Feel free to use these templates on your own portfolio, commercially, or however else youd like. Even though weve all been told since childhood to never judge a book by its cover, the fact is that book cover design does attract readers. Well start with the process of downloading gimp and finish. Create your own cover vibrantdesigns book cover design. Once i finished the interior formatting, i knew how many pages were in the book. In this gimp tutorial, i show you how to design an album cover using the latest version of gimp 2. The pixel limit for the interior cover, as with all interior book images, has been increased to 3. How to make a book cover spine with gimp createspace posted on august 10, 2017 august 10, 2017 by dale in my video createspace cover template. Top 5 free book cover makersdont break the bank, create.
Make a book cover spine with gimp selfpublishing with dale. I downloaded it, and i used it to resolve my specific issue, but not for my total cover solution. This being said, if youve written your book using scrivener and you know your way around the program, then its possible to get the same kind of results from scrivener that you could get from word. Ill be using the book cover i created in my 2d book cover class in this demonstration. I include how to add photos, text, and eyecatching gradient backgrounds. Here, timo takes us step by step through the process of using gimp to create a book cover. How i designed my novels cover with no graphic design.
How to create an album cover in gimp davies media design. Create a stylish book cover by customizing a professionallydesigned template from adobe stock. Design an ebook catalogue cover in canva using either a template or your own specifications and images work out the specifications for a paperback book cover or generate one in createspace, and then design your cover in canva with a little image manipulating in gimp. The final step for book cover creation is to edit the size of the image to fit your book. Cover design is the layout and style of the text in relation to the images, the format of the back copy, whether you include an image and bio on the back, etc. So for the last element of your createspace cover you need a book cover spine. Jun 28, 2019 in this post ill be sharing 9 free mockup templates for gimp users to show off their various design and branding design skills. The course benefits from having a specific focus and im the most familiar with using the gimp to create book covers. Browsing book covers in stores, i came away with a different sense of. Yesterday i showed you how to use paint brush to make an ebook cover, so today i am going to show you how to make the same cover in gimp.
Sometimes you can produce a stunning book cover using free services. In this course ill show you how to use the gnu image manipulation program gimp, a free photoshop like program, to produce professional looking, high quality graphics on a budget. Work out the specifications for a paperback book cover or generate one in createspace, and then design your cover in canva with a little image manipulating in gimp. For simplicity, i visually shared the quick keys for when you make a book cover in gimp. This is perfect for selfpublishing authors including business owners creating ebooks or for publishers. Aug 10, 2017 how to make a book cover spine with gimp createspace posted on august 10, 2017 august 10, 2017 by dale in my video createspace cover template. A cool and free tool that generates good quality book cover mockups. My printer has an online application that will generate a cover template based on book size and number of pages. The last time i made a book cover, i struggled in paint, and when i mentioned on facebook that i had hit a snag, someone suggested gimp. Learn how to design book covers for print or digital using the latest version of gimp. There is even a free tutorial on how to create a quick and simple book cover using a free software called gimp. How to make a book cover with gimp, i rushed through the process skipping over two very important steps in.
Heres a tutorial to help you get it done using gimp. Youll learn how to create a book cover design from start to finish, understanding the best settings for print vs. How to make a book cover with gimp, i rushed through the process skipping over two very important steps in creating a good paperback book cover. An eyecatching design can make the difference between a book that sells and one that stalls, so dont let your future bestseller get passed over due to a soso cover design. Sometimes the text becomes so stylized it is, itself, part of the artlike with several contemporary ya titles from around 20152020. Aug, 2015 a seriously great tool for writing, but overlycomplex for formatting a print book. Course ratings are calculated from individual students ratings and a variety of other signals, like age of rating and reliability, to ensure that they reflect course quality fairly and accurately.
I was mired in the beginners learning curve with using gimp. Dont worry, you can still create amazing images for the web and beyond using the basics of the gimp. There are no recurring fees once youve published your high quality design. Note that this is a fairly advanced class so you should be familiar with the gimp. Canvas collection of book cover layouts is the best on the web. Do you have a kindle book cover or ebook design you need to make into a paperback cover. If you need to design a 3d ebook image cover for your self published work, then this articlel can help. How to make a book cover in gimp selfpublished authors.
How to create a print book cover on kdps template without. Whether you are a graphic designer, photographer, illustrator, or scientist, gimp provides you with sophisticated tools to get your job done. The course uses the creation of book covers for selfpublishing as the basis for demonstrating the use of the program. If youre using gimp for mac, simply substitute the ctrl key for the command key. This video discusses how to make a book cover in gimp. Stepbystep tutorial on how to create an ebook cover using gimp free open source software. Can you, the author, also be enough of an artist to design a cover that is as good as your book. It requires an isbn because it generates a bar code for you. This is a great tutorial for selfpublishers and authors. This writeup explains the steps to be followed to create covers for your ebooks. Set up and design book covers in gimp using layer masks and blend modes to create interesting effects. Tutorials cover the gamut of design topics, from web design and photographic techniques to advertising and interface design.
