Custom Cover Art Thread

[darmar106]

What is the exact kid of paper I should ask for when I go to FedEx? I've tried printed before and it never works out, I buy the wrong paper or it prints way too big. Also I got the Star Wars blu ray but I want to keep the special features discs from the previous releases...can anyone direct me to a cover that was made for those discs?

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by Imrahil2001

Nice covers. Is the image quality problem related to the issue of the blades on Leonardo's swords being brown?

More so the resolution than anything else, though I wasn't thrilled about the coloring issue. The problem is that in all of my searching, I really had a very hard time finding hi-res, quality source material of the Turtles in their 1980s cartoon form or even closely resembling it. The only artwork that I was really able to find that was hi-res was from the actual DVD release covers, and that artwork REALLY sucks IMO. The most accurate looking images that I could find were the ones used on the back of the second box, which are actually individual portions used for the poster for "Turtles Forever", but they were all too small for me to use as a basis for the front cover. They worked well, however, as a means by which to fill in some empty space on the back.

The two covers used here were used for a couple of the VHS tape releases years ago. All in all the resolution isn't "awful" IMO when looking at the finished product in hand, but you can tell that it didn't come from a hi-res source. But they were about the best that I could find. And while they aren't completely accurate to the look of the show, I went with them since there is that nostalgia factor with it being the artwork that was actually used on the old VHS tapes. That was enough of an excuse for me to "rationalize" using them.

I think the reasoning behind the coloring issues (many of the weapons, particularly Leo's blades, but also Raph's sais and the wrapping on the middle of Don's staff, being brown..... and the Turtles themselves being differing shades of green rather than the same shade like in the show) was to sort of blend the look of the cartoon characters with the the look of the toys from the line. Shredder's face mask (just the part over his mouth, no the entire helmet) was actually purple like on the original figure. I recolored that in Photoshop.

I did some experimenting with recoloring Leo's blades on the image from the first box (since they stand out the most with the odd colors), but I wasn't really happy with the results. I'm not as good with Photoshop as many others here are. There are some things that I'm pretty good at, but recoloring is one area that I often struggle with. I'm always impressed when people can whip-up a quick recoloring of something because for me it's more of a challenge. Shredder's mask was one item that was driving me nuts the most. I could 'live' with the look of Leo's blades, but not Shredder's mask. Luckily the end result worked out rather well in that respect.


Just to give you an idea of what I was working with here, this is the original untouched image (in it's full original resolution) that I used for the second box's cover. Not only was shredder's mask purple, but the image itself must have been scanned as it had a lot of scanning artifacts....



I used the Gaussian Blur tool which worked well to get rid of most of the artifacts without making the image too blurry...



And here's the same image after recoloring Shredder's mask:





I plan to put these up over at EuphoricFX sometime in the next few days for anyone who is interested in them.

[civiclx]

great pictures everyone.
I think I know someone that would LOVE your Dark Knight covers nichart

Underworld

[Scorpion Soldier]

Was thinking about doing a Watchmen project, and decided to try a different approach to the movie. How do you guys like it?

Made it look as part of a collection for WB's 90th Anniversary next year.

[spanky87]

Nobody has done or posted a Mean Streets custom yet?

[civiclx]

Originally Posted by Scorpion Soldier

Was thinking about doing a Watchmen project, and decided to try a different approach to the movie. How do you guys like it?

Made it look as part of a collection for WB's 90th Anniversary next year.

That looks just awful. You would put your name on that?? Wow what a horrible design where is the barfing smiley???

Ok now, let's be serious. That looks great!! That must be the Comedian on the front?? Very cool

[Jamdez]

When I learned Friends was coming out on blu-ray I started reading a thread about it on this forum and found the custom cover thread. I liked it so much I read all 531 pages over the last few days and I got inspired to make covers for each seasons of Friends.

This is my first try at custom covers and obviously a WIP. I didn't modify any of the legal stuff.




I also tried Illest Villain's WB template (without modifying the legal stuff) and used the template's spine



Comments are appreciated

[DrrnHarr]

Originally Posted by darmar106

What is the exact kid of paper I should ask for when I go to FedEx? I've tried printed before and it never works out, I buy the wrong paper or it prints way too big. Also I got the Star Wars blu ray but I want to keep the special features discs from the previous releases...can anyone direct me to a cover that was made for those discs?

There are lots but here is one I did:

http://www.customaniacs.org/forum/cu...ical-cuts.html

[DrrnHarr]

Originally Posted by Dynamo of Eternia

More so the resolution than anything else, though I wasn't thrilled about the coloring issue. The problem is that in all of my searching, I really had a very hard time finding hi-res, quality source material of the Turtles in their 1980s cartoon form or even closely resembling it. The only artwork that I was really able to find that was hi-res was from the actual DVD release covers, and that artwork REALLY sucks IMO. The most accurate looking images that I could find were the ones used on the back of the second box, which are actually individual portions used for the poster for "Turtles Forever", but they were all too small for me to use as a basis for the front cover. They worked well, however, as a means by which to fill in some empty space on the back.

