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Yah the author's font looks fine. I think Kath had mentioned having one san serif and one serif is a commmon technique some posts back. The only reason I mentioned the blue font, is it feels very regular and ordinary. It's basically a stamp stencil type of font. But your title is Hive Queen. It might be my gaming background, but I associate the word "hive" with AliensvsPredator and ResidentEvil. I would be expecting a scifi type fonts that has an otherworldly feel to it, Now the second font you chose, with the grunged surface is already better, because it suggests conflict.
And THIS is why I like photoshop. Okay, Okay it's one of the reasons I like photoshop. More testing here, this is a render I already uploaded; but I kinda like how it came out on the cover. I do have a question regarding tag lines though: how long are they normally?
Where the hell did this thread come from? More importantly, where was I when this thread started! Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad I found this. As a writer who turned to DAZ Studio five years ago to build avatars of my characters . . . it’s been a long road.
This thread is packed with so much useful information, so much sharing. Kathryn, why didn’t you start this thread last fall? HA-HA!
You, and the other contributors, have covered topics from designing an eye-catching cover, to the different types of font one can utilize, to I-Ray settings, what it like to be a full time author, to what artists charge for designing covers, the ramifications to having a bad cover, and many other areas. It has taken me a couple of hours to read every post from page one, and it was mentioned earlier about the need for writer’s to not only design a good, attention getting book cover, but to also have a decent trailer as well. With that said, I would like to respectfully join this discussion and maybe discuss what makes a good trailer. Here’s a trailer that I was able to complete to promote my novel, The Blood of the Empire, utilizing DAZ Studio and Poser 10—and a heavy dose of After Effects.
Xavier Leggett
Hi Xavier, I haven't seen Kathryn around for a couple days, but I'm sure she'll give you a warm welcome when she get's back. Until then, we'll make do. So glad to have you join and post up. I watched your trailer and had a couple of questions for you as an author (hope you don't mind). How long do you typically make your trailers? How do you decide what you will put in it? How do you use it (advertising wise)? Do you have it on your website? On Amazon? How do you connect your potential readers with your book from the trailer?
As manne said, welcome Xavier, hopefully Kath will be back soon to share the wisdom, I think Book Trailers are definitely something worth talking about. I've heard some people claim they're a waste of time and money, and others who think they're all the rage. As with most things, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle. They can certainly introduce your book to other potential readers through other markets. If they're short and focused, and introduce the story and protagonist, much like a movie trailer does, there is probably benefit in using them. I'd also be curious to know if its possible to track their advertising benefit to sales?
Manne I like that mockup, of the covers, is that a template?
It is a photoshop action. So (for anyone who doesn't know what that means) basically, you get a mockup template which is flat, fit your cover art to it, and run the action and it renders the mockup in 3d.
Hello _manne_ and First Bastion,
Thanks for your comments.
In making that particular trailer, it usually takes several weekends to render all of the scenes that I'll need. Some of the scenes are planned in a very meticulous manner, while others are quite accidental. When I render individual scenes, they're between 3-9 seconds long, but when I make the trailer I may only use 1.5 to 2 seconds of each scene. So far, I've uploaded the trailer onto Youtube--not very many viewers, so far--and I play it while I attend science fiction conventions as a vendor. It definitely attachs attention--but most people think the trailer is a video game that I'm promoting and not a sci fi novel! I don't have it on my website just yet--in fact I'm going to give The Blood of the Empire's website a major upgrade. The video is on Amazon and as for further marketing efforts--I'm totally clueless on how to precede. But I'm very glad to be here. My sequel, The Furies of the Empire is coming out in September, and I working on it's cover now, as well as another trailer. In the next trailer, I want a voiceover--not my voice of course--and I want the characters to speak. When I get back from my day job, I'll upload The Furies of the Empire cover for ya'll to skewer! HA!
Xavier
Holy cow guys - I'm here and alive and most importantly - I HAVE INTERNET ACCESS!!!!
My son and I traveled to Arizona to visit my mom. I thought I lived in the sticks - Mom has that title hands down. The only way to get online is through a wifi set up - which I have - I just didn't realize it would take an act of congress to get it working! So I'm here and I have got a crap ton of catch up to do - here and we won't even talk about how insane my email is. I've got stuff to post too! Anyway, hopefully I can bug you guys like crazy again. lol!
