Book Cover Tips

21. || manips

Mmk so this chapter is going to be kinda difficult, depending on how quickly you pick it up I suppose. By the title, you see this is manips, and if you don't know what those are, it's where you insert someone else into a photo with someone else, like the above photos. Those are one's I did for my instagram account, then the other is one that was done by lydiasmrtin on instagram.

I'll teach you guys the gist of how to do it.

i. Whether you're editing a book over or a screen cap, open the desired image as the background. Then, after you find the image you want on top (for screencaps or for editing the person over another person, you'll have to make sure the other person is in the right position and would look "normal" if the screen cap was actually real)

ii. After opening this image as the foreground, move it around and erase around the unwanted areas. I suggest to use the soft brush around the edges to make it blend in more, but this is just a process you'll have to get better with experience and time.

iii. Adjust the saturation/lightness/exposure if needed. If the original screen cap is dark, make sure the foreground photo is as well. It won't look real if they're not the same color. (afterwards, I suggest using a filter over it to make it blend in more if needed). Merge.

iv. If you masked over a person to replace them and they're showing through, just open the original background image as the foreground again and move it around to where you can erase and paint over it to make it blend in with the background, making it look like it was naturally there in the first place. Repeat this until you finish.

v. Save the image and add other filters or anything like that. I suggest to make it in B&W for your first try, so you don't have to worry about the saturation and everything like that. You can work with that the better you get with time.

For the book cover one above, you just find your background photo (example being the woods) and then just add in each character PNG and merge.

It's a lot harder than it sounds, trust me. It took me awhile to finally figure out how to do it. The trick is finding the right photos that will go with one another, along with the angle the person is in the screen shot. Just take your time and find the right images, it will work out eventually.