I found lots of high res TMNT artwork at my usual first stop for high res artwork, I'll send you a link if you want to check it out.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

I found lots of high res TMNT artwork at my usual first stop for high res artwork, I'll send you a link if you want to check it out.

Please do. Thanks!

Does the artwork resemble the look of the 80s cartoon show? That's the biggest problem I was running into. I found plenty of TMNT artwork in general that was hi-res, but all of it was based on other incarnations of the Turtles that look nothing like the old animated show.

[Riddler The Slag]

Originally Posted by Jamdez

When I learned Friends was coming out on blu-ray I started reading a thread about it on this forum and found the custom cover thread. I liked it so much I read all 531 pages over the last few days and I got inspired to make covers for each seasons of Friends.

This is my first try at custom covers and obviously a WIP. I didn't modify any of the legal stuff.




I also tried Illest Villain's WB template (without modifying the legal stuff) and used the template's spine



Comments are appreciated

Love it man! I have been toying with the notion of either buying the UK Blu-Ray set as it will look fantastic on my shelf or buying the US version and printing off custom covers like you made.

Looking good man!

[alphadec]

is there anyone who have tried a custom cover of these movies:

- where eagles dare

- kelly's heros

[DrrnHarr]

Originally Posted by alphadec

is there anyone who have tried a custom cover of these movies:

- where eagles dare

- kelly's heros

I did "Where Eagles Dare":

http://www.customaniacs.org/forum/cu...gles-dare.html

If you want I'll send you a jpeg so you don't have to pay a credit for it.

[civiclx]

wow that Eagles cover looks awesome, and it's a lot of fun too

[DrrnHarr]

Well I am still job-hunting so in the interim while I search for a job I decided to go back to school and complete the last two classes that I need for my Masters.

Anyway, the short of it is that registering entitles me to the Student price on a lot of software. Further my school has a special deal with Adobe for an added discount.

For under $200 I get:

•Adobe Photoshop CS6
•Adobe Illustrator CS6
•Adobe InDesign CS6
•Adobe Acrobat X Pro
•Adobe Bridge CS6
•Media Encoder CS6

Naturally I jumped on it so I'm sure I'll be back working on covers soon I'm not going to be able to resist tinkering with CS6's version of Photoshop.

[Ryan0503]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

Well I am still job-hunting so in the interim while I search for a job I decided to go back to school and complete the last two classes that I need for my Masters.

Anyway, the short of it is that registering entitles me to the Student price on a lot of software. Further my school has a special deal with Adobe for an added discount.

For under $200 I get:

•Adobe Photoshop CS6
•Adobe Illustrator CS6
•Adobe InDesign CS6
•Adobe Acrobat X Pro
•Adobe Bridge CS6
•Media Encoder CS6

Naturally I jumped on it so I'm sure I'll be back working on covers soon I'm not going to be able to resist tinkering with CS6's version of Photoshop.

Wow that's a great deal

[jimjimmyjones85]

Originally Posted by DetroitSquirreL

'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' images for someone to do one for this BD

[Show spoiler]

[Show spoiler]

http://www.c1n3.org/h/heckerling01a/Images/5.html

http://www.c1n3.org/h/heckerling01a/Images/7.html

We so need one for Fast Times !

[alphadec]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

I did "Where Eagles Dare":

http://www.customaniacs.org/forum/cu...gles-dare.html

If you want I'll send you a jpeg so you don't have to pay a credit for it.

Yes thank u

[alphadec]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

Well I am still job-hunting so in the interim while I search for a job I decided to go back to school and complete the last two classes that I need for my Masters.

Anyway, the short of it is that registering entitles me to the Student price on a lot of software. Further my school has a special deal with Adobe for an added discount.

For under $200 I get:

•Adobe Photoshop CS6
•Adobe Illustrator CS6
•Adobe InDesign CS6
•Adobe Acrobat X Pro
•Adobe Bridge CS6
•Media Encoder CS6

Naturally I jumped on it so I'm sure I'll be back working on covers soon I'm not going to be able to resist tinkering with CS6's version of Photoshop.

Ps cs6 is increadible software so if u Get the chance pick it up.

[darmar106]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

There are lots but here is one I did:

http://www.customaniacs.org/forum/cu...ical-cuts.html

Well what i'm looking for is an all emcompasing cover for ONLY the special features discs from Episode 1,2,3, and the bonus materials disc that came with the original trilogy that has empire of dreams