Practically every digital product on the market today has some sort of digital cover or eCover to enhance the value of an item in sales page. A well crafted cover for an eBook, audio CD, a software, or a courseware could dig a big hole in your pocket. A digital cover is a necessary to make sure your product can compete and added a unique value.
You can hire a graphic designer to make an eCover for you or your can purchase ready-made template to make and customize your own eCover such as ‘One In A Million E-Covers’ by Killer eCover Scripts. But today I want to share with you on how to make your very own personal DVD cover just by using Photohshop. I’ve also includes the photoshop project files.Let’s get started and download the project file below.
Step 1 (Preparing the cover design)
Open your Adobe Photoshop and click File > New to create a new document. Set the settings as the picture below.
Step 2
To open the rulers, click View > Rulers. You will see two rulers on the top and left side of your document as picture 2a.
Then click View > Actual pixels to view the document in 100% as picture 2b.
Next, click and drag on the left ruler to the right and release it at 0.6 as in picture 2c.
Okay, this will become your template for creating the front and side cover. We will not make the back cover as the eCover that we’re going to make will only show the front and the side.
Step 3
Now it is time to go crazy and make your own DVD cover design using photoshop. If you doesn’t have any design in mind, you can use the image included in the project file.
Assuming you don’t have any design, load Mantera_DVD.png from the project file. Copy and paste it inside the template you just made. Align it so that it fit the document as picture 3.
Step 4
Flatten all layers by right clicking on any layer at Layers tab, select Flatten Image. The flatten layers will become Background layers with a padlock icon as shown in picture 4a.
Double click on the padlock icon, A New Layer dialog box will pop out. Do not change anything, just press OK. The Background layers will be renamed again as Layer 0 as in picture 4b
Step 5
Create a new layer by clicking the new layer icon at the layer tab or at the menu, click Layer > New > Layer. Then, hide Layer 0 by clicking the eye icon beside it. Now, click back Layer 1. Using the Rectangular Marque Tool, make a new selection. Then select color #141414 and paint the selection as in picture 5.
Step 6
Create another new layer and it should be Layer 2. Using the Rectangular Marque Tool, select the left portion part. Then select color #141414 and paint the selected area as in picture 6
Step 7
Press CTRL and D to unselect. Then Select Layer 1 and Layer 2 by pressing CTRL key when selecting. Next, use Move tool and scale down both layers as shown in picture 7.
Cool Tips!
Make sure the ‘Show Transform Control‘ box are ticked before beginning to scale. It is located under the menu bar.
Step 8
Hide Layer 2 and select Layer 1. Use the Magic Wand tool to select the rectangular shape. Then at menu, go to Select > Modify > Smooth and input sample radius 30. We only need to have rounded corners on the right side. To fix this, use the Rectangular Marque Tool and SHIFT key and select the rounded corners on the left as shown in Picture 8. Then, go to Select > Inverse. Press delete key to remove the edges. Press CTRL and D to unselect.
Step 9
Still on Layer 1, using the Move Tool, with CTRL key are pressed, drag the corners of the rectangle and make the same shape as shown in Picture 9a.
Then Duplicate Layer 1 to make Layer 1 Copy. Use the Paint Bucket Tool to change its color to #232323. Then drag Layer 1 Copy under Layer 1. Again, using the Move tool, make changes to the shape as Picture 9b.
Step 10
Now what we need to do is to make the cover looks 3D. We will only use Polygonal Lasso to create the shapes. I’ll just simplify the steps:-
i) Make the side by using Polygonal Lasso in a new Layer. Give it color #141414. Then, make a half sphere shape by using Polygonal Lasso then, go to Select > Modify > Smooth. Put 3 in the value. This will smoothen the shape. The shape will look like Picture 10a.
Cool Tips!
Lower the opacity of other Layers to help you see the selected layer better.
ii) Also, using the Polygonal Lasso create another shape as in Picture 10b on Layer 1. Give it the same color as the cover.
iii) Using Polygonal Lasso, create another shape as in Picture 10c on Layer 1 copy; give it color #171717.
iv) Then still on the same layer, create another shape as in Picture 10d; give it color #1717173.
