It was such a simple project,
But I had no way of knowing
Cos it should have been a simple piece of cake
Once you give them some attention
Little projects get to growing
And they multiply the messes that they make
And they only gain momentum
So it shows no signs of slowing
And I’ll have to hit a tree if I can’t brake
So, yeah, the book. Looks like it might be in final form, ready to send off, but of course I have said that before. And it has grown since then. I really need to trim it down, cos it is currently at 403 pages. And that is without simply dumping everything into it–I was trying to be selective!
Anyway, I need help. Yes, that kind, too, but mostly I am looking for a graphics program to do the cover art. I have the elements I need, and it’s a really simple design, but I haven’t had a graphics program on my computer since SuperPaint, some two decades ago. Advice? Is there something simple online? Something inexpensive I can and should buy?
(It occurs to me that I did the cover layout for the last book, and I have absolutely no recollection of how I did it. Might even have done it in Word, for all that.)
If you have a Mac, I’d suggest Gimp. It’s open source, and therefore free. (Be sure to get the OS X native version rather than the one that requires X11.)
Photoshop Elements is a trimmed down version of the original, and is much cheaper (but is not free) I have used it for creating “cover art” for fan fiction, and for taking photographs and drawings of snails from the web and trimming them to fit into my snail identification database.
It does require some learning, but it also has some decent tutorials.
A cheaper option is Sketchbook Express, which is quite cheap. I have only played around a little with it, so can’t advise whether it is easier or harder than Elements. I’m also not sure if it has a PC version, since I got it from a Mac site.
GIMP or Paint.NET should do the trick.
Check with the printer first and find out what formats they can accept, such as AI, CDR, EPS, PDF etc. Then make sure whatever programme you have can export it. I worked in that field for a while and one of my most difficult tasks was to take customers’ own artwork and make it work on our system, oft-times having to rebuild it from scratch if I couldn’t open it on the most popular drawing packages. ‘Word’ artwork was a no-no.