Custom Blu-Ray Covers

[DoubleJ]

I'm a photoshop expert and it will be fun to get into making some custom covers; however, I have such little time that it will be a few months before I post some, I imagine.

Good idea for a thread, though. And swarez is right, don't stretch the picture and don't use just any image. Hi rez images for movies will not be incredibly difficult to find.

[RandellG]

Originally Posted by DoubleJ

I'm a photoshop expert and it will be fun to get into making some custom covers; however, I have such little time that it will be a few months before I post some, I imagine.

Good idea for a thread, though. And swarez is right, don't stretch the picture and don't use just any image. Hi rez images for movies will not be incredibly difficult to find.

Sadly I don't have Photoshop, I use Paint Shop Pro, but it works for me. Although I wish I has Photoshop, just don't have the money to buy it.

Were is a good place to find hi-rez pics? I tried Google but can't really find any I want to use

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by LastSonOfKrypton

I was hoping you'd chime in Do you mind taking the time to post some of the CCs you've made?

I'm not much of a Photoshop artist. The only 2 covers I've designed that were at all decent (The Fifth Element and Starship Troopers) are available at EAProgramming.

The Fifth Element cover is modified (with permission) from someone else's custom DVD art, so I can't even take full credit for that one.

[gumpaholic]

This is what i've been working on. It's a work in progress and haven't had time work on it lately .

[DoubleJ]

Originally Posted by RandellG

Sadly I don't have Photoshop, I use Paint Shop Pro, but it works for me. Although I wish I has Photoshop, just don't have the money to buy it.

Were is a good place to find hi-rez pics? I tried Google but can't really find any I want to use

Honestly, for what Paint Shop Pro can do at its price, it is a pretty good program. Sure, it's not going to be used in professional photo editing, but that doesn't make it incapable of creating professional quality work. You will just have to work a little harder.

If I could give you one specific place, I would. I would start by finding the movies' official websites, and go from there.

gumpaholic, what you've started there is rather good. I'd have to take a look more up close to get a better perspective, but I like what you've done up to this point.

[LastSonOfKrypton]

I'll have to check out PS Pro! How hard is it to use? Photoshop has always scared the **** outta me. There's far too much to learn!

[RandellG]

Originally Posted by LastSonOfKrypton

I'll have to check out PS Pro! How hard is it to use? Photoshop has always scared the **** outta me. There's far too much to learn!

Not hard at all. I've been using it since like 7 or 8 skipping 9 and 10. I got 11 preinstalled on my comp when I ordered it. . I still find new stuff on it but forget stuff I used to know. Masked layers always gives me problems .

I just leared something new on it yesterday while working on my 'Recruit' cover. I also used it on my '1408' cover I just posted.

I mostly experiment and find new things and combine many things together to make one thing different. To see an example of that check out mu 'Machinist' cover in the custom covers

[DoubleJ]

Photoshop is indeed a complex program. There are some great books out there, though, for making it easy to learn. The best one I can recommend is the A-Z book (can't remember the title), because it talks about the tools in the program from A-Z.

Layers are the most beautiful tools in the world! They can make scribbling into a work of art. Gotta love it!

[swarez]

I've been using Photoshop for over 10 years now and I'm still learning. It is a hard nut to crack but once you do it will be worth all the trouble.

As I pointed out previously. replacethecase.com has a crap load of high res artwork available if you register at the site.
All the movie studios have high res material websites but only a couple of them are open to the general public, you have to be a member of the press to gain access to the others. Lions gate has a site but I can't remember the url cause I'm at work.
Sometimes it's good to do an image search in google and set the preferences to "Extra Large Images". Then you can find some decent sized artwork. You can get away with using lower res stuff but you have to know how to use it and how to manipulate it to make it look presentable.
Also. When making a cover for the first time. Take a pre existing cover that you own and try to copy how it looks like. Then you get an idea how these things are made and how to make it work design vise.
One thing that I have done when there is very little artwork available is to make it up from scratch, creating a completely original design that doesn't use official artwork.

[swarez]

Here are some covers I've made using stuff I have found on the internet and stuff that I've found in books and magazines.



Since this film is so old there was no way to find good enough artwork to use. What I did was that I found some images online, not very large and then used a free program called rasterbator to make it larger. What the program does is that it converts the image in to vector based images that you put to any size. It's a great little program.



For this one I scanned the two images from the original Rocketeer comics.



This one was created using nothing but medium sized images found online, the background, pics from the film, flyers and everything. The way I used them allowed me to enlarge them without showing the defects that that usually produces.



Here is an example how I used a theme from the film, the wild boar, for the cover but used an image that I simply found online, of a stuffed boar's head. I fiddled with it, changed the color, the contrast and such to make it more "scary". For the back I used an image that I scanned from Fangoria and the spine is a very low res image found online but works because it's so small.

So you don't always have to use the official artwork and most of the time that artwork is boring as hell anyway. Be creative and do something that you feel works for the film.

[Moon Panda]

Those are distinctive and refreshing. Nice job swarez!

[Gordeux]

Your Rocketeer and Freddy v Jason are very nice. I didnt even know people went out and did this kind of thing Damn!!!

[ben1080p]

When New Line releases Freddy v. Jason on BD please make a custom cover like that one for it!!

[ben1080p]

Any of you guys a member of 9covers.com or DVDCoverfusion.com and "contribute"?

Cause I would like some of those covers, but really dont feel like paying.

[Josh Z]

Originally Posted by ben1080p

Any of you guys a member of 9covers.com or DVDCoverfusion.com and "contribute"?

Cause I would like some of those covers, but really dont feel like paying.

Evan at EAProgramming will host custom High-Def covers for free.