Umbra's SNES covers

[Umbra]

I used a bunch of different sources for inspiration, mainly wiggy's stuff for the general shape of the template but I tossed in some extra goodies for the logos, using a kind of US/Japan fusion for the branding.

Aladdin

https://www.box.com/s/an7qoxdiac2tciwhkcbe

The Chessmaster

https://www.box.com/s/1hf03l68n9x7hxqfb0dj

F-Zero

https://www.box.com/s/4p1w7ay3qouc53fevyig

Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

https://www.box.com/s/8u0l08qpop5mwpdhsddy

Star Wars

https://www.box.com/s/83ctjcp8wtjun6u6fa7v

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

https://www.box.com/s/3i2ro1rlrszar7hwmlfo

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

https://www.box.com/s/53md44fxw6vk5owd3qan

Super Battleship

https://www.box.com/s/fvd7s55rzrxubac62gxr

Super Double Dragon

https://www.box.com/s/44tci97tbphswf3kgd6y

Super Mario World

https://www.box.com/s/bgw07t3ocix8kkw1se3e

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

https://www.box.com/s/j71ixvqvq3o46xbg8t24

I'll update this post periodically as covers are added; stay tuned.

[Mel]

I have made one small change to your Zelda snes cover.
before


after

http://www.mediafire.com/?p17536s019zrt9t

[wiggy]

I'm a little bothered by the lack of official Super Nintendo logo.  It seems sorta odd without it.

[Mel]

The line on the back of the covers looks like it needs to be removed.

[Umbra]

I'm a little bothered by the lack of official Super Nintendo logo.  It seems sorta odd without it.

Well I noticed it uses one of Nintendo's typefaces (I think) so I figured it was official enough. The alternative would be the US logo in either the same shade of grey or the original red to stand out a bit more.

I plan on uploading more covers tomorrow, and the covers shown here will be updated along with the new additions. Thanks for the feedback so far!

[Umbra]

Update: Revised existing covers and added six more:

-Aladdin
-The Chessmaster
-F-Zero
-Super Double Dragon
-Super Mario World
-Super Mario World 2

[wiggy]

They're looking a lot better. I think you're really finding your groove as you keep working on em.  Keep it up!

The one thing that still stands out are the backs.  Some look a little "plain", for lack of better word.  Maybe try to play with some different fonts and colors.  Larger type might help to fill some of the negative space as well.  I like the horizontal screenshot thing that you're doing, especially on Yoshi's Island, but the descriptive text looks out of place.  I think it would look 100% better if you spent some time tweaking that so it better matched the images and theme of the game.  Since you're not doing retail, there's no reason to stick with stale, boring type faces and colors

[Umbra]

Thanks for the comments so far! Wiggy, I took your suggestion and got a few typefaces. I used such generic fonts partly due to how the original boxes had generic Arial and Times New Roman-style fonts. I'm starting to add a bit of variety but now and again I'm stuck on which covers to make next since my collection has a lot of filler right now as I bought them all as a lot. As I buy some more SNES games the collection will get a bit more interesting.

Update to OP: two new covers added.
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
- Super Battleship

not exactly related but does anyone know a good place to get the Final Fantasy SNES (II/IV, III/VI) titles without paying enough money to buy an NES from my local store?

[wiggy]

No prob!

The hardest part of custom covers is doing those not-so-popular titles.  I see a lot of custom threads, but it's rare that I see lots of covers for stuff outside of the Zelda/Mario/FF/etc. circle.  It requires some serious work to make those types of covers happen.

[Umbra]

Yeah I'm not sure what I'll do about some of my lesser titles. The ones like Top Gear and Off-Road would be easy enough but games like Extra Innings and Super Black Bass might be a little more elusive. If all else fails I'll go retail like I've been doing with a couple titles.

On a side note, I'm also working on NES and N64 templates using this general layout but I'm stuck on whether to have different coloration or to go with the solid white to match all the Nintendo stuff. I'll post a brief preview of each when I get the chance.

[wiggy]

Those two shouldn't be too bad. Sports photos and stock vector images are easy to come by. Collaging that stuff isn't so bad.

What REALLY sucks are oddball platformers like Rocky Rodent, Awesome Possum, Spanky's Quest, etc. I think I spent more time on each of those than any Mario or Zelda cover. Toughest part about Mario an Zelda covers is just figuring out which awesome art you're gonna use LOL!

Lookin forward to the new templates. I upped a TON of Nintendo vector logos & icons a while back. Lemme know if you want 'me and I'll get you a link

[Umbra]

Yeah the main thing with the templates isn't so much layout as it is how I'm gonna implement colors. I want to include the green spine in some way for the N64 but I don't want the whole template green. The NES stuff is equally perplexing for colors. The designs are already done for the most part; the problem is all in the palette.

Also since I only have Elements, if those vectors of yours are in PSD or PNG or something I'd love to use them. It'd be a bit easier than googling for logos lol.

More covers may show up here tonight. If not then they'll be in another thread for another system

[Umbra]

Gonna bump this thread... idk where I'm going with these as the hard drive holding all of my cover art/templates crashed (rather literally), so that partly explains the lack of covers. I'll try my best to have more up.

On another note, it would probably be helpful to me if I had any of these templates with the layers ungrouped; Elements can't exactly handle this site's existing temps :T