Tutorial or a bunch of covers? You decide

[shenske]

There has been a lot of talk over the past few years of people wondering how to create covers. It's a long difficult process to explain ... a simple post would not be sufficient to explain everything. I leave the question to you guys to answer: Do you think my time would be better spent making a written tutorial w/ pics on how to make covers or making 30-50 more covers for the site?

Making a tutorial is VERY time consuming so I think a ballpark figure of 30-50 covers is an accurate representation on how many cover we would be "missing out on" if I decided to create a tutorial instead of covers for a while.

If the tutorial option wins out then I would like you guys to not only explain why you chose the option but what you would like me to cover. I want you to be as detailed and honest as possible. No question is too basic or "dumb" and I really hope you be honest with me because I'm sure I'll skip over things that I overlook as being a natural thought in the process of making covers.

Let me know through this thread what you guys think.

[juan0tron]

I think a tutorial would be an excellent thing for all interested in making covers of the quality you pump out. I'd personally like to see the essential tools you use in photoshop and the general process you go through when using one of your templates to make a cover from scratch. Like seriously, the basics. I personally overlook a lot of things when making covers so I'd like to have something good to reference. General tips I would think would be helpful:

-Text placement
-Fonts fonts fonts
-Getting high quality images when the original box isn't available
-Proper placement of screenshots
-Custom spine logos
-How you piece together the front/back info on a box that isn't already embedded into the template (serials and such)
-Standard and slim spines for DVD cases - canvas sizes and how to measure where the spine is
-Tips on how to find and properly place everything hidden within your template (ESRB logos, game info)

These are just some things I struggled with (and some I still do) the few times I decide I want to make covers. I think this tutorial would more than make up for the 30-50 covers you don't make, because it will give newbies a better understanding of what makes a good cover. Hopefully that will boost the amount of quality submissions we get from the non-regulars here

[irvgotti452]

I agree with zombie. But i think you should break em up into lessons (chapters, etc) starting with :

Chapter/Lesson 1: Low rez vs high rez the diff between the dpi.
Chapter/Lesson 2: The tools to clean up your image. (spot healer, clonestamp etc)
Chapter/Lesson 3: Cleaning up the image. (steps, what to clean, what not to clean)
Chapter/Lesson 4: Color adjustments. (hue/saturation, levels, brightness/contrast, etc.)
etc etc etc. then all the cool stuff zombie mentioned.

I was going to make something like this with a program that Shoothimnow recommended. But my pc problems and new work schedule put a damper on it.

[tiktektak]

Actually this is a nice thought but ultimately it will be made in vain. Aftert all people who know their stuff do covers and others who don't most of the time aren't itnerested in learning everything and even if they try they fail!

There are a few exceptions for sure but all in all it will be a futile effort and could just premote more shit getting uploaded and people then complaining "But I did everything like the guide said, why is it not good enough? Waaaaahhhhh!"

[Arseen]

Tutorial, so I can learn make covers. As you might noticed I do lot of request, most of which go un answered.
And also if you do the tutorial we also at the same time get to know excatly what is expected quality wise from the covers.

What I'd like from the tutorials is that they would teach even total newbies like me who have never even opened Photoshop to make covers.
and it would also be positive extra if you would use programs that are free to download.

Good luck, long nerves and thank you! 

[juan0tron]

Actually this is a nice thought but ultimately it will be made in vain.

It would help me 

[tiktektak]

Tutorial, so I can learn make covers. As you might noticed I do lot of request, most of which go un answered.
And also if you do the tutorial we also at the same time get to know excatly what is expected quality wise from the covers.

That can never be achieved because different cover admins have different feelings of what everything should look like quality wise which brings me to my point again => People will complain and say that they did everything like the guide said!

What I'd like from the tutorials is that they would teach even total newbies like me who have never even opened Photoshop to make covers.
and it would also be positive extra if you would use programs that are free to download.

It is a quite long process to get a feeling for ps and cover creation. I dunno if a guide even if as good as possible can teach anyone how to make a really good looking cover (if the person ahs no experience at all in usinmg ps or other graphics editing apps)

Good luck, long nerves and thank you! 

[Arseen]

Tutorial, so I can learn make covers. As you might noticed I do lot of request, most of which go un answered.
And also if you do the tutorial we also at the same time get to know excatly what is expected quality wise from the covers.

That can never be achieved because different cover admins have different feelings of what everything should look like quality wise which brings me to my point again => People will complain and say that they did everything like the guide said!

Yeah I've noticed that! But it should get people started. And in the end you only have to please one  but that is not our goal, right

What I'd like from the tutorials is that they would teach even total newbies like me who have never even opened Photoshop to make covers.
and it would also be positive extra if you would use programs that are free to download.

It is a quite long process to get a feeling for ps and cover creation. I dunno if a guide even if as good as possible can teach anyone how to make a really good looking cover (if the person ahs no experience at all in usinmg ps or other graphics editing apps)

Yeah but to get the spesific pointers to get started is probably only needed by me. I say spesific because Youtube is filled with know-your-Paintshop videos, but what we / I need is cover spesific enough to know what is usually needed to get started to getting good covers done.

[ShoothimNow]

There are soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo many people that never listen about the yellowscale for N64 backs.  Even after reading it, that same person STILL doesn't follow the instructions properly. 

I personally think that in the long run:

Train people now = better covers in the future with more contributors

[Arseen]

I personally think that in the long run:

Train people now = better covers in the future with more contributors

Same here

BTW I made new stickied and locked topic for that guide on the guide, so it doesnät keep getting lost all the fricking time!!! 

[shenske]

I personally think that in the long run:

Train people now = better covers in the future with more contributors

Same here

BTW I made new stickied and locked topic for that guide on the guide, so it doesnät keep getting lost all the fricking time!!! 

i fixed your sticky to actually include the "yellow back" part, lol. I guess even you didn't read it lol

[Arseen]

OOPS, Thank you!
I only skimmed thru the topic located what I tought was the instructions (yes without reading  ) clicked modify and copied all, then created the topic and yes pasted (again without bothering to read).

Reason on my next topic. 

[Beastman1975]

i voted for covers only cause we have alot of tutorials that no one bothers to read anyway  even after they are linked to them in threads

[Arseen]

i voted for covers only cause we have alot of tutorials that no one bothers to read anyway  even after they are linked to them in threads

Link them here:
http://www.thecoverproject.net/forums/index.php?topic=5728

You never know what happens

[Anubis]

Honestly, I'd love to learn how to do the awesome job that has been done with the covers in this site (like the Street Fighter 2 Turbo cover created by Mayor McCheese, or the most recently The Adventures of Bayou Billy you restored, for example), so I voted for the tutorial.
Some time ago, I tried to make the covers by myself using Photoshop. I searched for restoring photos tutorials on the Internet and it didn't work. Maybe because they didn't explained all the steps and why they adjusted some patterns to a particular value and not a different one, or maybe because I'm not very good at this , I don't know. That's why I started using Corel Draw, but the things I have done with it are very far from the works done in this site.
I'm not sure if this would be a good idea of how to make a tutorial, but I think an important part of it should be a complete example of how to restore a raw scan step by step trying to explain why you make each step the way you do it and not another.
I know that making a tutorial is a really hard work and time consuming and that it isn't good for the site (in the way that you won't be creating covers for a while), so regardless the final result of the poll, I think that the last word is yours and you should decide whether to do it or not.
Thanks for your initiative and to all the people responsible of the work done for the site.
Best regards!