Custom Cover Art Thread

[lkmg]

Now that I see DrrnHarr's, I actually prefer DrrnHarr's 007 back cover art than Dvdmike's. Not trying to create another debate here, but I find DrrnHarr's more organized and stick to the traditional way of presenting those specs.

The only thing I don't like is those blue wordings at the top left section, they seem so dull. The rest are just great. No comment on the front cover art though. Great job overall.

[darmar106]

I was reading through the printing steps for Kinko's...will I have to buy the proper paper myself?

[YodasFootPowder]

^^^ When you print something from their printers, the printers have paper in them. But, it's just standard, matte paper. You're going to want to bring your own semi-glossy, or glossy paper cause that's the kind of paper real Blu-ray covers use and they look more natural than the standard paper Kinko's puts in their printers.

Wal-mart or Target sell pretty reasonably priced semi-gloss or glossy paper. Otherwise, most Kinko's sell it right there too.

Originally Posted by bubba-b

sorry if this is the wrong thread to post this request. if it is, let me know and i'll immediately delete this.

anywhoo, just received my blu ray in the mail and the case was bent and pretty much destroyed. so i thought i'd hop on here to see if anyone knows who or where i can procure a custom cover so i can put the disc in a regular bd case.

any help is appreciated. thank you.

For what movie?

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

I like your banner idea, though it could limit me when it comes to very thin/tall posters (such as "Octo*****").

Ha ha, you're right of course. The trick about making a series with a common layout is that you have to find a solution that works for all the different posters (or choose posters that fit your solution, like I had to with my Superman series).

This FYEO poster you're using is a bit of a pickle, as the UK Quad layout doesn't translate well to covers. I see the official posters solved it by removing all the elements on the outside.



It makes for a tidier result, at least.

[Nissen]

Just a couple of tryouts. I'm trying to put my money where my mouth is.





These are just examples to show Darren, I'm not doing any JBs myself.

[DrrnHarr]

Originally Posted by Nissen

Ha ha, you're right of course. The trick about making a series with a common layout is that you have to find a solution that works for all the different posters (or choose posters that fit your solution, like I had to with my Superman series).

This FYEO poster you're using is a bit of a pickle, as the UK Quad layout doesn't translate well to covers. I see the official posters solved it by removing all the elements on the outside.

It makes for a tidier result, at least.

Yes, but I think it's less interesting.

Nostalgia is a powerful weapon and that UK Quad has always been my preferred FYEO poster

I am thinking about reworking the elements of the poster to make them fit following some advice I received at EuphoricFX. It will alter the look slightly but will mean that I don't have to place a banner on the page.

[Jutty]

Originally Posted by darmar106

I was reading through the printing steps for Kinko's...will I have to buy the proper paper myself?

At my local kinkos i just asked the guy behind the counter if there was gloss paper hand he handed me a few sheets of semi,and said just put them in the printer

[DrrnHarr]

Originally Posted by lkmg

Now that I see DrrnHarr's, I actually prefer DrrnHarr's 007 back cover art than Dvdmike's. Not trying to create another debate here, but I find DrrnHarr's more organized and stick to the traditional way of presenting those specs.

The only thing I don't like is those blue wordings at the top left section, they seem so dull. The rest are just great. No comment on the front cover art though. Great job overall.

Thanks lkmg. The blue wording does not work for me either, but with a black and white background I need to find a font or color that will stand out. It's a WIP

[lkmg]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

Thanks lkmg. The blue wording does not work for me either, but with a black and white background I need to find a font or color that will stand out. It's a WIP

Haha, once the template is done, you will be busy doing the cover art for the whole series. 22 of them!

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

Yes, but I think it's less interesting.

I'm not disagreeing with you there

But actually my main objective with those mockups was to suggest some alternative title treatments. The first is a very untraditional one, the second is more standard. There's a lot you can do with type, just break it up a little.

[darmar106]

I know in the forum there are some links to websites where i can buy cases but anyone know any stores i can go to? if not what should i gooogle to find specialty stores in my area

[threefiftyrocket]

Originally Posted by Imrahil2001

What's wrong with ordering them online? Casetopia has improved their shipping options to be more reasonable.

You might be able to find single cases at Best Buy, but you'll pay an arm and a leg for them.

I've heard Casetopia is pretty good but I've ordered from discmakers on several occasions and have been really happy with the result. Minimum order is 25 and they don't carry the 4,5, and 6 Viva Elites but they are very reliable.

[Nissen]

It's not like I need a reason to make a custom, but the North American cover for Leon - The Professional left a lot to be desired.

I used a pencil rendering by Vincent Laniel over on Deviant Art as a starting-off point. All the posters I found online were either just a still from the movie (boring), or Leon's face partially hidden in darkness (it's been done). The pencil art saved the day as I was just about to give up on the whole project. I've said it before, my favourite part is the Googling for images and the unexpected surprises that pop up.

The face and the eyes don't really register at first look, it just looks like texture. I find that sort of thing very cool. The bullseye may be a bit much, I confess, but I felt it important to state that this is an action movie, and it is wholly appropriate to the plot as well. I used a layer mask in which I rendered Difference Clouds to break it up a bit.

