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Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 3:01 pm
by Kernie
Looks awesome, Arky! I think the changes you have made enhance each individual cover as well as making them appear to be part of one cohesive series. Can't wait to see more! :D

Arkflip wrote:
QUOTE (Arkflip @ May 25 2017, 12:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
It's not easy to match every single detail because the poses aren't the same.

It's nearly impossible to match all the details, the main goal is to try to make the characters occupy the same general position and size across each cover as best as you can. I think you've done a great job with keeping the placement and scale of the characters consistent. Unfortunately, doing what we do in the world of custom covers means we have to rely on the (often limited) photos that are available. Imagine if we photographed the actors ourselves and could put them in the poses we wanted them in... it would make life easier and our designs even stronger!

On a side note, my absolute favorite set of posters (and I'm sure many of you would agree) is Drew Struzan's Back to the Future series, which really uses the same position/size idea to its maximum effect. Each poster has its own variables that are unique to the individual films, but they maintain so many constants to clearly keep them part of a connected whole. (Not that I expect you to do something like this, just wanted to share it as an examples of the constants/variables thing I talked about earlier)

[attachment=36136:Back_to_the_Future.jpg]

Arkflip wrote:
QUOTE (Arkflip @ May 25 2017, 12:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I still need to figure how I'll do that for the second movie, because the images I used aren't full body pictures but I'll work on that later.

Here's a trick I use fairly often in situations when I don't have full body pictures to work with... I'll use my Jessica Jones keyart as an example (although I've done this across a lot of my covers).
[attachment=36137:jjs1_001.jpg]

And here are the original images:
[attachment=36138:jjs1_002.jpg]

As you can see, each picture crops off the characters around the knees (which is actually a lot more of the body than some other photos show). Here's a visual aide of how to extend the bodies...
[attachment=36139:jjs1_003.jpg]

Now, of course, this method works best when you're dealing with a heavy amount of shadows and dark areas in your design. For situations when you can't hide the extended part of the body in shadow, you could always try cloning the rest of the legs if possible.

On a few occasions, I've even merged the torso with a pair of legs from another photo (although this relies on having the right two images to work with). In the example below of Wolverine from X2, I was only able to accomplish this because of Wolverine's arms being crossed.
[attachment=36140:wolverine.jpg]

I hope these little tips and tricks help to make the other covers in the series go a bit smoother for you! Looking forward to seeing some updates whenever you get to them (no rush! Enjoy real life as well!).

All the best,

- K

Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 3:12 pm
by ctaulbee
Great tips Kernie :)

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:54 am
by Arkflip
Sad day for me guys. Not sure why but I think I've lost everything I had. Cannot open the files, when I try to open them I receive a message saying the files aren't supported by my Photoshop version. I already installed Photoshop again but nothing. I will try to open them on a different computer, let's hope the problem is on the computer and not on the files.

:(

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:00 pm
by Kernie
Sorry to hear that, buddy. I hope you're able to salvage something. :( :( :(

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:04 pm
by Fidi
Bad news... :(

Which version of Photoshop are you using? Maybe you've changed something in the saving settings and only need a newer version (or somebody who saves your file in Photoshop's compatibility mode)?

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 2:23 pm
by ctaulbee
That's terrible Ark, I hope you will be able to recover your work.

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 5:55 pm
by bazzah
Fingers crossed you manage to recover it :(

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 6:24 pm
by sauron
Arkflip wrote:
QUOTE (Arkflip @ Jun 7 2017, 12:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Sad day for me guys. Not sure why but I think I've lost everything I had. Cannot open the files, when I try to open them I receive a message saying the files aren't supported by my Photoshop version. I already installed Photoshop again but nothing. I will try to open them on a different computer, let's hope the problem is on the computer and not on the files.

:(


Ah :( sorry to hear, I have the latest version of Photoshop CC so if you want me to try and open it and see if it works on the latest version let me know...

Posted: Wed Jun 07, 2017 11:44 pm
by VincentLupo
Sorry to hear that Ark. I really hope you can recover the files.

Posted: Wed Jun 28, 2017 9:17 am
by Arkflip
So... I think it's safe now to tell you guys that I've tried to open the files using CS5, CS6 and also CC2017 and I've managed to recover almost everything for HP2 and HP3. Unfortunately, I can't open the file for HP1 anymore. I'm gonna try again using a few things I searched on google, but I'm now able to continue and finish the 2nd and 3rd covers :)