cover workshop!!

2

Let's section this chapter off, shall we? I'll try my best to explain things as accurate as possible, so I'll add pictures (hopefully they will make things easier) and I'll label them so you can use them for reference when you make your cover.

PICTURE ONE: That is the cover we will be making for this chapter!

PICTURE TWO: Those are the applications we will be using for the whole process.

HOW TO ERASE?

This step is quick and easy as long as the picture you are using has a sold color at the back. You can choose a picture with a multicolored background if you have more free time on your hands.

PICTURE THREE: Click on the "eraser" application (any works fine as long as it says that it erases backgrounds). Choose the picture you want to make transparent and the picture will show up. There are a few options for my application which are Extract, Auto, Manual, Repair, and Zoom.

I will explain what those are for in a second.

WHAT IS EXTRACT?

For now, we won't need that and it's way too complicated to use, so let's set that aside.

AUTO? (PICTURE FOUR)

This feature allows you to target an area so it will automatically be erased. Be careful in using this if the thing in your picture has a similar color with its background because sometimes the thing you're avoiding to erase might be erased instead.

An example of the outcome is on PICTURE FIVE. (You just have to drag it on the area then it will instantly erase it.)

If you think the background is fully erased, then you can go ahead and save it. There will be an option to smooth out the rough edges, and you can do that if you want.

MANUAL?

Manual will give you the freedom to erase the background on your own using a brush. Like in digital drawing, there is an eraser button in which you can change the size, offset (it's like how far the eraser is from your thumb so you have better control over what you're erasing) and so on.

(PICTURE SIX) By the the way, the solid pink dot is where my thumb is placed, so you can see the separation between the actual thing I'm erasing and wher my thumb is. This gives better precision in erasing.

You can start cleaning out the parts of the photo and this can also be used when you see tiny leftovers from when you used Auto. Make sure you erase the picture as nicely as possible because you don't want one ear bigger than the other!

If you think you erased the background nicely enough, go ahead and save it.

REPAIR?

If you made a mistake, you can go over it with this option. It's like Manual, except the opposite. Instead of it erasing, it will restore the picture. It's also in a brush form with the same layout as the Manual.

ZOOM?

Zooming is pretty much self-explanatory. If you found an area that you can't seem to erase properly, you can zoom and erase from there.

THE ACTUAL COVER:

First, I think you all know the size of the Wattpad covers, so let's leave that for now. Pick any color/background you want and crop it.

The border is optional, but you can download borders from any website and just crop it until it looks best for the cover. Then, just do some editing.

I just searched for "white border" then used PicsArt to apply it.

If the border you downloaded is not transparent, then you can go ahead and apply what you learned from the "Erasing" process.

Once you have done all that, just paste the transparent you have made and size it to your liking. If you have multiple books you want to make covers for, I suggest you make all the ones without the titles first so you don't have to switch applications constantly.

When you finish your blank covers, switch over to Phonto and open up your cover. The font I used was "Arial Bold" but "Arial Bold Italic" works nice too.

HOW DO I CURVE THE FONT?

REMINDER: You can only curve one line! If your title has more than one line, then you have to curve all of them separately then just center them if you want.

You go and add the text and once you have done that, press "Style" and there will be different options like "Text Color" and "Stroke" etc.

You will see the option "Curving" and you can go ahead and press that. You can choose any angle you want and once you are satisfied with the curving, press "Done."

You can center the text with these options in "Move" (PICTURE SEVEN) and just experiment where you want to place everything.

Experimenting is key and you can do random designs. Make your cover as unique as possible and don't forget to add your name!

If I didn't explain something well, please tell me here! Love you all, I hope this helped.