Tag: Photoshop

Cover me: a western rom-com exercise

Oh, look! My favorite imaginary author is back and demanding a cover for her latest venture.

This was a two-hour, design-along tutorial to create a western-themed rom-com. Could I improve it? Absolutely! Am I going to? No. (Sorry, Callie.) The idea behind these practice runs is to do the thing, make a cover, and experiment.

Also, I have no idea what a Cowboy Chaos novel is or whether there’s such a place as Chaos, Nevada. (But I kind of hope there is.)

However, I do like the title font (Canela). I was supposed to add a cowboy hat as well (just in case you couldn’t tell it was a western-themed book), but I thought it was a little heavy-handed.

Callie is far more prolific than I am, but I feel she’s a little scattered and that a dozen genres is far too many for one author. But she never listens to me.

Yoga and throwing Photoshop pots

A bit cloudy during the thinking walk

This week, I did the Photoshop equivalent of “throwing lots of pots,” to borrow a pottery phrase. I followed along with the instructor in my Photoshop tutorials and made I don’t know how many covers. After I completed one, I zipped off to create another.

By Friday, I felt I’d done enough inputting that I decided to play around with a concept for The Pansy Paradox. And … I think I have one. Maybe. It’s not at the sharing stage yet, but I’m pleased that I have something that someday may resemble a cover.

In any case, I’m looking forward to what else may pop up in the coming week.

In other news, I’ve started up yoga again. I fell off for a bit, for a variety of reasons (balance issues, injury, Italy). But it was one of the things that helped me survive the day job. So, I wondered whether it would help me thrive in my new full-time writing gig.

So far? I think yes. It’s been about two weeks, and I already feel better physically. And, people! Breath work! I’d forgotten how important breath work is.

So today, I’m going to breathe a little bit more and have Sunday brunch with my kids. Hope your Sunday is just as enjoyable.

A clean sweep

So this feels bigger than quitting my job. This week, I took the plunge and bought a brand-new desktop system.

Y’all, it took me forever to decide to do this. (Okay, more like five and a half months—but it felt like forever.) I’ve needed a new system for a while now. My all-in-one PC is fine for admin and hobbies, but not for Photoshop.

Even after researching new PCs and having my son help with some of the specs, I was still undecided. It took a while (again, forever), but I finally realized why.

What I actually needed was a Mac.

Cue additional thinking here.

While I use Vellum (Mac only) to create ebook and print files, I could get along fine with a PC setup. I could always rent a Mac in Cloud and do it that way. But it isn’t exactly a streamlined process. And since I’m going all in, I might as well go all in.

So this week, I bought a Mac Studio. Y’all, it’s a beast. 64 GB of RAM. I also have a 27-inch monitor. It didn’t like talking to my Logitech keyboard at first, but it all worked out after some time and (much) swearing.

Since the heat dome means that I can’t garden this weekend (except to water), I’ve been setting up my new system and also clearing out and reorganizing my desk.

Because here’s the other thing: part of it is psychological as well. My desk still looks like the setup I had for when I was working remotely. I couldn’t write there—at all. I do my drafting at the kitchen table, and really, that’s not an ergonomic solution.

So, here’s hoping! I’m going to finish up clearing out my desk today. I have a stack of Photoshop tutorials just waiting for me. I’m excited to get started.

Wish me luck.

Cover me: a lookalike exercise

So, a few months back, I took a field trip to the nearby Barnes and Noble just to do a bit of window shopping, so to speak. I was aimlessly wandering around the space, considering buying something to drink, when a display table with Rachel Harrison’s Cackle caught my eye. (And yes, I understand the irony of pointing you to the Amazon site as a reference.)

The cover was enough to pull me in; I didn’t bother looking at reviews. I simply bought it.

As it sat on the side table next to my reading chair, I thought: Hm. Could I replicate that cover?

Mind you, this is a deliberate exercise. I would never use this as an actual book cover. It’s far too close to the original. Which is why it has a fake title and fake author name. I even changed the fake author name I normally use for cover exercises—Callie Robb—to Callie Roberts. Apparently, Callie wanted to be shelved even closer to La Nora.

And yes, creating fake covers for fake authors who somehow have preferences is weird.

But it was fun. It was great to revisit Photoshop and discover I hadn’t completely forgotten how to use it. The central image is not mine, but one I found on Depositphotos (artist: liudmyla.mammamia). I felt it was striking enough that it didn’t need all the embellishments of the original cover.

And I’m hoping in 2023, I’ll create even more covers for Callie (and maybe a few for me).

