I recent weeks I’ve hit a strange dilemma. I decided I wanted to upgrade many of my book
covers, but I want to do it with something I have created on my own. A part of the motivation is cost, and the
rest is I like the idea of creating something unique for myself.
In the past my friend Justin has made many of my covers for
me. Sadly, I seem to have lost track of him.
Another good friend and gifted artist did the cover for A Simple Twist
of Fate, however, she is a busy girl and I hate to impose.
I’ve had a couple of folks offer and one professional trying
to get started offered, but there are always issues; unable to connect
intellectually on the ideas and or these, unreliable, etc. So that brings me
back to having a go at it myself once again.
I could go back to the old default, a camera and a good
photo of something that will relate back to the book in some way, but that’s
not really what I want. So what to do? Spend the grocery money on a dozen or more professional covers, or think outside the box? Box? Crayons? No, not quite. Box
of pencils perhaps; yeah, that might work if I add in a bit of photography, but
there’s a problem. I have trouble drawing stick men.
All things considered, I have chosen to go the pencil route
as an experiment. There are many “how to draw” courses on line, and I do
understand the technology, pencil and paper. Yeppers, that’s tech my generation
can understand. So, with that in mind, I’m off to the city for a few supplies.
If it works out I will post lots of pictures and possible covers; if not I will
never mention it again. Wish me luck!
Now on to the ROW80 goals.
1.
Finish the first draft of my current project and
get it off to my editor. CM Crawford is
a great editor and has very reasonable rates. Heck, she’ll even work for Amazon
gift cards. The girl loves to barter. You can find her on her Facebook page
here:
Done! Success! The first draft is in the hands of the
editor.
2.
Get the next project over 15K words
Over 800 words on three different possible projects. A
decision will soon have to be made on which one to focus on.
3.
If Ms. Crawford gets the first project back to
me in time, finish the second draft during this round. If not then I will
finish and hopefully publish it during the last round.
So, one thing you
can do to help is to go to my Amazon author page and hit the *like* button on
the upper right side. Here’s the link.
If you have an
author page drop your link into a comment and I’ll go *like* it for you. Thanks
for stopping by, good luck!
Posts
Finding out what do on Photoshop takes time. I taught myself by trying to do something I knew how to do old tech and just charging ahead. Now I can use Photoshop but I don't have it anymore - irony.
ReplyDeleteSimplicity is key and forget about the Photoshop tutorials, rather Google for a blogger explaining something basic. And then also, keep it simple - start with that favorite photograph and just enhance it a bit.
My ROW80 post
Hi Gerhi, thanks for the guidance and encouragement. They are always appreciated. So time and patience are the key. Got it. :)
DeleteI've been using Photoshop for over 20 years, and I'm still learning! Have fun with your pencils and paper, but don't feel bad if you can't come up with something you like. You may be able to barter something like beta reads for cover art. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteHey Jennette, yeah, I'll probably end up bartering for this next one, but I really want to do this. I have an idea of what I want and it will take both the old tech and the new to make it happen.
DeleteRe: Photoshop - Check out the Adobe Youtube page... they have some great "newbie" tutorials that show you exactly what you need to do for certain things. After you get the basics down, the only thing limiting you in your imagination!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to you this week!
Wow, thanks so much. I will check that out.
Delete