The photos we use in our graphics leave a massive impact on the cover as a whole. 

But whilst, photos give them that little bit extra, most are illegal.

How many of you get photos for your covers off of google? Be honest.

-Yeah, well technically, that's illegal. 

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So, what do you do?

The answer is simple. STOCK PHOTOS

Stock photos are photos which have been taken and can be purchased by you for commercial purposes.

Believe it or not, most people stear clear of stock photos when making their covers. And you will see why, in the example provided.

Now, you may ask. 'I'm not publishing my story, at least not commercially, so why do I need to use stock photos?" 

Elementary, my dear Watson! It's copyright.  

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Now, if you are broke, like me. You probably don't want to spend money in purchasing photos for your covers. So what do you do?

a) find free resources. If you look around, you're bound to find a website or app which gives free backgrounds or graphic resources. *cough* Canva and DeviantArt *cough*

b) make your own. It's really not that hard. You just have to find a picture of a model, apply PSD's, textures, overlays, all that stuff and it'll look amazing. Believe it or not, all the covers on paranuha's profile started with a plain black background and are face manips.

c) wattpad resources. There are tonnes of books on wattpad which offer resources. *cough* Graphic_Squad has a resources shop *cough* And all they ask for is credit.

d) pictures of models are free. pngs are also available. But if you want a picture that suits your cover better, cut out your own. Also, pictures of models are available on Deviantart.

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If you use a resource supplied by us or any other user on wattpad, give credit. They are putting out their for you to use, their kindness ought to be recognised.

If you have any questions, leave a comment in the comments section.