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Comments
She still looks distinctively "3D." The light shining almost directly from the camera at her really hammers down this interpretation as it's similar to the "default headlamp" render newbies to DAZ characters do a lot of. Eyes need work to look less plastic there's no reflection in them except the main light which gives the impression alternately of dead eyes or a dead scene.
The background and he headress/hair are very passable as non-3D. The clothing is inbetween, the materials are nice but to really look like clothing it needs real wrinkles at bends.
I would tweak a bit more in photoshop. What looks 3d to me is her facial structure. She is stylized no getting around it.
I would suggest you take the whole image into photoshop and run the Nik collection sunlight filter. It will make the skin look better and add some bloom to it. I think you will like the results.
Thanks for the feedback agent unawares
Serene Night, thanks for the tip on the sunlight filter! I have been using classical soft focus and glamour glow, didn't try sunlight because I remembered it having a very yellow cast - tried it again and realized you could change the "sunlight" color. The image was already flattened so it blew out the light areas in my background (I masked it off there a bit to bring detail back) but I do really like the effect on the skin.
I thought you'd like that. Looks much better with a warmer tone like that.
@angstyg These look really good. I like how they all look like they go together which is good for a series.
{Putting on my CV hat here} One request - can you go in and edit the size of you image? The forum likes to have the all images at width no larger than 800 px. Just click the gear to edit your post, right click on your image and select Image Properties. When the popup box comes up change the width to 800 px. Thank you.
I look forward to seeing what you can do with covers with Daz props. :)
@deathbycanon - the change you made with serene’s advice worked perfectly.
Those look so stunning, DBC!!!! You wouldn't even know you didnt make the first one, too. Those are always tricky, picking up the threads of someone else's design. It's very cohesive, though. I really love that third one.
Sorry about the image size @Knittingmommy ! I've never posted on before, whoops. Edited.
Thanks Worlds_edge that's what I love about this place, we are always helping each other learn more!
Thanks angstyg, it's been a lot of fun. The last one was the hardest. Originally I did the sword for the last one, and then he wanted to replace the existing book two with the sword, so I had to come up with a different idea. I came up with flames in a hand, but then did a version with magic also because I was getting the impression he didn't want to go with flames. He liked the magic, but then asked if I could do someone being healed instead. I had no idea how to make someone look like they were being healed!!!! lol Anyway, that's what I find the most fun, the challenge of doing something I wouldn't otherwise try.
Deathbycanon: one final quickee you can do. Take the image back in photoshop. Put a new layer in there. Turn layer mode to screen. Get a small round brush with 100 percent white. Go zoom in on the eyes and add some white over the eye reflections. The white specks in her pretty green eyes will pop more and I think this will enhance the reflections there.
Thanks for the tip again Serene Night. I always use a dodge and burn layer and hit the eyes on that, but I just finished watching a video, like 2 minutes ago, that showed someone painting the entire eye area white then putting the layer on screen mode, very cool effect!
ETA: I take it back they used overlay mode. It lightned everything but looked very cool
A couple of covers created for tutorials and as examples of different types of branding and the building of templates.
These are great I love that vintage look
I've liked every bookcover from the Yellow Jacket series you've posted through this thread. There's a retro feel them yet there's a familiarity with the content used that make them modern as well.
I really like the use of the blocks of color on those, and I do love the retro feel to them as well.
OK, somebody talk with me about the text layout aspect of book cover design. This is what I've got right now. I think it's good? But maybe it's not.
Hi, I've taken a look at smaller thumbnail sizes and find that my eye is always drawn to the author's name, while the title fails to stand out against the darker part of the cover. The type is clear but it is not very heavy, so you need to rely on contrast to make it pop.
I wonder if it would be worth trying the name on a single line at the top, with the title in white and at a larger size along the bottom.