Cheers,
Kath
Heya First! I'm only seeing a little bit larger than thumbnail size when I click on the image but from what I can see thus far it looks great! The title and author name are definitely readable as a thumbnail. But the devil's in the details as they say. ;) I think it looks great so far!
I'm sorry Manne - but I can't resist. . .
"It's an eeeeemmmmmeeeerrrrr-genceeeeeeeeee innnnnn-duction port."
"It's a straw, Tali."
Yup - hun - first thought was Mass Effect here - not sure if that's what you were going for or not.
So if you want to bring to mind Mass Effect, Tali, and the Rachni Wars of that franchise - well that's the first thing I thought of, but that might just be me. hehe!
But to keep from jumping around here - let me comment on font. Yes, in a couple of art classes, there was a touch on "graphic arts" in regard to font and using contrasting font styles adds some pop. Well here, this is similar to what I got hit with. lol!
Since everything is the same color - all you have to contrast is the font. So what types of fonts contrast more to you guys?
Then our next choice was something like this -
Now to me - still not a lot of help here but this is what I was told to do if I wasn't sure about the font. Try all the same color to see if any contrast on their own. If you're still having a tough time, try a variety of colors.
Now I need to mention the tracking of the font -
The second Hive Queen has 180pt tracking
The fourth Hive Queen has 200pt tracking
The space between the letters goes a long way to help contrast as well because script or serif types are typically closer together. None of the "author name" fonts have tracking.
Tag lines depend on space - typically they're standard font (times new roman italic). They can be a quote from the book, a reviewer comment, a famous author comment, all sorts of stuff.
Some of my tag lines - "They believe he made a deal with the devil . . . Now the devil demands his due . . ." that was for Demon Laird. It's sequel, Shadowed Hawk had the tag line "There will be hell tae pay . . ." and y'all probably remember the one from Mist Warrior. On my original Mist Warrior print covers I have on back a quote from a review from a professional magazine, "Five Star review and awarded the Crowned Heart for Excellence. "Readers won't be disappointed with this riveting Highland historical!" - InD'tale Magazine" because I had some awkward white space I needed to fill and that worked nicely.
So a bunch of things you can do.
And for anyone looking for free Photoshop actions for stuff like Manne did I found a lot of mine at http://www.psdcovers.com/ I also have a little how to video on how I use one of their greeting card actions to make a book box set if anyone wants an idea of how they work.
Hello Xavier! Soooo very sorry for the delay in welcoming you to our fun thread! So glad you could join us. Please grab a chair - I just got another stack of folding chairs and they're in the corner over there. Snacks are on the counter and it's BYOB (Bring your own beverage as you so desire.) But if alcohol related then hand over the keys unless you have a DD.
This thread is getting quite a few pages but if you read through all of the posts (that deserves a medal right there) I'm sure you've realized I'm basically 10lbs of crazy in a 5lbs bag - so another medal for courage is due (that goes to everyone participating in this thread as well as medals of valor for putting up with me for so long. hehe!)
You do have to keep an eye on all of us though because we ninja post - which is probably why you didn't find the thread until now.
Seriously though, welcome my friend so glad you could join us - it's wonderful to hear from another author/artist. I enjoyed your trailer and After Effects is what I use too - in fact that got me started on this insanity because C4D Lite comes with it.
First while I really liked your trailer, if I may comment on some observations. A trailer be it book or movie, should be treated like a commercial. There's the 15 sec spot, the 30, the 60 and the super-bowl halftime commercial length. The thing about a movie trailer - because they filmed the movie, they have access to all of those fun clips to mish-mash together. We have the scenes but have to make the clips. But even a 15 sec stinger needs a beginning, middle and end. Yours started off fantastic but then I got a little lost toward the middle. Cuts and fades also need to be bang on with music. Your choice of music was awesome and the original piece is public domain but it's so iconic for an SF movie I'm not sure if you want to compete with the "stereotype" and all Space Oddessy brings to mind.
And I need to check my data usage on my wifi to make sure I can post my own pics for y'all. I've got more but this time I really will be forced to keep 'em short and sweet. hehe! More laters!
Cheers,
Kath
Good to hear from you. I was getting ready to send out the hounds, but away they go back into the kennel.
My condolences on the poor Internet connectivity.
