/photolist-DzBH8n-CC7fFS-D8v28q-D283RV-CsDdjL-CCrWzF-DhK6fn-DmERqh-CWSnQ1) by Judy Dean [https://www.flickr.com/photos/grongar/6967655772](https://www.flickr.com/photos/grongar/6967655772/in/photolist-bBH4j5-dUyh6X-8nvCAX-bALNP6-efj4jq-dUyhwn-cg6o4G-pCfwUM-cg5NGY-pUFawg-cg62vy-cg6jj7-bnS6qm-8pzxME-8ENZk9-8pwrHa-8pzwNC-b2hmS4-dxz7c5-a5U8YL-eiKn9d-8Qi6Eb-e9Ncig-b2hdf8-dUyfpk-enXn5R-dxz4HW-8QeY4X-dxtH88-d4u5iw-8WU7nV-d4Fywy-bVPPuh-b2h12i-8pwq58-9C2uEi-bBH6wq-9C5r8h-8EKPSa-9C2uet-9m9vGF-8pwjPz-9C5qZU-b2gGfT-dUDRhq-p1wgwg-pUvfzZ-aAyy34-buM3M3-8vCfSm) by Rebecca Siegel https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulodonnell/5065574165 by Paul O'Donnell
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If you enjoy my art, you can also find me in other sites: Instagram YouTube ArtStation DeviantArt Behance Facebook Twitter Makersplace Prints and more

aguadz