still very much a noob... still haveto do the credits, info, features, synopsis logos, etc ... any opinions ?

Nice start JZ1276:)
But the font at the front and spine looks not good to me.
Not sure about the picture at the bottom of the back.
They look now that they didn't cut out nicely.
Maybe you can look at it.

Hope this helps you.
Cheers nonini :)

Looks great so far. wtg

Yes sir there is still a lot to do. However before you get into the details of the back and technical things here are some thoughts fro you to consider.

The Good:

Color Palette: I think it fits but has a minimalist approach. You are starting out so nothing complex is going to be expected. You may want to add in some variance in red across the front.

Images: All with the exception of the gargoyle look hi res. All but the gargoyle as well look to be the correct levels.

The not so Good:

Front- I will have to agree that the font on the title needs some work. These look like a low res scaled up version of something smaller. If you are unable to recreate the title with a shape layer then you may want to scour our "Tools of the Trade" section. In there you will find over 1000 fonts that you can pick through. If there is still something that does not peak your interest, try hittin’ someone up to create the title for you. We have many willing and able souls here that would love to help ya out, me being one of them.

While I can accept the image that you used for the front, I am going to have to argue that it needs to be displayed better. Because you have chosen this title to do from many others I am going to assume that you care about the film. Would a simple red outline suffice for a cover? You may want to consider at least putting a texture of leather as the background (create your own or grab something similar from The "TotT" and use a bevel/emboss filter for the edge to make it look as thought it is inlayed. You can still maintain the overall black of the cover. You will just have to play around with the texture that you decide on. In doing these few things the front and background for the rest of the cover will start to take on the appearance of a professional cover.

Spine- The font obviously would change with whatever new one/created one you go with. As for the pic on the spine, this is too dark to see and needs to be replaced, lightened, or outlined.

The reverse- I will leave the outline alone, you already know my thoughts on that. However, keep in mind that it is common to outline screen caps on the reverse. As for the placement and choice, these are already limiting your options as far as where the text will be placed. Yes they can be moved around here and there. The images do not need to be that large. Just because the image is that size does not mean that you have to stick with it. Conform it to what you want. The Bottom image: This Is probably the most memorable story for me. I think that it should play a larger role in the cover. From what I can see it looks as though the selection process went wrong. From the looks you selected a color and just deleted it away. Whatever the method there are some things that need to be fixed. The first, and most important. If you have a more distinguishable picture, use it. This is too dark and by the looks there is not much you can get out of it (the face) if you play around with the black levels and contrast. It looks like a low resolution image. The hard straight edges need to have a fade to them. This is mainly for the top of the wings. The wings also are missing spots within them here and there. It makes it look funky. The light behind the wing on the right is showing that there was something back there and is a dead giveaway that you manipulated the image by deleting the background. This may work better if you just leave the background in there and feather the edge away.

I apologize if this was a little brutal. It is not my intention to belittle you in anyway. I am trying to help you get better at this. the only way I know how is to be truthful. Seeming as this is my first real look at your work it is quite lengthy. Most of my other replies will be less. If there is something that I brought up that you have questions on let me know. I sometimes get carried away and forget that most people have no idea what the hell I am talking about.

i had a hard time with the font and an even harder time cutting out the demon image to look descent. I was able to find hardly any images for this movie, and none in high res. I have hundreds of fonts and thought i found the correct one but could not get the letters to line up properly, so I took the title from a low res scan and just copied it over like gravital said. I'll try and find a better font though to make it look better. I dont know how much better I can make that image look though. I actually did try fading the top portion of the wings to make it blend in with the black background, but could not figure it out. Thanks for the advice.

OK I pretty much did all I can do with this cover. I cant think of anything to add on the revsere top...any ideas ?
Also, got rid of the red stroke on the front pic and fixed the font...look any better?

Did you use a template with this? If not there should be one in the help desk thread under templates to help. Each template usually contains everything you need to get a cover up and running. Did you bevel the Rated R logo because it looks as if there is something weird going on with the right hand side of it. Your front cover looks pretty good. The title treatment on the front is not bad at all. On the spine something happened with the T in Tales. I would also suggest bringing down the outline on the text on the front and also on the back. I agree with gravital about the demon on the back cover so I will not cover that. The last thing is, are you going to add credits?
You have came quite a ways since your first image at the top of the page. With a little practice and some patience you should acheive what your looking for. Any questions you have feel free to ask. Great job!

Did you use a template with this? If not there should be one in the help desk thread under templates to help. Each template usually contains everything you need to get a cover up and running. Did you bevel the Rated R logo because it looks as if there is something weird going on with the right hand side of it. Your front cover looks pretty good. The title treatment on the front is not bad at all. On the spine something happened with the T in Tales. I would also suggest bringing down the outline on the text on the front and also on the back. I agree with gravital about the demon on the back cover so I will not cover that. The last thing is, are you going to add credits?
You have came quite a ways since your first image at the top of the page. With a little practice and some patience you should acheive what your looking for. Any questions you have feel free to ask. Great job!

yeah i used the alpha standard temp that gravital posted up. I dont know what bevel means... I just grabbed the ra rated logo from a search, resized it and threw it on there. I'm not going to add credits to this but I will do everything you suggested. I was thinking about making some screen grabs and putting them across the top of the back where theres alot of space. You think thatll look ok? thanks.

You can find a paramount template here http://www.dvdcoversfuzion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9&page=3
It should be about half way down. It was posted by J0nn0. It should have everything you need with logos, etc. Let me know if this helps.
Shaun

You can find a paramount template here http://www.dvdcoversfuzion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9&page=3
It should be about half way down. It was posted by J0nn0. It should have everything you need with logos, etc. Let me know if this helps.
Shaun

cool, thanks

Bevel= edge beautification. You will notice a bevel by its highlight and shadow ro give the illusion of change in surface curvature and elevation. By double-clicking on a image layer a window appears. One option in this window is to apply a bevel / emboss.

So thats the bevel.
The cover looks better than the first. However thereis still some work to be done.
Screen caps for the top would do nicely. There are many options in how to display them.

The outline of the font in special features seems a little to thick.

The Paramount logo would fit better if it was white. This can be done in the same manner as a bevel. The difference being that color overlay is checked and white is the selected color.

the color of the actor/actress names is pulling too much attention to it. Try and tone that down some.

This is going to be a slow going process at first. But I assure you that you will learn a great deal if you follow through with it.

A note for the future design process. Prior to making a cover sketch the general idea of what you want it to look like. This will give you direction in th edesigning of it and your elements will not do the designing, rather it will be done by your mind. Yeah it sounds a little hokie but it works nicely.

ok I think this is done although somehow the dimensions got screwed up and i cant fix it