Actually, although I probably shouldn't admit it, I have never played mass effect nor; until you just posted, even taken a look at the mass effect artwork.
(I know crazy right?)
Ok I've been looking at the thumbnails of the fonts you posted to determine readability on the thumbnail. From that perspective, I like the 3rd and 4th fonts best. Do you happen to have their names?
hehe - well, I was getting close to sending up a flare. At least you didn't have to unleash the hounds. ;)
Okay kiddo - we need to talk about Mass Effect then because you're artwork and even the Hive Queen are pretty much spot on for it. I believe you when you say you haven't checked out the game until now, but one thing I learned when I first started writing with the intent to publish - if you think of the idea, guaranteed that a kazillion others have also. The numbers start working in your favor when you go from thinking about the idea to putting pen to paper, to producing an actual professional quality work be it the written word or visual art. Considering the popularity of Mass Effect this could work in your favor or like I questioned about Xavier's trailer and the Space Oddessey theme, it might overshadow the book - coming across as something akin to fanfic which you do not want. (If it is fanfic just make sure that it is not being sold. You don't want your artwork associated with a copyright bruhaha.)
The third and fourth fonts of the Hive Queen titles or just the top down? Here - how about this:
I can zip any of these up and send them on - they're either free on Dafont.com or Google Web Fonts.
1
Okay I think I've got something worth posting here... finally!
First about the dark armor image - like Manne said, there are reasons why I love photoshop. Most probably already know these but just in case, I'll share my four BEST EVER adjustments!!! lol! They're quick and easy and are usually enough to get the image to the point where you can see if you want to put more time into correcting light or color.
The first is under the Levels adjustment - under Presets on the pull down menu - LIGHTEN SHADOWS.
Then I do a second Levels adjustment - again under Presets - MIDTONES BRIGHTER
At this point it can start looking pretty washed out so a VIBRANCE adjustment usually does the trick. This can work in conjuction with a CURVES adjustment for contrast but that's not always necessary.
If you really want to muck about a HSL adjustment layer might give you some interesting results but honestly, I want to mention my favorite adjustment is the COLOR LOOKUP. Here's a screen shot of the panel.
The 3DLut pull down has the most options. I bring this up because out of all the tutorials I've encountered, only one with Deke's Techniques remotely mentions this little resource and if you've never messed with it - jump in and have fun because there are tons of effects you can get. But they also have saved film color values. I went with the Kodak 5218 Kodak 2383 for this image but they have all sorts to choose from.
So I brightened up the image without losing any color quality and don't just stop at the 3DLut try the abstract and device link pull down options as well. Anyway I think it's worth mentioning in case folks haven't messed with it. But as you can see while I have the image nice and bright the background has some major dithering issues. and the chainmail - well - it's a nightmare. So we're going with genre expectation here and no shirt.
These two turned out okay all things considered - but then I rendered the horse and Talon separately and I think the combined image is the best.
And lets see what else - oh I'm thinking of entering this one into the newbie contest - what do y'all think?
The textures for the hair and of course the cloak I completely customized, the peacock feathers are actually a new brush "set" I'm in the process of developing to get the variety of colors rather than a single "stamp" image with one color.
So that's what sort of trouble I've been into lately.
Oh and for Xavier and anyone else who might not have seen some of these - this link will go to my photobucket album where I did some video "trailers" http://s245.photobucket.com/user/kathrynloch/library/Book%20Trailers%20-%20WIP%20incomplete Two of the videos don't have thumbnails - stupid photobucket - but they are there and will play. The #5 video "Teaser Trailer for Youtube - justforfun3.mp4" has some artistic nudity in it.
Let me know what y'all think!
here are a repost of a couple versions 800x 800. I agree the blue font style gets lost against the sky, I also tried it with gold as well but the white contrasts the best, but fonts are a layer and easily changed I'm sure. Plus that particular font, though I like it alot, has no commercial license available anywhere, I know cause I looked for it, I would have happily paid $50 for it, though it is available free for personal use and a visualization mock up like this, so it will certainly be changing in the end.
Looks great! Although I have to admit I like the image with the blue font better because it's pulled in tighter to the subject - the white is backed off just a tiny bit.
That font looks an awful lot like the Ringbearer font which has no commercial license. I keep telling myself that one of these days I'm going to create my own at Paintfont.com when I get time - yeah, right, time. lol!