I was doing this cover on top of my last The Piano cover, and when I pasted in the drawing, the brownish red background just clicked with the new image. The background paper texture is therefore a holdover from The Piano. I tweaked the hue and saturation a little more towards pure red, though. There aren't enough red covers around. Black is done to death, but red...

The Leon title is the Elegance font, which doesn't have the apostrophe for capital letters, so I had to make one by hand. I originally wasn't going to include "The Professional" in the title, but seeing as that's the title the movie is most associated with in the States... I didn't want it to distract from the main title treatment, so I blended it with the Overlay mode.

For once I included the names of the actors on the front. I set myself the task of making my customs more palatable to marketing considerations. The names are just regular white text, with a layer mask gradient coming in from either side. I used a mask like that for the tagline on the back as well, just to give the text a little dimensionality.

The back has more or less the standard Sony elements from the template. I just rearranged some of them and included movie-specific info in the copyright. A credit to the cover artist is a must as well. I got the back info from DVDEmpire which has decent sized scans of backs. I use them a lot for this purpose. Online retailer PlanetAxel is also good for such.

The photo on the back is the exact same that was used for reference for the cover drawing. In that way it's a bit superflous, but I felt it was the single image that sold the movie so well. I wish I had room for Gary Oldman as well, but "kill your darlings".

PM for Hi-Rez.

[cragman69]

Hi all recently purchased The Last Samurai second hand, unfortunately case and cover were damaged, and i had a dvd copy already so i decided i would make a double play sleeve, head over to my deviant art space to download full size image if interestedhttp://cragman69.deviantart.com/#

the artwork on back is from another custom but im not sure who found the image but no details, i have made changes to this though to clean the image up and make it more clear.

[RingTrick]

Originally Posted by Nissen

It's not like I need a reason to make a custom, but the North American cover for Leon - The Professional left a lot to be desired.

PM for Hi-Rez.

Have to give you props for this one. I dig it!

Well done Chief!

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by cragman69

[Show spoiler]

Hi all recently purchased The Last Samurai second hand, unfortunately case and cover were damaged, and i had a dvd copy already so i decided i would make a double play sleeve, head over to my deviant art space to download full size image if interestedhttp://cragman69.deviantart.com/#

Not bad, not bad at all! I like your front and the gold spine. That's one of the better posters I've seen for this movie. Did you add that black splotch (Radial Gradient?) on the bottom half to it to cover up some text?

I read why you included that Double Play banner, and I get it, but it's butt-ugly

Just a quick thing on the back, the text isn't centered properly, and there's the question of legibility. It probably looks fine full-size, no? Maybe line up the specs-box with the edges of the text?

[DrrnHarr]

Originally Posted by darmar106

I know in the forum there are some links to websites where i can buy cases but anyone know any stores i can go to? if not what should i gooogle to find specialty stores in my area

I order all mine from Casetopia. I have never had a problem with them and they have exceptional customer service.

I worked my FYEO/template cover today. I clipped masks of the elements; used the clone stamp to brush out part of Melina's crossbow that was over some of the elements; found that the sides needed to be taller so selectively clipped from other FYEO posters then blended them into the masks of the side elements as best I could; measured a Blu-ray cover (I determined it as 1748x1518 pixels), then brought all the elements back together.

I am somewhat happy with the results but I would love to hear how other people would have accomplished it (I have CS4 so no content aware)




As always constructive criticism is appreciated

EDIT: Just checked out Deviant Art. Some very interesting stuff there including a graphic that might have made a good banner if I was still looking for one.

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by DrrnHarr

[Show spoiler]

As always constructive criticism is appreciated

Darren, these are the cover specs someone else posted to me on the forum, can't remember who at the moment.

3120 (1490+140+1490) x 1748

3173 (1523+127+1523) x 1762

3212 (1521+170+1521) x 1762

3172 (1501+170+1501) x 1772

3160 (1521+118+1521) x 1760

These are in line with the published dimensions of case manufacturers including Amaray.

I have heard some of the cover sites don't accept uploads that deviate from the standard dimensions.

For the JB cover, I really think you've cracked it. Rearranging the elements of the poster by hand was the only way to go. I still think the blue title could use a little je ne sais quoi. Perhaps in red? Fatter type split over two lines?

The back has really come together. The text box on the top left is too close to the edge, however, and the text inside is too close to the frame. It all needs just that tiny bit of breathing room.

I'm a stickler for margins, and that blue specsbox at the bottom sort of sets up an invisible margin around the edge. Perhaps use that as a guide? Generally, setting up guides in your templates is a good thing. Photoshop has some great guide tools.

Oh, one more thing. White text against the white gunbarrel ridges would not get past my design teachers. I see you've dimmed them a little under the textbox, but not enough. You could fade out the lines under the text towards the bottom of the cover, or taper them off. I'd use a layer mask for that.

... and yer done! (Just, what, 23 more Bonds to go?)

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by Imrahil2001

Also: Two "thumps" up?

It's the little things

[cyeingst]

Just picked up Deadwood the complete series and was hoping somebody might be interested in coming up with a custom cover for each of the seasons.