Custom Cover Art Thread

[schattenfell71]

Awesome work, Nissen!!

[Nissen]

Thanks for the kind words everyone, and the flying Hitch!

Here is another breakdown of a cover, just so you can see how much of a cheat these "posters" of mine really are :-)

It turned out a bit busy, now that I take a second look at it. Oh well, live and learn.

[steev210]

Made a couple tweaks to my "Towering Inferno" cover. If anyone wants a copy, PM me.

[Ron Zoso]

Here's just a few of the customs I've done for my Hammer Films collection.

These covers feature artwork from the Little Shoppe of Horrors magazine, which you can find here:

http://littleshoppeofhorrors.com/


The publisher, Richard Klemensen, and the artists involved were extremely generous in granting me permission to use the artwork to make these covers. You will not find these covers at any of the cover sites in my sig, nor will I share these via PM. I promised the guys I would not share printable versions with anyone besides them, and I plan on keeping that promise.

But I can share the previews:

Kiss of the Vampire
Front cover art by Steve Karchin





Hands of the Ripper
Front cover art by Bruce Timm




Brides of Dracula
Front cover art by Jeff Preston




The Devil Rides Out
Front cover art by Steve Karchin




Captain Kronos Vampire Hunter
Front cover art by Bruce Timm




Curse of the Werewolf
Back cover art by Jeff Preston




Curse of Frankenstein
Front cover art by Mark Maddox




Dracula Prince of Darkness
Front cover art by Dean Ormston (UK and US edition)

[Ron Zoso]

Some more covers for the Hammer collection (I usually end up doing a number of different covers for these):

[Nissen]

My latest efforts in the Marvel Reel heroes series; covers for Captain America Winter Soldier and Civil War, presented here with the cover for the first film.
I'm trying to loosen up the Reel Heroes front template a bit, and bringing a semblance of design to the otherwise haphazard placement of panels in the official covers.




And I had neglected to notice that Thor 2 wasn’t a Paramount release, so I had to update the back to match its distributor, Buena Vista. Here is what the new version looks like.


At the moment my client is sadly not sharing these (Phase 2 or 3, that is).

[Ron Zoso]

Those look fantastic.

[bd1k]

Anyone do custom covers for Star Trek The Next Generation individual seasons?

[Kellz]

those marvel ones are superb. the covers would be great posters period

[DGates01]

There is some great work being done on covers in this thread. Mad talent, and if you're not getting paid as graphic artists for other work, it's not fair.

So what is everyone using to do their covers? Photoshop? Illustrator? Something else?

[Robert George]

This is released in Germany. Here is an English cover...

[jaws3dfan]

Can someone PLEASE make a custom cover for ZAPPED! using the original movie poster....the new cover art is just awful.

New Cover:


Original Poster:

[steev210]

The drama wages on regarding my Jaws covers...LOL...this time from the following:

************************************************** **************************

Originally Posted by deckardB26354

steev210, you're a real *******!

"Professional" graphic designers don't use copyrighted art for "marrying photos with text and other elements", unless they have WRITTEN PERMISSION You waived your right as to who can distribute copyrighted art and graphics when you did the same thing, and now you're whining that others can't share your custom copy and paste covers? - Talk about calling the pot calling the kettle black!

BTW... I work for Universal Studios, and I made it a point to report the site which is currently hosting facsimiles of said copyrighted works.

Check out posts #2825, #2826 and #2827 in the JAWS 2/JAWS 3/JAWS THE REVENGE thread for more entertainment!

[AmishParadise]

Originally Posted by jaws3dfan

Can someone PLEASE make a custom cover for ZAPPED! using the original movie poster....the new cover art is just awful.

New Cover:

[Show spoiler]

Original Poster:

I'd be getting a little behind in my classwork as well. No doubt.

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by steev210

The drama wages on regarding my Jaws covers...LOL...

When we emulate the studio template almost to the letter, it IS open for discussion what "design" really means in this context.

I've just today finished a cover for Star Wars Episode I, where the client wanted the official VHS recreated. Now, I followed the original design to the letter, only changing things as absolutely necessary to fit on a different canvas. That rearranging is where the "design" sense comes into play, and I maintain that it is the mark of a good designer who can adapt the layout in such a way that it looks indigenous to the new format.

Can I claim any kind of ownership for the "design"? In my opinion, no.

But I can tell you it was a very labour intensive job recreating that design so exactly. I didn't start from a scan and "just move things around" as someone may think - that's not how this works. I rebuilt the design from scratch, hunting down the images, recreating the backgrounds, finding the exact fonts and logos. In the cover community this is what is known as a "Rebuild", as opposed to a "scan" or a "custom."

