Wednesday, August 22, 2012

The COVER - Bring in the GIMP!

I'm going to attempt to make my own cover.  Instead of plunking down several hundred dollars to have a "professional" create my cover, I've decided to potentially endure hours of frustration learning a photo shop program, before discovering that I can't get it to give me the look that I want.

I imagine of all things that people may outsource to a third-party, it would be their cover design.  Not this guy!  Let me start out by saying I know nothing about photo shop programs, and even less about cover design.  However, I downloaded a free program called Gimp (http://www.gimp.org/), and have been trying to familiarize myself with its features.

The title of my book is based off of an expression I saw on a t-shirt.  Since I didn't have a picture of the actual shirt, I ordered one.  Getting a custom t-shirt made from a company called SpreadShirt (http://www.spreadshirt.com/) cost me $26.90.  Now I just need to take a picture of the shirt, load it onto Gimp, and photo shop it in front of a backdrop of city lights.  We'll see what kind of quality I can bring out.

In order to create the cover I've been referencing an informative post appropriately titled 'How to Make a Book Cover in GIMP' (http://selfpubauthors.com/2010/03/08/how-to-make-a-book-cover-in-gimp/). 

I plan to put the cover photo together within the next week.  Once I do I'll put a picture up.  That way everyone can JUDGE it!

Oh yeah, bonus points to anyone who can tell me what movie I referenced in the title of this post!




4 comments:

  1. Caught your thread at publishingchat.com and thought I'd check your blog. Hadn't heard of GIMP but I do use photoshop for covers.

    I started a new website to list self-publishing resources at http://selfpublishingnavigator.com. I have an interview on the blog page there where I'm giving away a self-publishing book for anyone who wants to enter the drawing with a comment. So far I have comments but no one saying they want to enter the drawing. You could be the first and only entry and win the book! It's called Let's Get Digital and is listed on Amazon as the newest self-publishing how-to title in their collection.

    Best wishes with your project! Hope the cover comes out well.

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    1. Thanks for the message! I enjoyed the interview and left a comment. Now I got my fingers crossed! :)

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  2. That would be pulp fiction chef....

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    1. Well played Mr. Sharpenberg! Well played!

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