Handy
Tip : Making digital book covers is not a hard task and the
graphics look quite good. This tutorial is a long process yet
combines many image techniques that will benefit the user for
all time.
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PAINT SHOP PRO TUTORIAL
HOW TO MAKE E-BOOK COVERS
 This
ebook cover tutorial is lengthy but is well worth the effort of doing
it. You will learn a lot of different techniques, and uses, for different
PSP tools.
For those who may want
to skip this Paint Shop Pro tutorial, at the bottom of this page there is a selection
of E-Book Cover Tubes available for download.
Step
1 Open
a New Image 400
x 400
Transparent Background
16 Million Colors
 Step
2
Click
on the Preset-Shapes
tool  in your
tool palette then the Toggle
Tool Options  :
Style Type = Rounded Rectangle
Retain Style = unchecked
Antialias
= checked
Create as vector = unchecked
 Step
3
Set
your foreground style to "None"
(click on the arrow in the Foreground Style box and choose the icon on the right)
and your background style to "Solid
Color" (click on the arrow in the Background Style box and choose the brush
icon on the left).
Then click right into the Background Style box and
choose a suitable colour for your book's binding.
 Step
4
Draw a rounded rectangle
of about 255x300 in the center of your image (watch the third brackets
in your status bar for the dimensions of your rectangle).
 Step
5
Click
on the Selection Tool 
on your tool palette:
Then select the Toggle
Tool Options.
Selection type = Rectangle
Feather = 0
Antialias = unchecked Draw
a long selection at the right edge of your rounded rectangle, covering all of
the rounded top and bottom corners. Now hit the Delete
key (Edit || Clear)
and cut off the rounded corners on the right hand side of the rectangle You
should now have a rectangle with rounded corners on the left side and 90-degree
corners on the right side. Deselect
by right-clicking into the image or with Ctrl+D
(Selections || Select None). Step
6
 Select
the Toggle
Layer Palette 
Right-click on the layer in your layer palette and choose "Duplicate"
from the context menu.
Right-click on the top layer, choose "Rename"
from the context menu and type in "Binding".
Right-click on the bottom layer and rename it to "Back
cover".
Click on the "New
Layer" icon at the top left corner of your layer palette, and name this new
layer "Pages".
Leave that layer active,
and click on the little
glasses next to "Binding"
to make that layer invisible.
 Step
7
Click
on the Preset-Shapes
Tool in your
tool palette again, and change the Style
Type to Ellipse.
Click into your background-style box and change the colour to
white.
Keep the Shift
Key pressed and draw a circle
of 40x40 somewhere onto the book rectangle. (watch the third brackets
in your status bar again for the dimensions of your circle).
 Step
8
Click
on the Mover Tool
 in your tool palette and
drag the circle to the bottom left, rounded corner of the rectangle, leaving a
bit of color at the outer edge. Step
9 Click
on the Preset-Shapes
Tool in your
tool palette again, and change the Style
Type to Rectangle.
Begin
at the topmost point of the white circle (you may want to zoom in a bit to get
that right), and draw a rectangle with a height of 40
pixels (watch the second number in the third brackets of your status bar)
and a width of about 210; it should reach a bit beyond the right edge of
the book rectangle.
 STEP
10
Click
on the Magic Wand
Tool  in your tool
palette:
Match mode = All Opaque
Tolerance = 0
Feather = 0
Sample merged = unchecked Click
once into the white shape you've created so far. Now click on the "Binding"
layer in your layer palette to make it the active
layer (it will become visible again), and hit the Delete
key (Edit || Clear).
Deselect by right-clicking into your
image or with Ctrl+D
(Selections || Select None), then click on your "Pages"
layer to make it the active
layer again. Step
11
 Click
on the Selection
Tool in
your tool palette and change the Selection
Type
to Ellipse.
Draw
an ellipse selection at the right of the white rectangle, dimensions about
45x60.
Click on the Mover
Tool in your tool
palette and - with the "right
mouse button" - drag the selection to its right place, a bit inwards
of the right rectangle.
Now hit the Delete key (Edit || Clear),
and deselect.
Ctrl+D (Selections || No Selections).
 Step
12
Select
the Toggle Layer
Pallette
Right-click on the
"Pages" layer
in your layer palette and choose "Duplicate"
from the context menu. Right-click on the new layer (named "Copy of Pages"),
choose "Rename"
from the context menu and rename it to "Band".
 Step
13
Select
Effects || Texture Effects
|| Blinds:
Width = 5
Opacity = 100
Color = Dark Blue #000040
Horizontal = checked
Light from left/top = unchecked Click
on your "Pages"
layer in the layer palette to make it the active
layer again.
 Step
14
Click
on the Deformation
Tool  in your
tool palette, then keep the Ctrl
key pressed while hitting the Keyboards
Right Arrow Key three times. This way you move the whole layer three pixels
to the right.
Click on the Apply
button in the Toggle Tool Options palette .
 STEP
15
Click on the Magic-Wand
tool in your tool
palette and then somewhere in the blue-striped shape that you see; remember that
your "Pages"
layer is still active, and almost identical with your "Band"
layer, so you're actually selecting the white
pages shape by clicking on the blue-striped shape. Now click on your
"Band" layer to make
it the active layer,
and hit the Delete
key (Edit || Clear)
.
There should now only be a three-pixel wide band remaining to the left of
the white pages shape.