Putting these things together exactly like the studio did, without access to their resources, takes technical skill above all. Technical skill in and of itself warrants recognition, even though it may not be apparent to those outside of the cover community. It took me the better part of three days to put this together, hence I feel a sense of ownership of the finished product and included a credit to myself; "Package recreation by Nissen."

I hope I have made it clear then, why I consider it my work even though I can't claim ownership of the design.

[Partyslammer]

Originally Posted by steev210

The drama wages on regarding my Jaws covers...LOL...this time from the following:

************************************************** **************************

Check out posts #2825, #2826 and #2827 in the JAWS 2/JAWS 3/JAWS THE REVENGE thread for more entertainment!

You brought that on yourself.

I think most of the attacks in that thread are more centered on the amusingly ironic complaint that other people are appropriating your home made graphics for their own use. Few if any complaints focus on the basic idea of making custom graphics and even freely sharing them -it's the conceit that using essentially copyrighted photos, graphics, etc without the true licenser's permission and then bit**ing about your own new graphics which heavily rely on those images are being redistributed and false authorship claimed without your permission.

And it should be mentioned that hirescovers.net charges to access printable content. Someone is making money off what's basically unlicensed, copyrighted images being repurposed without the license holders permission. As a professional graphic artist myself, I can't fathom the logic over being upset about people redistributing my work and even taking credit for it while hosting that work on a site that charges access for it. Work that uses someone elses promotional material that I appropriate for my "hobby."

It's like illegally downloading multi-track stems from a Torrent site, remixing some popular song, posting it on Youtube and being upset because several other users took your remix and posted it on their own site.

[Nissen]

Originally Posted by Partyslammer

It's like illegally downloading multi-track stems from a Torrent site, remixing some popular song, posting it on Youtube and being upset because several other users took your remix and posted it on their own site.

A good analogy, but I view it quite the opposite. To me this is an example of an effort that does warrant recognition of you as the "remixer". I'd personally not be upset about someone spreading my remix, but don't consider it fair if that someone claimed it as their own work or charged payment for access to it.

Then again, we all have different levels of attachments to our work, so your opinion is as valid as mine. You wouldn't mind someone taking something you'd worked hard on and passing it off as their own, fair enough. Steev210 feels differently (as do I), and his subjective attachment to his work should also be respected, whether you agree with it or not.

[Partyslammer]

Originally Posted by Nissen

A good analogy, but I view it quite the opposite. To me this is an example of an effort that does warrant recognition of you as the "remixer". I'd personally not be upset about someone spreading my remix, but don't consider it fair if that someone claimed it as their own work or charged payment for access to it.

Then again, we all have different levels of attachments to our work, so your opinion is as valid as mine. You wouldn't mind someone taking something you'd worked hard on and passing it off as their own, fair enough. Steev210 feels differently (as do I), and his subjective attachment to his work should also be respected, whether you agree with it or not.

I don't feel attachment to work I do that utilizes other person or company's original photos, art and graphics. I occasionally throw together media (music and movie) packaging graphics for fun pretty much for my own use. Because of the nature and simple fact that I'm using say, screen caps ripped from the disc, promotional photos and other ephemera that I scan from books, or download, things that really belong to whatever studio or company put out the images, I can't put any sort of possessive value on "my" finished graphic.

As a graphic artist, the vast majority of work I do for clients belongs to them - they are paying me for my skill and work to do something for them, whether it's POP displays, book covers, whatever. I only have attachment to that work in a strictly financial sense - I get paid to do it. If I draw, paint or sculpt something that's wholly original, I have attachment to that work on a personal, creative (and financial if I sell it) level. It's mine, my mind and hands made that work from nothing. THAT has value to me.

[steev210]

Originally Posted by Partyslammer

You brought that on yourself.

Honestly, the only thing I "brought on" was the ability to own a variation of the official studio cover, through the act of sharing my time, effort and skills. An act which most people would view as a kind gesture and be thankful.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

Here's a little project that I'm working on.

The Ghostbusters video game that came out in 2009, story wise, was effectively Ghostbusters III.

I'm planning to take a video of all of the cinema scenes and key game play footage, which is effectively as close as you can get to having the game in "movie" form, and burn it to a BD-R and possibly a DVD-r just to make my own combo pack out of it.

I've been working on cover art for it. My main intent is to have it match up with the 4K release covers of the first two films. For those not familiar with those covers, the US versions are on top (which is what I have), and the UK versions are on the bottom of this pic:




I'm working on two versions to match both the US and UK covers.

When I eventually print these up, I may use the black background version for the actual case and try to make the other cover into a custom slipcover.

These are WIP. I don't intend to keep the "4k Ultra HD" wording on it since there won't be a 4K disc. That's just there temporarily for now.