Custom Cover Blu-Ray Custom Cover art thread (11 Viewers)

[Fritz Nilsen]

Originally Posted by sunce159 /t/314247/blu-ray-custom-cover-art-thread/270#post_3985949
hey fritz can i get download links for the bond covers you did?

Sorry.
These are paid commissions that the client does not want shared. I made that clear in the earlier posts, but neglected to mention it in the latter. Sorry.

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Hi guys.
I'm still hacking away at commissions, and here's one that the client said was okay to share.
The Crow: Wicked Prayer

Available by PM.

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Yes, another commission that is generously shared: The UK edition of Solomon Kane.

Available by PM.

 

[David Weicker]

I spent most of the afternoon/evening creating single-disc covers for the UK Universal Monsters set. Here are the thumbnails.
first four:
second four:
David

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Originally Posted by David Weicker /t/314247/blu-ray-custom-cover-art-thread/300#post_3986594
I spent most of the afternoon/evening creating single-disc covers for the UK Universal Monsters set. Here are the thumbnails.
David

Those look excellent, David. Could you tell me a little about how you made them, what sources you used for artwork, how you fit it to the blu-ray dimensions, etc?

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Working on look-alike covers for the "lost 9". Here's a A View To A Kill.

My client says these will be available to share, but there is a matter of costs, so it is undetermined when/if they'll ever be finished.

 

[David Weicker]

Those look excellent, David. Could you tell me a little about how you made them, what sources you used for artwork, how you fit it to the blu-ray dimensions, etc?

Well Fritz, this is strange - me telling you what I did. As most of us here on HTF, you are the one we look to for cover advice and guidance. But here I go.
I use Photoshop Elements, so I don't get too fancy with my work. Years ago I had built a Blu-Ray template. It is an 11x8.5 document with three sections (back cover - solid blue, spine - solid black, front cover - solid red) framed in white. The reason I have the white frame is so I can use Borderless on my printer and not worry about where on the page the cover will print. In general, when I resize an element, I do a corner-pull, so it is a proportionate change. I usually work at 600 dpi - I happen to like the extra resolution - especially on pasted text.
Since this was a set, I wanted a consistent look for all the covers, so I decided to build a template with the common elements, and then just add the specific information for each film.
On the template would be the Blue and Red 'Monsters', the 'copyright/ratings', the back cover 'background', and the spine information (minus the title itself)
I received the box set yesterday, and that was the source for pretty much everything on the covers. I scanned in the box (front, back, bottom, spine). I scanned in a double-sided insert. There were postcards with the original poster art - I scanned those in too. There was a booklet, and I scanned the back cover of that.
For the spine, since these would be sitting next to Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein, I scanned in that spine. That was a red title on a black background and already had the Blu-Ray symbol and the Universal logo, plus the sku number. I just blacked out the title (leaving a mark so I would know where to place the top of each of my titles. I copied the sku number from the box and placed it over the A&C number.
For the back, I started with a totally black back cover.
In the set there was a booklet. On the back cover there was a beautiful picture of the Universal Logo (with the plane flying around). I used that as the background on the back cover. I cropped it so it wouldn't cover either the top or bottom portions. I then set it to 40% Opacity
The Blue and Red "Monsters" I lifted from the front of the box. I made it a bit smaller so it didn't go so far down and added additional blue to extend the top side.
The 'copyright/ratings' came from the bottom of the box. That was a straight lift (I may have had to resize it slightly to make it fit)
I also keyed the 'Date Released' and the 'Minutes'
I then saved this as my 'template.
Now I just needed to create eight copies with the specific film information.
I did one title (Dracula) to see how it looked, and after I finished, I kept it open so I could use it as a reference for placing/sizing my pasted elements.
On the back of the box there were eight 'Audio/Video' infos. These were just cut and pasted. Because they were small, I didn't need to resize them.
Inside the box, there was a double-sided insert containing the 'title/credits' and the 'bonus features' for each. These I lifted separately. The 'bonus features' I left at their original size, but I enlarged the 'title/credits' so that they were a bit more prominent. I considered just enlarging the title more, but after the first one, I was happy with the result. (I would actually paste the other titles over the Dracula title, so that I would be sizing them all the same, and then re-paste the newly sized version into their respective covers).
Because I had done 'cut and paste' on the three information pieces, and I had a background that I wanted to show through, I used the magic wand to select the Black around the text and then Deleted it. That left just the text, with the logo showing through.
The booklet had the release date, so I typed that in (and then blacked out the placeholder date). I also keyed the running time (once again, blacking out the placeholder minutes).
All the titles were listed on the box spine. I cut those and rotated them to use on the spine. If they were multi-line on the box, I split them and made them single line. On the box, they were white on black, so I used the Paint-Bucket to make them red on black. I placed them so the first word lined up, and resized them so they were as wide as the spine.
For the front cover, I had the scanned poster art. This is where I ran into some problems. All those talented artists in the 30's and 40's were really inconsiderate They refused to make their posters in the right dimensions - didn't they know we'd be coming along to make custom Blu-Ray covers
Anyway, there are only four ways I know of to use different dimensioned artwork - Crop, Distort, Border, or Recompose. I don't like the look of borders, and I didn't want to spend the time to recompose (plus it doesn't always look that good), so that left the other two. In most cases I was able to resize and crop without losing anything vital. On a couple, where there was vital information/picture, I stretched the art to fit.
Before doing the Flatten Image, I opened up all eight and visually looked at them to make sure they were visually consistent. After flattening I saved them as JPGs. I printed them out of Glossy paper and cut them out (I have a swing-arm cutting board).
David

 

[Mike Frezon]

Thanks, David.