Yup it is Ringbearer by Pete Klassen copyright 2002, can not be used commercially. Still a great looking font.
http://www.thehutt.de/tolkien/fonts/ringbearer/readme.html
Kathryn ... can I have a date with that fine guy? Preferably without his horse stamping around ...
hehe - sure! One hot date is just a click away - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008ZR7OPO at least the ebook is. The print audiobook are forthcoming. ;)
And Ebon is actually a good pony - at least compared to the one that nearly gets him a broken arm. lol!
Glad you like him - think I should enter the portrait contest?
Absolutely! Take him to fame!
Btw: Nothing against your published book, but I like the rougher guy in this thread better.
Saw good potential with both the Phoenix trailer, and the animated sequence with the guy jumping the walls and fighting. I liked how the camera followed the action.
Cool! Thanks, First! I appreciate it. I actually have more elements to the animated sequence but maya was getting too complex for me to put everything together. Maybe I can try finishing it in DAZ. I've got the obligatory grunts that attack all at once and can't fight their way out of a wet paperbag so the hero just sticks his fist out there and they run into it with their faces. lol! We'll see what I can do.
New cover art test. I'll tell you one thing, I desperately need to increase the number of fonts I use. DaFonts and Google web fonts the best sites for this? Let me know what you guys think of the readablity. I left it at thumbnail size, but even though I've increased the longest side to 2500 per Amazon's instructions, this still seems a little thin to me at 1563px. Is that a correct thumbnail size?
I think this is looking better and better. What kind of background are you putting him in with this shot?
Just as an aside I got the iray leather shaders recently, for fashion leathers. It has several types of shaders rather than just the default Iray leather shader. I'm liking them.
I think the cover looks pretty good, overall. My only concern is that the cover art is a little too dark. Maybe it's done this way on purpose, because of the raging flames in the background--you'd get that intense shadow effect with the characters in the foreground. However, it may be too dark for a printed edition of the book. I know this from experience--if something looks just a tad dark on a computer monitor, it's going to look damn near pitch black when it's printed--I know this from experience.
The fonts look good. I can read the name of the author and the title of the book on the thumbnail.
Xavier
Whoa. Createspace should have a color depth of 256 colors, if I'm understanding your question correctly.
This following thread is what I mean by a cover design coming out too dark:
http://booksat.scarlettrugers.com/bookcoverdesign/why-did-my-book-print-so-dark-from-createspace/
You might find the answers you seek here:
https://createspace.com/en/community/thread/25597
https://www.createspace.com/en/community/thread/22322?start=0&tstart=0
I hope those links help ya'.
Xavier
Okay ebook on KDP and print books on Createspace are two different things.
For ebook the colors need to be RGB - Not CMYK or sRGB and it needs to be 72 dpi because that's the standard for web viewing and that's how everyone sees the covers on Amazon. You can only submit JPG or TIFF and keep the compression down to a minimum.
Createspace wants 300 dpi - note I'm using DPI - dots per inch - not the Photoshop pixels/inch. Because Createspace produces a print book you need to go with the industry standard of 300 dots per inch (not a color depth of 256). They should use CMYK color too but they don't - RGB only as well. I don't know how they do it because 300 dpi but RGB seems contradictory. They want 24 bit color - i.e. 8 bits per channel and there are 3 channels = 24. You need to create a PDF for a createspace cover and upload it that way for the best results. One of my most colorful covers is Highlander's Hope. When I put any of my books on Createspace I always order one or two copies for myself to keep on hand. I got Highlander's Hope and the colors were amazingly brilliant. Very, very vibrant - it's hands down the prettiest cover - in regard to color quality - I've ever done. Even on the previews you can see the difference but it was the exact same image that I uploaded for both front covers and viewing it on a monitor doesn't give the colors any vibrance when compared to looking at it in real life.
Okay back to ratio and that fun stuffs!
So I keep different saved presets for Photoshop ebook and print. Trade paperback size and mass market paperback size for print and I used those to figure out the ebook cover size.
The specs can get tricky because you're dealing with ratios which is not an exact measurement. The ratio Amazon wants for ebooks is 8:5 (1.6) and I hate freaking dealing with ratios! When Amazon first came out with this "high res" crap - their help pages hadn't been updated in detail. We were all guessing and trying to figure out pixels and measurements. Because other retailers also adopted something like this and Smashwords doesn't get all that specific either, I figured out this system and saved the presets for myself. Turns out a lot of folks did the same thing.