Gimp tutorial on how to create ebook image boxshot. File save, save the image to your computer as a png file with. How to design a book cover if you are not a designer a great article on getting the design right. Youll learn how to edit your photo, create a shape with a picture overlay, add a line nova using a filter, add a flare, and use the new live edit gradient tool.
The video is a little poor in quality because this is not my usual video production. Gimp is a crossplatform image editor available for gnulinux, os x, windows and more operating systems. It is free software, you can change its source code and distribute your changes. Do you want to know how to make a book cover with gimp in less than 5 minutes. Assuming you can get your colors right, its possible to do a professionallooking cover yourself, using gimp. Mar 29, 2019 edit the image size to work well with your cover design. I will tell you the simplest way to make a cover with your word processor. In this gimp for beginners class, youll learn how to use the gnu image manipulation program gimp to create a 3d book cover. Keep in mind, too, that cover design and cover art arent the same, though. Gimp tutorial childrens picture book setup for self. Drag the corners of the book cover image to match the four corners of the 3d book template.
Create a professional book cover without hiring a designer. Once you do get a grasp of gimp, you can design more freely than with templatebased book cover makers. Believe it or not, you can actually design an entire book cover using only microsoft word. But you need to realize that a lot of other people are using these sites too. Using professional photography will allow you to create a high quality book cover thats ready for kindle and other ebook sites. It is horses for courses when designing your book cover with free book cover creator tools. Sep 27, 2018 however, if you didnt create a solid book cover, youll go to gimp and use the color picker tool to obtain the background color for your spine by clicking on the back cover background.
Make it your own by changing the typography, artwork, and colors. But although i personally believe in paying professionals, im also aware that some people want to have a go themselves, or need to because of. The book starts from the very beginning, so when you are new to photo editing, thats no problem. May 07, 2019 you see, richard knew the contents of the book were important. Doing so will help when you go to publish your book and it has to fit in a standard format to match. When prompted if you want to save the update, click yes. The books cover art that appears on the ibooks store also known as the marketing image is the image delivered alongside the book asset and does not refer to the cover image included in the book asset. May 19, 2019 design an ebook catalogue cover in canva using either a template or your own specifications and images work out the specifications for a paperback book cover or generate one in createspace, and then design your cover in canva with a little image manipulating in gimp. If you have created your book cover design, you can easily do it with powerpoint, then all you need to do is to convert it into a beautiful mockup by using one of these free tools. Doing my interior and cover design would allow me artistic control. Is it possible to design a book cover using gimp only.
This video was made to help a fellow indie artistwriter format their picture book, using gimp, for print publication. When you follow the link, you can see gimp s pretty popular on cnet. Here is a step by step guide for how to design a book cover in gimp. Best software for diy book design alliance of independent. The artists guide to gimp effects is the followup text to the first book ever published on gimp, the artists guide to the gimp. Top 5 free book cover makersdont break the bank, create your. How to create a free print book cover for kdp freedom to vent. To design a physical book cover with gimp youll need 3 things. Derek murphy of creativindie covers is a brilliant designer and has designed a number of my own book covers. To see the hex color code, youll need to go to windows at the top, click on dockable dialogs, and select colors. Jul 31, 20 gimp is the open source program from sourceforge team that can be used to create stunning e book covers. In this tutorial we walk you through how to design a book cover in gimp, using one our diy templates. The book starts with installing and configuring gimp 2.
You will then see a small box display that asks you the image size. Besides, you only need to know the fundamentals of using the gimp to produce book covers. Actually, there have been some books that cover gimp 2. If you have an apple computer you use pages program.
However, unlike the basic web apps, it doesnt come with builtin image assets to choose from. Design book covers with canvas free book cover maker. The first thing you do is to go to page setup and set up the size of your cover. Do you need a free book cover creator for your ebook. Design book cover for free with online templates adobe spark. What he failed to realize, however, is that people do, in fact, judge a book by its cover in reality, according to the book smuggler, 79% of people say book cover designs play a decisive role in their decision to purchase a book. Im sure ill go through a few more iterations before im happy with mine. It means that you will never be able to create a truly unique book cover. Caring about fantastic book cover design is one of those nonnegotiables for all authors. Jul 26, 2019 if you are new to gimp and want to use gimp 2. Take a look at these 6 tools you can use for creating your book cover mockup. If youre not too keen on hiring a professional and would rather tackle design duties yourself, here are a few resources to help you along the way. Getting an original nontemplate book cover made professionally can costs a. Then browse your pc and find, select and open the rectangular book cover image.