Historical fiction book cover designed with restored WWII imagery and vintage ship
Print ready book cover
Untold Story – A Legacy Designed
✍️ By Brenda Johnson
📚 Historical Fiction
A powerful tale of courage and reinvention, *Untold Story* follows a WWII veteran and mother as she boards the *Ranchi* for a voyage that would change her life forever. Arriving in Australia with her husband, she begins anew life – haunted by war, yet determined to build a future.
This cover was designed to evoke a sense of timeless elegance, dignity, and deep personal connection. Blending archival textures, handwritten documents, and subtle vintage tones, the design reflects memory, resilience, and journey.
The layout was intentionally kept clean to allow the restored portrait and ship illustration to take center stage.
The ship featured on the cover, Ranchi, was not easily found. Sourcing a historically accurate image required deep research, but uncovering this rare sketch added a crucial layer of authenticity to the final design.
I need to find a particular that ship as main character came to Australia on that particular vesel.
The final ship sketch was retouched to suit print clarity and thematic tone.
This sketch was made by one of the Ranchi’s crew member! Can you believe it!
The central portrait of the veteran was colourized and restored from a faded photocopy. I had only a photocopy to work with. Here you can see image “before” olready corrected with colour contrast, saturation etc.
This delicate process involved removing damage, image contrast correction and recoloring using historical references from 1940s army uniforms.
I tried to use free online restoration services but I wasn’t happy with outcome so I have to do it myself.
This was a deeply moving project to work on, connecting history, personal legacy, and storytelling through design.
