The Basics

Hi, I'm Mel! I'm an author of hockey romances, and as an author, I need to make teasers for my books. It's something I really enjoy doing. In fact I'm often noodling around with graphics when I'm supposed to be finishing a book.

As a disclaimer, I must emphasize that I am not a graphic designer in any way. However I am an art school dropout who has worked in both visual arts and for an ad agency, so I have some ideas about how things should look. Like any visual person, I have an aesthetic, and for me it's about streamlining and minimizing. I prefer less text and strong images wherever possible. I prefer to limit the numbers of colours and fonts as well.

So, as I'm learning and evolving my graphics knowledge, I thought I'd share what I'm doing to help other authors.

My Resources

Graphics
Here's what I use to make graphics. I use Canva, PicMonkey, and Photoshop. I would say I use Canva 90% of the time. Also, I'm cheap, so let me whisper this: I'm only using the free versions of Canva and PicMonkey. But I am tempted to pay for the next level of Canva since I use it so often.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Photoshop is the most powerful tool and can be used to do almost anything. Photoshop is what I use to doctor photos, things like removing backgrounds or items. (One earring removal and the ear reconstruction took about four hours since I'm such a Photoshop newb.) But Photoshop is not very intuitive, so every time I use it, I spend 20 minutes watching instructional videos. Therefore I only use it when I have to.

PicMonkey is a good graphics tool. It's better than Canva in that you can use your own fonts and graphics can be produced in three levels of resolution, and it resizes images. However, its big disadvantage is that it doesn't save your images. So if you want to go back and fix something, you have to start over.

So that's where Canva comes in. I can make graphics on Canva and then go back and change them later. I would like the final images to be higher res, but otherwise I can get Canva to do everything I want. Also, I should say that I believe that the disadvantages of both Canva and PicMonkey are resolved when you upgrade to a paid version, but I can't say for sure since I've never done this.

Visual resources
For photographs, I have an account with Deposit Photos. I bought a deal from SumoApp so the photos cost less than 50¢ each, but you can get a package deal of images for $1 each from Deposit Photos at any time. For blog posts, I use photos from Unsplash as well—that's where I got this one. I am a big believer in crediting or paying for photographs. Besides getting you into legal trouble, authors should respect someone else's creative output. Although subtle, each one of my Unsplash photos lists the photographer. Can you find the photographer's name in the graphic above?

For inspiration, I look at other teasers, new book covers, and movie posters. I look at things like art and graffiti, since I believe that trends in graphics come from everywhere. However, here's my other caveat: don't copy someone else's design. While it's fine to attempt a similar mood or an idea like backwards font, don't do an exact copy. Again, authors know exactly what I mean: a trope is one thing but using the same story with different names is copying.

And that's enough for now! Please feel free to leave any questions in the comments. I will try to answer them in future posts.

Mel

If you like my graphics, and you'd prefer to me to make something for you, that's cool too. Currently, my rate is three teasers for $20. For other graphics, contact me: melanieting21 at gmail.com and we can discuss prices.