I have a companion book on my @VictoriaKaer profile with writing tips. This book will cover some basic elements of cover design as well as some dos and don'ts of design. I also have information about requesting from a designer here on Wattpad.
I ce...
We talked about a PSD coloring file. A PSD file can be a lot of things since it can be edited and re-edited over and over.
So let's talk about a PSD mockup file.
A mockup allows you to create images that help show off your designs as they would appear on most anything. A T-shirt, a mug, a billboard, CD covers, and of course a book. A mockup lets designers showcase their work.
I'm going to show off a book mockup but there are many different kinds of mockups out there. Some can be used for free and there are others that require you to purchase the fine. Trust me, there are tons of free ones. Many of these templates are created for professional use so the file sizes are quite large. If you want to display them on Wattpad they'll need to be resized and made smaller or they won't upload to Wattpad.
With these mockup files, you can't open it and slap your image directly on it and call it a day. They are made to make things appear as realistic as possible for a digital file. These templates have layers that Photoshop calls a smart object, this allows you to replace their example image with an image of your own. A smart object layer allows you to place an object correctly without having to adjust anything.
This is the mockup we'll be using to show you how they work.
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As you can see, it looks like a typical PSD file, but there's a marked difference between the two. Do you see the layer the arrow is pointing to and how it has the little square in the corner? That is called a smart object layer.
So what is a smart object?
Smart Objects preserve an image's source content with all its original characteristics, enabling you to perform nondestructive editing to the layer.
In other words, you can replace an image without having to adjust anything. It will prevent the destruction of the original look the designer intended for the graphic. If you open a mock-up file and try to put an image over what's there it likely won't lay correctly and it won't be seamless.
