Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Creation of a Cover

Something a little different today. Many people have asked me how I make these covers, since I use MS Paint, rather than Photoshop or another program. Here I will take you through the process that I used in creating yesterday's Thing/Goon team-up. Each cover has its own unique challenges, but this will give a basic idea of some of the techniques that I use:













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12 comments:

  1. joe ackermanMay 18, 2011 at 5:31 PM

    genious. I'm rubbish at that sort of stuff.

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  2. Mike D.May 18, 2011 at 6:25 PM

    it is a lot of work...down to a science

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  3. DoppelgängerMay 18, 2011 at 10:32 PM

    I gotta say I'm still stuck at the point where you create a greenscreen in one MS Paint, then paste and image into that MS P box after which it disables changing the background color. Rats.

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  4. AnonymousMay 19, 2011 at 9:41 AM

    I had no idea that white-transparent when cutting/pasting in Paint. So that's how you got the edges clean.

    Thanks for posting this. It's always cool seeing the process in action.

    -Mea

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  5. RossMay 19, 2011 at 9:46 AM

    It took me a while to figure that out as well - which is why so many of the B&B covers are pretty rough!

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  6. SiskoidMay 19, 2011 at 10:20 AM

    What do you mean by adding a halo and what purpose does it serve?

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  7. RossMay 19, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    A few pixels of color around the edges of overlapping images to make them mesh together better.

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  8. AnonymousMay 19, 2011 at 11:27 AM

    i feel cheated out of new cover you should post 2 to make up for it or post one sat

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  9. RossMay 19, 2011 at 11:34 AM

    5 Covers a week including holidays, and 7 covers a week for the first several months... sheesh, there's no pleasing some people!

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  10. Cabin CampbellMay 19, 2011 at 8:39 PM

    How amazing, Ross! So much more logical than my method! II go even more tedious than you, cutting out each image separately, pixel by pixel. If the original is too faded, then I redraw the design over the top of the original, and combine layers of drawing , color and originals until I get it just right.

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  11. SmearySoapboxPressMay 22, 2011 at 2:07 PM

    Great behind-the scenes tutorial! Thanks for pulling the curtain back a little bit so we could see.

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  12. AnonymousJune 28, 2011 at 7:50 AM

    This is great. I just discovered your blog and I love it. And I LOVE the fact that you use Paint instead of Photoshop. You do such a good job I honestly couldn't tell. Also, I'm a bit of a MS Paint addict and it makes me happy to know that I'm not the only one beyond its simplicity and charm.

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