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presentation tips

hi im back with some advice for covers with regard to neatness. and that's saying smth bc I've had some of the most chaotic covers lmao

this entire chapter can be summed it into two sentences:

don't be messy
don't overdo it

however, for more details, you can feel free to scroll/turn. this segment is inspired from a chapter in ' book preschool. i highly recommend checking it out bc siah has better advice to give in such matters.

let's begin  ::

¹; yer image/faceclaim/background

never use lq photos. lq stands for low quality btw. if it's pixelated, blurry, dark (so dark you can't see your faceclaim without glasses), etc. it ain't the image for your cover. wp anyways ruins the end result quality by 50% you're just gonna make their work easier.

also select photos with little to no editing on them. like this one is a photo that has been edited:

you can honestly do editing on this one, however, don't do super complicated stuff. it ruins the original beauty of this pic and the result 8/10 times isn't very satisfactory. i know there are some official photoshoots with complex edits already made on them so these are also included in the list of 'dont be too excited and stay simple'. the bad boy photoshoot is an infamous example:

(note: b&w photoshoots aren't included. neither are colorized ones.)

this is a super hq photo which is pretty much safe to edit:

²; where to place your text

okay i have made a pictorial guide for this one so refer to that.

white - leave that spot alone, normie
black - safe zone
red - at your own risk, mi amor

³; color schemes

if you have a cover shop, this is super important. there's a way you can get your customer's favourite color scheme even if the photoshoot they have requested doesn't go well with it. i have listed some filters in the playing with filters chapters that can help you with this problem. you can also add filters from polarr that specifically give you colors in that shade (these are super helpful).

however, if you are not putting any filters or adjustments on your face-claims (or if you are using pngs), never, i repeat: NEVER, choose a color that doesn't go with your face-claim. it will look terrible even if they're both warm/cool colors:

pick colors that are closer to your face-claim. there's an eye-dropper tool in lots of apps, use it and generate colors that go well with your chosen image. this applies to your text too:

even if it isn't red, it still goes with the png and that's what matters.

⁴; gradients

i personally find using more than two colors (make sure they are complementary/go well with each other ffs) super messy. even with texts or gradients. so when generating gradients, stick to two colors. three, if you are feeling ambitious. and only use more that that if you are trying to get the pride flag.

⁵; fonts

ffs, never use more than two fonts. and if you are using variants of the same font, the same rule applies. keep one font all for your title text and another font for subtitles, watermarks, author name, date of birth, etc. or else you shall be awarded with the messiest of the year ngl

my eyes have been scarred. and try to avoid using caps for texts that aren't title texts. Like This, Okay? It Just Doesn't Look That Great. EITHER KEEP IT ALL CAPS or all small. also notice how i used a third color for the author name? does it look nice? obviously not 🤮🤮

ah, that feels better. i added a little space between the letters for uniformity. keep it aligned with the title text, or to the extreme left/right of it, or in the exact center of it.

use script fonts (like nexa, sans, omega sans, montserrat, arial, raleway, maven pro, quicksand, lulo) for things like author names. you may use cursive fonts but don't use a very dramatic one for it. my recs for those are sheepman, tehika, windsong (rarely) and northwell (special cases).

you can reserve the dramatic ones (as long as they go well with the other text - you need editor sense to get that honestly idek how to explain it) for the title text.

⁶; extra effects

like, if you want to add something to make your cover stand out a bit more, do feel free! but don't go overboard and add too much stuff. especially with gradients or light color schemes like this one:

you will know if something doesn't go well. even a kid could tell you that this looks super tacky.

go with what makes the end result pleasing to the eyes. if you think the above-given example looks nice, please get your eyes checked.

something like this is fine:

i have added an overlay in both examples but the difference is that this one looks nicer. (at least this one looks nice to me - it's simple and eye-pleasing). while you're at it, remove the 'a joyrene fanfiction' bc i personally think it's too much.

much better.

basically, it's okay to add stuff as long as it goes well with the other elements of the cover.

but anyways, that's it for today! i'm sorry that these are so few, but they're small details that really help spruce up your cover. you can, of course, add additional text like quotes, sub-quotes and even more stuff - as long as it all comes together nicely. don't be hesitant to ask for outside opinion (like friends, fellow users, etc.). those usually help a lot in picking out small mistakes that you might've not noticed.