This particular font is very weak and difficult to see at thumbnail size and the title's dark color gets lost against the image behind it. Perhaps an option to make it BOLD could work. Add a glow or drop shadow effect to it, would also give it some weight. The title would also get stronger if it filled the top of the image. As Phil mentioned there's a lot more space at the bottom of the image, the author's name could be stretched across the image also. When it comes to title text and font, position, colors, it's worth trying 5-6 different variations and then see which one feels the best and gets the best reaction from others. Knittingmommy got a whole bunch of suggestions once for fonts on a banner. lots of variables at play, size, position, contrast, overall composition and design
It's nice to waste time on a Sunday and so I did - messing around with book covers, listening to more Jago and Litefoot and the new Cecilia Bartoli album. That's what I call a really nice afternoon.
I did three of these but this was the best of them.
dreamfarmer said:
OK, somebody talk with me about the text layout aspect of book cover design. This is what I've got right now. I think it's good? But maybe it's not.
This image has been resized to fit in the page. Click to enlarge.
I love the cover @dreamfarmer but the font does not grab me. Of course that is a very subjective thing, but to me it looks a bit "childish" - and I'm not sure why. Perhaps look into genre specific fonts - google "fantasy fonts" etc and see if there is a font with more weight and presence that might also work?
my eye keeps getting drawn towards the strange, brightly coloured, section behind the figure. It seems out of place to me.
I know nothing of the story, but, that brightness may be intentional and suggests, given the character's hand pose, that she brings colour, beauty and life into the world. Thematically perhaps, it should draw your attention. That's what I get from it, atleast.
Hi philebus,
I've just discovered this thread, and your pulp covers. Very nicely done! The whole Yellowjacket series I have seen so far is true to the pulp genre, and super clever. I hope that you make many more.
I assume that you are using Photoshop brushes to give the books their aged look? Any brushes or products that you recommend? Or, do you make your own?
I did this pulp cover in a Carrara Challenge a while back (didn't win anything). Most of it was done using Carrara's NPR engine, with some grunge and highlights in PSE.
Hi - I love your Dell First Edition, the colours and composition are spot on. One handy feature in PSE you might want to try adding to this is the colour halftone - its in the filters. Create a duplicate layer and apply the halftone effect (I used the default settings but you might want to adjust them for the size of your image) and then reduce the opacity to about 7%. The result is close enough to the genuine article and doesn't lose too much detail.
The wear and tear on my own covers is a bit of a mix. I have a display template with four prepared layers - two are edgewear, one is stains, and the other is scratches. The edgewear layers were created by scanning a couple of old paperbacks (try to find ones with dark covers - it will make this job much easier) and then, taking one at a time, carefully select all of the edge damage before inverting the selection and deleting everything else (doing this to two covers gives you a bit of variation - you can either choose one or the other or combine them, deleting some overlapping features as you prefer).
The stain and scratch layers were created using some Rons brushes, which are sold here at DAZ. Each has more stains and scratches than I need - I just delete what I don't want for that cover, sometimes selecting elements to move about a bit.
Like you, I also use PSE and the one thing I will say about it is that it doesn't handle text very well (of course, that might have changed - I'm using a PSE8 which is a bit old now). I will often set the type in GIMP, which handles the job a bit better (paricularly as it allows you to alter the kerning, which PSE8 doesn't).
Hey philebus, thanks for the comments! I will definitely try that halftone filter at 7% the next time I do a pulp cover. Sometimes halftone is overdone, but a little is a good idea.
So, you did it yourself. I'm still pretty new to this PSE stuff - had it about 6 months, switching from Gimp - but I think I understand. Thanks for the directions!
I started collecting Ron's materials several months ago. Good stuff.
Most of the text in my image was done directly in Carrara. It has a very useful text creator/editor, although it is not as easy to use as PSE.
Interesting, I'm also using PSE 8. It was my introduction to Photoshop, and I love it. However there was a PSE filter I wanted to use, and it would not load in anything before PSE 11. So, I took advantage of the recent Thaksgiving sale at Adobe and picked up PSE 2018 for $60. I haven't loaded it yet, but I feel like I will now be set for years to come. And hopefully I will discover those text benefits as well. :)
Again, I just wanted to thank you for posting those covers. I get the feeling that not many people here appreciate those old pulp covers and artists. Glad you do!