Deselect
by right-clicking into your image or with Ctrl+D
(Selections || Select None) and switch back to your "Pages"
layer in the layer palette.
Step 16 Go
again to Effects
|| Texture Effects || Blinds:
Width = 3
Opacity = 100
Color = #000080
Horizontal = checked
Light from left/top
= unchecked
 You
now move to the book's front cover.
Cover Step 1
Click on the
"Binding" layer in your
layer palette to make it the active
layer. Click on the Selection
tool in your tool
palette, and change the Selection
type to Rectangle.
Then
draw a big rectangular selection over the book shape. Leave the left side where
you want your leather cover to go into the binding, i.e. not too far away from
the circle part of your pages shape.
The top, right and bottom edge of
the selection should reach beyond the blue shape.
Now reduce the
selection to its opaque part by going to
Selections || Float.
 Cover
Step 2
Click
on the "New Layer"
icon in your layer palette, make a new layer and name it "Front
cover".
Click on the Flood-Fill
tool  in your tool
palette:
Blend mode = Normal
Match mode = None
Tolerance = n/a
Opacity = 100
Sample merged = unchecked Choose
another color for your background colour, slightly lighter than the original,
and right-click into your selection to fill it with the new colour.
Deselect with Ctrl+D
(Selections || Select None) and make sure that the "Front
cover" layer is the active
layer.
 Cover
Step 3
Give the cover a nice "Leather Look".
Effects || Texture Effects || Fine Leather:
Color = Gey
Angle
= 30
Blur = 40
Number of furrows = 40
Length of furrows = 4
Transparency
= 250
 Cover
Step 4
Now
click on the "Back
cover" layer in your layer palette and then on the Selection
tool in your tool
palette and set to Rectangle.
Draw a selection on the right of the blue rectangle, the left side of the
selection not too far away from the bottom right corner of the pages shape. Again,
the top, right and bottom edge of the selection should reach beyond the book part
of the layer; that way we make sure that nothing is left in the end.
 Now
hit the Delete
key (Edit || Clear) and deselect by right-clicking into your image
or with Ctrl+D
(Selections || Select None).
Cover Step
5 First
click on the Magic-Wand
tool in your tool
palette and then on the book to select all the "Back
cover" layer.
Now click on the Flood-Fill
tool in your tool
palette and right-click
into your selection to fill it with the lighter color.
Deselect
Ctrl+D (Selections || Select None)
Select Effects
|| Texture Effects || Fine Leather again and use the same settings as before.
Cover Step 6
Click on the
"Binding" layer in your
layer palette and then on the Selection tool
in your tool palette. Draw
a rectangular selection surrounding this bottom line of the "Binding"
layer, with the left edge where you want your binding to go into the back cover.
Hit the Delete
key (Edit || Clear) and deselect by right-clicking into your image
or with Ctrl+D (Selection
|| Select None).
 Cover
Step 7
Select Effects || Texture Effects || Fine Leather
Color = RGB All 64 #404040
Blur = 20
Number of furrows = 30
Length of furrows = 6
Transparency = 247
Cover
Step 8 Go
to Selections ||
Select All (Ctrl+A), then to Selections
|| Float (Ctrl+F).
Then go to Effects
|| 3D Effects || Cutout:
Vertical and Horizontal offset = both 0
Opacity = 100
Blur = 50
Shadow color = black
Fill interior with color
= unchecked Deselect
with Ctrl+D (Selections
|| Select None). Well,
we're almost finished with our book. However, to be able to open this book easily,
we need a little indentation on the binding, right next to the front cover.
Cover Step 9
Your Selection
tool should still be activated and set to Rectangle.
Draw a very
narrow selection alongside the front cover onto the binding (you may
want to zoom in for this). Make your selection go beyond the top and bottom
edge of your binding. Now go to Selections
|| Float (Ctrl+F) to have only the opaque
part of your selection included, then to Selections
|| Defloat to make it a standard selection again.
Cover
Step 10 Add
a little drop shadow.
Effects || 3D Effects || Drop Shadow:
Vertical
offset = 0
Horizontal offset = -2
Opacity = 100
Blur = 7.1
Color
= black Deselect
by right-clicking into your image or with Ctrl+D
(Selection || Select None). You may now notice a tiny little shadow just over
and under the binding, next to the indentation. To
get rid of it, click on the "Back
cover" layer in your layer palette, then on the Magic-Wand
tool in your tool
palette. In your Tool
Options palette ,
change the Match
Mode to "RGB Value". Now click somewhere into the empty space around
the book, then click on the "Binding"
layer in your layer palette and hit the Delete
key (Edit || Clear). The shadow over the book should have disappeared.
 Cover
Step 11
We'll now add a little shadow to the pages, so click
on the "Pages"
layer in your layer palette. In the Tool
Options palette ,
change the Match
Mode back to "All
Opaque" and click with the Magic Wand somewhere on your pages.
Go to Selections
|| Modify || Expand, and increase your selection by 1.
Click on
the "New Layer" icon
in your layer palette (no need to name the layer, but if you wish you can name
it "Pages shadow"). Select
Effects || 3D Effects || Cutout:
Vertical offset = 4
Horizontal
offset = 4
Opacity = 100
Blur = 6
Shadow color = black
Fill interior
with color = unchecked
Deselect by
right-clicking into the image or with
Ctrl+D (Selections || Select None).
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