Base everything off of the known - the print book - in order to get the proper ratio for the ebook. There is no "trim size" for ebooks. That's why Amazon doesn't give you specific pixels except the 2500 and figuring out a ratio is always a pain unless you know how to use the GCD function and the ampersand in an Excel spreadsheet formula.
So let's start with what is known and the 6x9 trade paperback.
So here's my saved preset for a new image in Photoshop
Note color profile too - that's what I've heard was a good one to stick with.
Click okay and now you have a new image.
Go to Image/Image size and you should see something like this.
Okay I've got the Dimensions at the top in pixels, the Width x Height ratio locked and reporting in Inches and of course 300 pixels inch.
There's different ways to do this but here's two options - first change Inches to Percent for width and height then in Resolution change 300 to 72.
And notice my dimensions went all crazy - no worries - just change the percent back to 100. OR before you change the resolution uncheck the Resample box. Both work.The biggest thing is to make sure your Dimensions above stay at 1800 x 2700 px if you uncheck the Resample box or they return to those numbers when you enter 100 percent.
Now change your width and height to pixels. ( Recheck the resample box if you unchecked it or you can't choose pixels option and make sure the width x height aspect is locked)
Since height is our longest side change that to 2500 pixels and now look at your dimensions
And look at that! The pixel dimensions now this accurately translates the ratio.
For mass market size start with 5x8 inches, repeat above process, and here's your end result -
If you google " Amazon ebook cover ratio" - you'll hit all sorts of stuff and most of them talk about starting with the print dimension and letting the computer figure out the pixels from there. Just like the above. That way you don't have to bust out your Excel spreadsheets from back in the day when you were an accounting manager to figure this stupid stuff out. lol! Did I mention that I HATE ratios? Did I also mention I now earn more on my books than I did as an accounting manager? I don't want to go back to the accounting job, I like my writing job thank you. hehe! But the spreadsheets do come in handy for the biz stuff and Uncle Sam. lol!
Oh here's Amazon's info page on ebooks https://kdp.amazon.com/help?topicId=A2J0TRG6OPX0VM
So try that Manne and your cover should look more in proportion.
I love the cover and the thumbnails - yes the text is readable but that font is kinda spindly - my personal preference is if it had just a little bit more thickness to it - not much - not a bold but a semi-bold maybe.
As for Talon I entered him in the protrait contest and I just quick painted up a background that is just sorta meh - but I was running out of time - literally lol! Now for the actual cover on the audiobook that part remains to be seen because I'm still working with Talon and Ebon combined plus the above shot to see which one I like better or perhaps even combine the two. Dunno yet but I'll post some updates on those soon.
OH leather shaders - okay on Deviant Art Tom has the iray car paint shaders - they also include some leather and those are the ones I've been using like on the horse's saddle and the leather straps of the armor. They are pretty cool and free.
What colors he doesn't have because they might not be the classic car color you can tweak on your own easily. I'd love to check out the ones in the shop tho.
Google Web Fonts and Dafont are the place to start. Anything that comes with Adobe Creative Cloud and Typekit or if you purchased your copy of Photoshop, the fonts that come with it are free and clear to use for ebooks, grafics and so on. You have to watch it with ebooks because many font foundries will limit you on books that can be printed or sold - which is ridiculous. The stock images and fonts are getting to the point that if I run into a vendor placing demands like that - I walk the other way because there's high quality stuff that's a heck of a lot cheaper than the hundreds of dollars these traditional font foundries want for a limited print or ebook run, and their terms of use are a lot more flexible. If you want sticker shock,google Typekit and get the prices. Don't worry I won't let you hit the floor when you fall over. lol! Honestly, I don't use Typekit hardly at all and I stick with Google Webfonts and DaFont. If you go through KDP's cover creator - you will see all Google webfonts available. I've purchased a couple of Celtic fonts from Scriptorium those were on sale and were under $100.
WHEW! okay I think that's everything so far!
Let me know if you have questions!
Ok guys I changed the font to something thicker. I attached a copy to the previous post so both thumbnails appear for comparision. I also attached a copy here in case people don't want to scroll.