Ebook cover design

[cya]

Hi everyone,

I was excercising a little bit more with photoshop and wanted to design an ebook cover, after a cool cover I came across.

I got some great advice from you last time so perhaps you can help me out again.

I'm especially unhappy with the typo I chose but really stuck at the moment. It would also be nice if you could give me some overall critique, been working on this thing for two days and I'm feeling a little blind to details.






PS: Not really sure about copyright stuff... all images are public domain or heavily altered, except the gun, the flower and the sunset, which I got from a wallpaper site, seems more than grey area. If I violate any rules by posting my comp feel free to delete the image.

[IamSam]

Hi cya, Overall, not a bad job! Like you, I don't care for the font or it's style at all. It's a bit over grunged and lost to the light BG. It's a very minor issue, but it was the first thing I noticed, his feet are not in perspective for the setting. (you would raise him or lower the horizon) The shadow is wrong coming off the shoes and legs.

Like the watermark!

[chrisix]

is this a direct request of the writer?

[cya]

@IamSam

thank you! Very helpful, I didn't even see the error in perspective...

Concerning the shadows, do you mean they are beginning at the wrong point,
like O should move the 2 cm down?
Or do you mean sun is in the back shadows should be falling in the front?


@chrisix

no mate, this is me trying to build an ebook cover for fun and to see if I could do it.
Bogus title and my two favourite authors combined. There is no cake... eh writer.

[cya]

Alright, I did some corrections. Do you still get the impression that the shoes are off?

Ahh, I hate fonts. Never seem to find the right one.

[chrisix]

Hmm, I asked because this always seems to happen.
A writer requests a cover, and usually asks for a scene to be depicted, with loads of objects with a meaning.
So like guy with a gun in snow, showing bullets and showing the early buds of may, coming through the snow.
However, when you go and publish a book, the editor is the one hiring the artist for the book cover, for this reason.
Book covers are generally more simple than whole scenes like this. (except children and fantasy books)

On the view of a photoshoper, nice work.
But not really suited for a book.

now the important parts: :P
I think the sniper rifle is a bit small, compared to the leg.
blood body temperature, it will seep through the fresh snow quite easily.
so perhaps make it more like blood colored snow, instead of an actual puddle.
and maybe more a scattered drip pattern, instead of a single pool.
the shadow on the left side(his right foot) looks to start a bit too far away.
the shadow of his legs are blurred, but of the bullet and flowers are not.

The sun is setting behind him, but the shadows are going behind him as well.

perhaps a orangy glow on the snow from the sunset?


I know that is a list of things, but as far as the whole thing goes, i like it :3 good work

[Paul]

Although the OP asked for critique, you do seem to plug away at the borders of insults really well.

[chrisix]

Aah, I was still in the process of editing my post.

[cya]

It's alright, maybe I answered a little too wholehearted before =) and he has a point,
while doing it, it seemed to me that it was becoming more of a movie poster than a book cover.

But once you start, you keep adding and adding to get more details in.

I did another one this morning, it's a bit cheesy *cough* but less details maybe you could tell me
if it was more suited for a book cover




ahh just saw your edited tips, nice thx!

[chrisix]

But once you start, you keep adding and adding to get more details in.

I tried to make a book cover once, also turned into a movie poster >_< just kept adding and adding.
In the end, just deleted the top 30 layers. :P


and this one, oow I like the font, with red and white. :3
and a nice heart shaped o
Cliche? pff, who cares.

What may be a nice effect, is to make the sky a bit more dark, and light up the eyes more.
So that the eyes really catch your attention