Before Digital Magic: Secrets to Creating a Legendary Cover Without Photoshop

Today it is difficult to imagine a photo without retouching and processing in graphic editors. Any photo can be improved: remove unnecessary things, add filters, make an ideal background. Of course, masterpieces of photographic art were created long before the appearance of Photoshop in 1990, and professional designers knew how to work with images without resorting to digital technologies.

One of the iconic works of the pre-Photoshop era was the cover of the album Island Life by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released in 1985.

The photograph itself, which became the basis for the design, was taken back in 1977 (don't believe Wikipedia, which claims that the photograph is from 1978, but look at the date in the lower left corner of the scan) and was first published in the August issue of New York magazine. See what one of the originals looked like and compare it with what became.

The author of the photo was the French designer, photographer and director of advertising films Jean-Paul Goude. Looking at the original photo, you can see that even the incredibly slender Grace Jones looked different in it. This is explained by the complex process of creating the image, which included combining several frames, manual retouching and adjusting elements.

Work on such an image began with an idea and a carefully thought-out photo shoot. After the shoot, the photographer selected the necessary elements from which a single image was created. The photos were cut out manually and edited into a single composition. Then came retouching, which allowed smoothing the transitions between different parts of the frame. The final stage was working on the background, which added expressiveness and completeness to the photo.

Here you can take a closer look at the pieces from which the finished photo was assembled.

And here is the finished masterpiece, after the retoucher’s work.

In the same 1977, the legendary photograph was used in Grace Jones' video for the song "La Vie en Rose".

Since its release, the Island Life cover has become an iconic image that has spawned countless imitations. People around the world have attempted to replicate Grace Jones' pose, despite the fact that her anatomically impossible position was achieved through editing. The image has subsequently been used in advertising campaigns and photo projects.

Moreover, some imitators bother with editing and even imitate the album cover. Celebrities were also inspired by this shot.

In 2010, model Amber Rose, a friend of Kanye West, recreated the image of Grace Jones.

French photographer Joanna Lorenzo captured model Adja Kaba for a colorful magazine spread.

In 2014, former Miss America Kenya Moore, aged 43, took part in a photo shoot in which one of the photos replicated the iconic Grace Jones photo.

In August 2015, TV presenter Chloe Madeley re-created the photo for Fabulous magazine.

Grace Jones's photograph inspired not only imitators, but also creators of music albums.

But the cover of "Island Life" was not the only one. When the album was reissued, the background of the photo was changed, which gave the image a new character and an interesting contrast.

Additionally, the cover of Kylie Minogue's 2001 album Fever clearly references the work of Jean-Paul Goude, using similar visual techniques.

By the way, photographer Jean-Paul Goude took at least one more photograph in 1977, but it was much less popular.

The iconic image remains a landmark example of how photography and creativity can create iconic visuals without the use of digital technology. Do you think modern covers could look as impressive without Photoshop?