That was a terrific explanation of your workflow.

I have learned a LOT in this thread from you fellas about how to approach this kind of work.

Very cool and very helpful. And, very interesting, too!

I would suspect there are any number of frustrated Photoshoppers (like me) who look at the work exhibited in this thread and wish we could pull off anything close to it.

 

[TonyD]

Yikes, I have trouble just trying to figure out how to use the file to get a print of covers

 

[sunce159]

hey scott can i get a link to the high res covers of back to the future? is there a way to download from this site am i missing something?

 

[Citizen87645]

Do you ever run into times when you want to kern? That would be my (largely theoretical) frustration with using Elements for this type of thing.

I use Photoshop Elements, so I don't get too fancy with my work.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by Mike Frezon /t/314247/blu-ray-custom-cover-art-thread/300#post_3986842
Thanks, David.

That was a terrific explanation of your workflow.

I have learned a LOT in this thread from you fellas about how to approach this kind of work.

Very cool and very helpful. And, very interesting, too!

I would suspect there are any number of frustrated Photoshoppers (like me) who look at the work exhibited in this thread and wish we could pull off anything close to it.

Ain't THAT the truth! The Blu-ray art displayed in this thread is almost always awe-inspiring and always superior to what is being commercially offered. I always come to this thread with a great deal of excitement and anticipation just to see what wonderful imagination can bring forth on these covers!

 

[David Weicker]

Do you ever run into times when you want to kern? That would be my (largely theoretical) frustration with using Elements for this type of thing.

I know 'kern' has to do with font spacing (at least that is what I think it is - I'm not sure). but I've never thought about it. I either use the fonts I have, or cut an paste (sometimes letter by letter if necessary). As for spacing, I have no idea if what I do is 'correct'. I just do what I think looks ok, or will fit into the area I want.
I am not sure what capabilities Elements has in this regard. I know I don't use half of what it can do. I know the full size Photoshop has more features and other packages also are good.
David

 

[Citizen87645]

I have Elements 9 and it doesn't have the ability to kern, which is, as you described, the ability to adjust the spacing between letters on a per letter basis. Doing a letter-by-letter placement would be the workaround, which it sounds like you do when necessary. I have pro Photoshop at work and Elements at home, so I usually miss the convenience of the kerning feature when I do personal projects at home.

 

[Steven Good]

I spent most of the afternoon/evening creating single-disc covers for the UK Universal Monsters set. Here are the thumbnails.
first four:
second four:
David

Are these finished? Are the available to share? Please PM me if you are able and willing to send the files. I'd prefer to store these in standard blu cases rather than the cardboard box they were sold in...

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Hi all.
Here's a custom cover for the recently released remastered edition of The Terminator, using original poster art.
This was originally a commission for a German client, all in German, but I was allowed to make an English version available to forum members. This is in many ways a companion piece to my earlier Terminator 2 Skynet Edition custom.


Both are available, just PM me for the download link.

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Slow but steady progress on the James Bond covers.
I keep finding small things to adjust as I find better sources for the original covers.
Right now I'm struggling to determine the exact placement of the spine logos like in the US retail covers. Does anyone have an actual scan of one of the original covers, not a rebuild based on the Euro template?
Here are the covers so far:

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Well, another one of these done.
Thanks to the people who have generously donated their time to provide scans, this should now be dead-on accurate with regards to placement of the spine elements.

I also noticed the image of Maud Adams is flipped in the official artwork. I kept it like that, but would like to state my disapproval. People's faces are rarely 100% symmetrical and when you're familiar with a face you can spot it immediately. Very unprofessional.

 

[Kenneth Cummings]

Can someone make a custom cover or just a scan of the Beauty and the Beast Diamond Edition cover. I bought a copy from Amazon, and while almost everything was intact (including inserts and the slipcase), it was missing the blu-ray cover art.

 

[Fritz Nilsen]

Hi all. I just had to show off something special I got made today.
An honest-to-goodness custom Blu-ray slipcover!:

I just gotta say this turned out pretty awesome, and it opens up a new avenue of design for me. I can now let loose on designing custom slipcovers as well!
There has been a lot of demand for printing and shipping of my covers, and I have only rarely been able to fulfill such requests. In association with a North-American printer, I now offer printing and shipping, in cases if required, of all my current and future custom work.