I created the characters as handmade polymer clay sculptures, then photographed them and edited the final image in Photoshop.
This is a book cover for a dark, offbeat horror anthology, so I created the sculptures to be slightly grungy and odd-looking. Working from the author's instructions, I also designed them to be reminiscent of character types in the book. Normally, I would not choose to pair my design style (which skews fun and offbeat) with serious horror writing, but in this case, I felt that using original sculptures and photography would actually compliment the author's decidedly quirky style.
To play down any possible whimsical vibes, and to emphasize that this is a HORROR book, I used a dark color palette with high-contrast photography and added textured typefaces to match its sinister, twisted tone.