Step 11
We now need to add some lighting to the case to make it more 3D.
Create a new layer, named lighting. Turn off Layer 1 copy and Layer 1 by clicking the eye icon. On the newly created layer, select brush tool with 20px soft round preset as in Picture 11a.
Use color #3d3d3d and make a horizontal line as in Picture 11b.
Now click Move tool and move it to the upper part of the case as shown in Picture 11c.
Next, same brush preset but with 10px, make a small highlight at the top of the side cover as shown in Picture 11d.
Now, create a new layer, use brush tool with a 6px brush size, make a new horizontal line as shown in Picture 11e.
Then, move it to the position as shown in Picture 11f. Then brush of a bit the edges of the line to give it a soft look.
We are not done yet. Create a new layer, using the Polygonal lasso tool, make a selection as shown in Picture 11g.
Then, right click and select Stroke and put the settings as in Picture 11g with color #3d3d3d. Press CTRL and D to unselect. Then select all layers that contains lighting and merge it all.
Step 12
We now need to put the cover we designed earlier to its place.
First, turn back on Layer 0 which contains the design. Using the Rectangular Marquee tool, select the front cover design. Then, go to Edit > Cut. Make a new layer, drag the layer and position it above the other layers. Go to Edit > Paste. Use Move tool, resize it and place it like Picture 12a.
Cool Tips!
Press CTRL key when dragging the corner to free transform the shape.
Step 13
Same as previous step, select the layer which contains the side design, in this case its Layer 0. Move the layer under the layer which contains the front design. Using the Move tool, position it to the side of the case as shown in Picture 13
Step 14
Make a new layer and make it the top most layer. Name it ‘Shine’. Use the brush with size 20px and color #d5d5d5, draw a vertical line as in Picture 14a.
Then use move tool and move it to the side of the cover as in Picture 14b. Then make the Opacity level 37%.
Step 15
Merge all layers together. Right click on the merged layer, and choose duplicate. Select the duplicated layer, go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Move the layer to the bottom. Hide the other layer. Use Polygonal Lasso tool and select the side cover.
Then, go to Edit > Cut. Create a new layer and go to Edit > Paste.
Cool Tips!
Press CTRL and X hotkey for cutting; CTRL and V for pasting. Speeding up your process!
Then, move the duplicated Side cover design like in Picture 15b.
Next move also the duplicated front cover design as in Picture 15c.
Then merge the two duplicated layers. You should now have the original DVD cover and the mirrored cover as shown in Picture 15d.
Move the mirrored layer so that it will be underneath the original DVD Cover. Make its opacity to 25%.
Step 16
Make a new layer and make it the bottom most layer. Click the Gradient tool. As shown in Picture 16, click the Gradient .
Use color #303540 for the left Color Stop and #000000 for the right Color stop and hit OK.
Make the Gradient as in Picture 16b. Click and drag from bottom to the top.
Step 17
We are pretty much done here but small enhancement won’t hurt.
Select the reflection layer. Use the Eraser tool with size 300px, slightly erase the bottom part of the reflection as in Picture 17a.
As for final touch, create a new layer above the reflection layer. Use brush tool with size 20px with black color, make a slight shadow underneath the DVD cover as shown in Picture 17b.
This will give the impression as the cover is standing on a solid surface.
Finish! Give a pat on yourself.
Conclusion
You just made your own 3D DVD cover just by using photoshop. You can now make your product unique and stands out from the competition. Though, making your own cover is a hefty and time consuming task. If you have a product to market, you should focus more on selling it. You can however use an automated Action Script by Killer Cover Scripts to design your digital covers. With Killer Cover Scripts you can create boxes, bag, business card, DVD and CD case, books and much more. All you need to do is prepare the design and press play. Within 15 minutes your covers are ready!