Weekly writing check-in: thunder only happens when it’s snowing

Van Gogh Snow

So, it went from cold to the middle of winter. On Monday, we ended up with +6 inches of snow. Thursday, we had that odd Minnesota concoction of snow showers with thunder. Then the sky was all orange for a bit.

This week, I was busy with the 2020 project. I have all but two stories scheduled, so I think it’s safe to say I’m in the home stretch. As of right now, the full compilation has 101,000 words. (That’s a lot of words.)

I also had a little fun with a one-off project (more about that on Monday).

In time-sink news, Photoshop has released neural filters and sky replacement. I give you the backyard, Van Gogh style.

I predict many hours wasted.

Weekly writing check-in: Taking my own advice

So I took my own advice from last week and shut down all my social media/distracting websites (there’s always that one site …) and took a deep dive into Photoshop.

I worked through two tutorials. The first was to create an illustrated cover using stock illustrations.

For this cover, I reused the butterfly image I had (see Friday’s free fiction) and the background. The only new element is the illustration of the girl’s face.

I put my name on this one, even though I have no story idea whatsoever. Maybe someday I will, and then hey, look! I have a cover!

Also, I often misspell butterfly as butteryfly. Pretty sure I didn’t do that here.

Then yesterday, I worked through another tutorial. The objective of this one was to create a sweet romance cover.

It’s definitely a romance, and a sweet one at that. How do you tell? They’re smiling, and they have all their clothes on.

This probably has more of a romantic comedy vibe, but I think it meets the requirements. (It’s not like I’m being graded or anything, so …)

You’ll notice it’s also penned by Callie Robb. Callie is my imaginary author friend for whom I design book covers. She’s way more prolific than I am. I’d be jealous, except none of us here believe she has a rich inner life.

Weekly writing check-in: peering into February

So, I’m already peering into February because I have stories to post.

I spent some time in Photoshop this week, creating the images for each story, and I’ll get those posts scheduled ASAP. I like being able to set and forget, at least as far as having the stories magically appear on the blog. (And it’s not magic; we all know it’s not magic. It still feels that way.)

And February’s stories will truly be all about love, because … why not? We’ll have romantic love, star-crossed love, a bit of unrequited love. You name it, we’ll have it next month.

In actual writing this week, I did some writing on a time travel story and got a notion for a pirate adventure. So. There’s that as well.

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is in September. (Did you know that? I did not.) So maybe I can post the pirate adventure then.

Weekly writing check-in: more cover practice

More low stakes practice this week. This tutorial was on thriller covers (I think that’s fairly obvious, but just in case …).

This isn’t a real book. Callie Robb isn’t a real author (that I know of–Callie, if you’re out there and would like these covers, let me know). A Cressview Thriller isn’t a thing (again, that I know of). But it’s more fun than going with author name and fake series name.

In writing news, I worked on an exercise and a bit on the Coffee and Ghosts story. And … that’s it for this week.

Weekly writing check-in: fun with cover practice

Not a lot of writing this week. I’m playing around with an idea for Coffee and Ghosts. Not so much a sequel, but a look at what happens near the end of the series from Malcolm’s point of view (which is about all I can say without spoilers). I wouldn’t publish this but instead, offer it up as a newsletter bonus.

I am also thinking seriously about Coffee and Dragons, or as seriously as someone can think about Coffee and Dragons. The idea is starting to grow on me. I’m not sure how I’d pull it off, but I am considering the challenge.

I did take some time to have some fun with covers. If these were real covers, I’d spend a lot more time refining the edges around the masks on the cover models, maybe reconsider my font choices, and so on.

This effort was a practice go since I don’t write contemporary romance. Low stakes, just for fun.

Knight here is very Broody McBroody. Or maybe he’s mourning his unfortunate choice in footwear.

Mr. Prince here does look worried about being the prodigal son, no? Or maybe the oven timer’s gone off, and he’s concerned the crust on his par-baked pizza is going to burn.

This guy? This guy is what’s known in Romancelandia as an alpha-hole. You can just tell. Either that, or he really doesn’t like the new engineered hardwood floors.

And that’s it for this last full week of September.

Weekly writing check-in: more short stories, novella, and Photoshop

Oreo, volunteer editor

I am diligently trying to keep myself out of the Photoshop black hole. Fortunately (or, perhaps, unfortunately), I don’t have a title for the first book or the series it’s supposed to be in, so there’s only so much cover designing I can do.

Yeah. I need a title, especially since I’d like to publish this year.

In other news, not only did I complete the outline for the novella, but I started the draft. I finished up revising/editing two short stories that I plan to send off this week as well.

All in all, it was a good writing week.