I'd be really interested in hearing how you get on with the new PSE - should I manage to sort out a new computer in the new year, then I'll be looking to upgrade from the version I have. I've been looking at Affinity Photo at the moment but want to look at the options before I go ahead.
I do think that there is a lot to be learned from the old pulp novel designs - they were very successful at communicating genre and teasing the contents on a very small canvas. With today's trade paperbacks, it is easy to forget how small mass market paperbacks were and how those covers had to compete for attention against an array of books on the stand - not too unlike today's thumbs on Amazon, Kobo, and Barnes and Noble. Of course, today's modern pulpy genre fiction is coming from self and indie publishers, so budget are tight but I think that the use of 3D models with post-work offers an opportunity for them.
I would really recommend having a look at Mike Fyles gallery, he also has a web-site (though I don't have the link to hand). It was his work that really inspired me to have a go at doing this stuff myself and his helpful tips that got me started (I believe the tip about extracting edgewear from old paperbacks came from him). Although I now use ArtRage, my basic method is still based upon his. He does all of his work in Photoshop and nothing he does there cannot be done in Elements (or GIMP). He uses a couple of the built in filters (Cut Out and Dry Brush) and the the smudge tool with a brush tip - along with a lot of practiced skill. If you search his name, you should find one or two tutorials he's authored about how he works.
I could post something when I get it loaded and play with it for a while. But my frame of reference is pretty small, and I'm not sure what information you are looking for. I've heard that Affinity is priced similar to PSE, but with features more like the full version of Photoshop. For me, PSE was the only choice, as there are a couple of NPR geniuses on the Carrara forum that regularly give PSE tips in this thread. I love their work, and it is a learning path I plan to follow for some time.
Very much agree.
Thank you for the tip! Mike and I are of a similar age. I did some searches. I found one "workflow" tutorial, but more broken links than not. I couldn't find a dedicated website, or the tutorial about the techniques you mentioned above. Still, very happy you recommended him. His gallery at Rendo is awesome. EXACTLY what I was looking for, thanks.
I'm working on a cover for a project and I could use some input. This is already the second draft of the cover. I'm not great at Typography yet. I still have a lot to learn. I could use some advice.
Did someone say input? @KnittingMommy I read somewhere that white is used over 70% of the time on book cover fonts. Big publisher book covers. With all the black in your design, white is a great contrasting choice to make the title pop. If you have a choice, Err on the side of a Strong solid font over a weak wispy thin one. SelfPub offers a font package for download, which includes some of the font they use on that site. Some of those can be fun to try out.
I figured I'd give it a try with a visual suggestion. Mostly white, big solid lettering, then white with a touch for red for thematic blood, and I played with the word stud, which also means a structural 2x4 in house building. If your stud happens to be a carpenter in the story, well then bonus!
Excellent suggestions, FB! Your pics were worth a thousand explanations.
@FirstBastion Sigh, that's the problem with getting input from people who have been doing this for awhile. I realize that others have much better ideas than I do. The fonts in both of your images look much more solid than mine does. I like both suggestions, though I'm kind of leaning more to the one that's all white. I like how you did the 'T' in stud. And, no, no carpenters in this story. Lol.
So, you used a font package from SelfPub? Uh, which one? Selfpubbookcovers.com? Or another site? 'Cause I'm not seeing any font packages. I'd like to play around with those for my project to see if I can duplicate those looks. Do you have a link to the font package? I'm not seeing that anywhere. And, what is the name of the white font in the second image? I kind of like what you did with the 'T' in stud. I'm still open for suggestions but both of yours are really good. It's kind of a shame, though, cause I really liked the idea of using the purple. I'm not married to the idea after seeing your suggestions which looks much stronger than my cover.
Thanks so much for the show and tell. It's given me a lot to think about.