How To Make Amazing Wattpad Covers

Placement

So now that you've figured out your pictures and fonts, it's time to talk about placement. The last thing you want is for your cover to appear crowded! This chapter is all about how to avoid these situations.

So what do you want to see on your book cover? Well, let's think about it. You should always have a picture or symbol on the cover that tells something significant about your book.

I like to think that you cover in a way is a blurb for your book without words. For example, if your book is about a couple running away together, you may want a picture of a couple holding hands and running down a road or though a field. The holding hands, to symbolize romance, and the running through a field or on a road to symbolize the 'running away' aspect of the book.

That's not required, though. Really you should pick whatever picture you feel gives the idea you want people to get. But let's face it. The perfect picture isn't always pre-made! Sometimes you have to take multiple pictures and cut them out, combine them, and arrange them for the perfect look you want.

I've made an example on the side which I will explain to you now. (A/N: See side picture!!)

So, on the side, you will see a sort of collage, if you will, of photos. The three lined up on the right look separate and unrelated, but the large one looks like a completed cover. Now, how did I get from thise three completely different pictures, to the combined picture? 

Let me tell you.

First, I went to Pinterest.com, and found my photos. For the girl and the rose, I searched under 'Fantasy Photography'. For the birds flying out into the sunset, I simply searched 'birds flying'. You can put in the search that you think will best help you come up with the photos you need.

If Pinterest doesn't have the photos you need, try using the other sources metioned in the chapter about Finding The Right Photo.

Now! How to combine....

To begin, I went to Pixlr express.com and re-sized the birds flying and the rose picture to 256x400. Then I went to Pixlr editor.com uploaded the rose image as a layer, after creating an image the appropriate size, (256x400) and then uploaded the picture of the girl on top of it.

Now. How did I get rid of the pesky background? Simple! I used the eraser tool to remove it and then re-positioned it in the corner with the 'move' tool that looks like and arrow.

After I had positioned those two pictures, I added the bird picture as a layer and lowered the opacity to the appropriate level, about 36 or so. Really, the appropriate level of opacity for a texture type of photo depends on your cover.

Now let's go back in time for a second. The picture of the birds is bright, but it looks nice and dark on the cover. I tinted it on Pixlr express.com. I will explain all the things about erasing, moving, and tinting in the chapter about how to use the tools on Pixlr.com.

So now that I've explained briefly how I got the pictures where they are now, it's time to explain why I placed them where I did.

So. First of all, let's think about the idea of the story, 'The Last Rose'.

'The Last Rose' is a story about a princess who has been held captive by her father, the king, for her whole life. Now, she is eighteen, the age where she is expected to fend for herself in the wild. She is released in the wild unmercifully by her father, with nothing at all to carry with her. She suffers on her own, with no experience in the wild, and almost died one night. But then, just in time, Jacob came. Jacob was a hunter boy who lived amoung the peasents of the kingdom ruled by her father. He is not allowed to talk to her, by order of the king, since she is royalty  and he is not, but he still won't hesitiate to show his love to her. Every day, by the same oak tree, he leaves her a rose with a note attatched. The princess reads the notes, and replies, leaving them by the tree, but keeping the rose for herself. One day, however, there is no rose by the tree. Has Jacob been captured? Or worse.....died?

(A/N: 'The Last Rose' is not actually a real story. I just made up the plot on the spot for purposes of this chapter. I may make it into an actual book though, if I have the time to think it out a bit more!.....or perhaps I would co-write.......)

So. There are three to four major aspects of the story, 'The Last Rose'. 

1: The Princess

2: The wild

3: Jacob

4: The roses

Now, here's how I've decided to best represent the story on the cover. The princess is up in the corner, sort of behind the stone wall that looks to be part of a castle. The rose, is on the wall. It represents love, as well as Jacob in a way, since he gave her the roses. The texture of the birds is meant to represent the wild. You can think about the major aspects of your story, and think of your own way to put them on your cover.

Now, why did I choose that top corner for the princess? I mean, I could have just had her in the center. Well, let's see. If she had been in the center, she would have covered up the rose. We would then be missing that important part of the story. With her up in the corner, we can still clearly see the other aspects of the story.

Then, about the text. I chose the 'Augustus' font for the words 'The Last' and the username for my friend. (A/N: Thanks @CrystalClearAngel for letting me use your username on my example cover!) The word 'Rose' is in the 'FairydustB' font, because the viney look helps tie it in with the rose picture, and I wanted to emphasize that word. I shose the color red to match the rose.

But why did I puc the text where I did? I put it there to fill the empty space of the wall on the cover. Not every open space needs to be filled, but if I put it at the top, it would be too crowded and we wouldn't be able to see any of the other pictures clearly. The text was downloaded from dafont.com and Fontspace and was installed and applied using Pixlr. I will explain that more in the part about how to use Pixlr.

So, once I thought the story through, I got my ideas and figured out where they would work best. Try using this thinking process for your own covers, and I hope it helps! 

Author's Note:

Sorry if this chapter was a bit scattered or long. I hope it helped you though, and if you have and questions PLEASE COMMENT AND ASK THEM! I will always take the time to answer for you! I'll tell you what comes next soon! But goodbye until then!