General Category > General Discussion
Is there a guide on how to create your own covers? I couldn't find one...
larryinc64:
I was talking with some other admins a while ago about making some videos, I'm good with editing and all that stuff.
I'm busy 'till new years with projects, so It wont be soon, but maybe cover artists can get together and share some tips so I can put together a full TCP series or something.
Maybe I'll toss together a basic guide sometime soon for getting started.
AxelSteelBMX:
I'd totally be on-board to collab on something like this in the future. I just also have stuff I need to get done first.
Seraph Man:
--- Quote from: quickfingers818 on November 08, 2013, 09:47:18 PM ---All i really wanna learn are how to make even the most basic covers.
--- End quote ---
The most basic of covers would be to make an image the appropriate size and paste images on.
http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=39.0
This will take you to the case dimensions thread, where you can see how big each part of the image should be. If you're using Photoshop, make sure you have ruler and guidelines enabled. Then you can click and drag from the ruler to whereever you want on the image. This is the idea way to set up visually borders, so you know what parts of the image are the front, center, and back.
Add images where appropriate. Remember, bigger images are better here. It's easier to shrink and image down and keep things looking good than to blow an image up.
For practice, I suggest making your own spines first. It's a small area to cover, and as long as you have a template you like, you can always cut and paste your spine onto someone else's covers, thereby having uniform spines for display while having a wide variety of covers to enjoy as well. It's what I did, and while I'm not much of a cover artist, if at all, I can say with confidence that spines are an easy first step.
Hoggs17:
I had no experience with photoshop at all so i feel your pain. I made a bunch of NES covers my own personal style so here's what I did (in reduced, quick steps)
1) download the templates provided in this forum
2) download existing covers already posted, and cut away/erase the logo for the spine and the front of the game (can do the same for the developer logo - magic eraser is a blessing!)
3) scour the internet for good custom artwork (deviantart, etc...) for each game.
4) grab a screen capture off of an emulated game, clean up that image in photoshop/imageviewer
5) insert your respective images (logo, artwork, character sprite, developer logo) onto the template
it helps to practice "level control" when assembling your photoshop design. that way, each individual image/logo/etc is on it's on layer and can be moved freely. also, it's nice so that when you go from castlevania 1 -> 2 -> 3 you can just "save as" your previous game cover and the developer name/background color are already done for you.
At first, it took me a while to complete a design; but at the end I got pretty good/fast (because I only use a few photoshop buttons/options) at it. Of course, i wasn't going for the retail look and was making my own. hope that helps somewhat.
wiggy:
I wish people would learn to use illustrator for template building versus Photoshop. Such a more efficient and cleaner way to do so (not to mention so much more editable) :(