some new stuff (related to computers also)

Also, thanks to Gonso for the sweet template

+1 really useful!

War at the poker table:



Link to 3900x2850 version - http://i.imgur.com/idhmk.jpg

or:



Link to 3900x2850 version - http://i.imgur.com/CXg3z.jpg

A little brighter than my other ones:



Link to 3900x2850 version - http://i.imgur.com/Dy8dn.jpg

I really want to try one. The ones already posted are very cool.

Touched my first one up a bit, it looked kind of flat and I've learned a few things in photoshop since I started working on these:



Link to 3900x2850 version - http://i.imgur.com/TXfgD.jpg

edit: Just clicked on my first image posted in the thread and it says it contains errors, no idea why but every other image posted on imgur seem to be fine (could just be my computer though)

looks more interesting, but I think(just my humble O) that putting a halo on the lettering is a distraction. even though it is simpler, plan lettering works better.

since you have the original files... do me a favor, try a version where you scale up the rubics so that some of the cube is actually bleeding off the page.... so it fills the space more completely, just as an exercise.

Thanks for the feedback, any ideas are appreciated. I think it does look better like this and you're right about the halo/glow on the text, I just learned how to add more effects like that and am probably overdoing it a bit now lol.



Link to 3900x2850 version - http://i.imgur.com/t8DlY.jpg

see... I think the whole thing is much more impactful. play with it a little more and balance the "bleed" on the rubics cube in the negative space a little better and I think you have a winner here. you may try rotation and placement to get the right balance. it's troubling me that the cube is touching the shadow at the bottom. fighting with balance is always a trade off... so it's never easy, however it always represents that last 5% of a designs progress that really turns a good idea into a great idea.

very nice design!

To explore the game you will need a compass.

Lot of very good entries. Going to be a tough decision.

Yeah and there's still weeks left.

Also, Unborn and Reaper, you guys are poker cover machines

Hey guys! I'll submit my first entry here.

My name is Arpi and I am a last yearer at a commercial graphics university. I do this besides poker (or play poker besides this I don't really know ) and I really enjoy it. I basically study about logo making, brand and web-design, book illustration/cover designs, poster and commercial designs so if you guys want anything else I'm here to help.

I wanted to make the whole thing really "vegasy" so I got inspired by the "Welcome to the fabulous Las Vegas" sign. (note that no part of the actual sign was used at any point)



Some of my ideas behind the design:

The Front Cover:

All the texts on the front cover are sorted in order of importance regarding text-size and text-effect for the potential customer.

The main title (Further Limit Hold 'em) has a shiny and glowy neon look, also its the biggest of all the texts.
"Exploring the Model Poker Game" is the second biggest, having a red-to-orange gradient (hence red is the most eye-catching color scientifically proven! ) to make it pop for potential viewers.

Its hard to decide which of the 2 texts are more important - "Further Limit Hold 'em" or "Exploring the Model Poker". Because of this there are no significant differences in text-size or in text-attractivity. (Further Limit Hold 'em though is like 10-15% more attractive to the eye I'd say)

The author's line "by Philip Newall" is written in a comfortable hand-written style which gives a nice little "authorish" feeling to it. Also the sky blue color makes it less of an impact to the viewer's eye thus giving it the lowest importance level of all the texts on the front cover.

I added an Ace-King to the front cover because I felt like the cover got too detached from Texas Hold 'em and this little addition pulls it back towards it.
(this is optional and can be taken out if considered unnecessary)

The background has a nice warm "lightbulb-blur" effect giving the cover an extra layer of shininess.
The obligatory chip stack repositioned to the middle and also recolored to be a bit more conservative (gets the least attention but still is in the center)

The Spine:

The spine has the same text effects going on as the front cover thus continuing an identical style for the book. This makes the book easily locatable even on a bookshelf.

The Back Cover:

The number one priority regarding the back cover was to create as much writing space as possible. The textholder has a very minimal setup having a simple shiny border and a further blurred plus darkened background to increase readability. In the posted picture the textholder contains 357 words and as you can see the used fontsize is not even small at all.

Some further notes:

- All the objects on the cover were hand-drawn by me so there won't be any © problems there.
- Also all fonts were taken from Google Web Fonts. (http://www.google.com/webfonts) These fonts are free for commercial use for everyone (Google bought a worldwide free license on each font there - how nice of them ) So there won't be any © issues there either.

Mason or Phil if you guys want some adjustments on any part of the cover just hit me up and I'll sort it out. I am absolutely flexible regarding text positioning coloring or regarding text effect adjustments.

I will attach the .psd file if requested, also I can provide a print-ready .tiff format if necessary.

Thanks,
Arpi

I hate gillies font... dump that if you can. it's very dated

RTT: Don't know if it's intentional or not, but the text on your spine will be backwards compared to everything else on a bookshelf.

Everybody else: Just want to remind you that the bottom of the back cover is negotiable. The chrome "twoplustwo" and the font used for it (and there's a black glow still on that by the way), the way the slogans are laid out and their fonts, the 2+2 logo if you even want it there at all, the exact location of the UPC etc. Maybe add a QR code? I did that section a few different ways and Mason was fine with all of them, so feel free to screw with it or blow it up completely if it matches what you're doing better.

hehe neah it wasnt intentional. Been there done that.



Also whats gillies?

It is a horrible cover RTT, but I kinda like it

lol thanks, I think it has something to do with my addictive personality

Mschu, worked on that design a bit more and again really appreciate the advice, Ill post it when Im sure it's ready to go (don't want to clutter the thread up or anything)

Just upgraded from my 1998 version of photoshop so had some fun making this cover today:



Link to 3900x2850 version -http://i.imgur.com/NXAsC.jpg

Hi Arpi:

It's very likely that we will want an adjustment or two on whatever cover(s) we select. But we'll wait to after the selections are made before we contact the cover designer in that regard.

Best wishes,
Mason

3 weeks left... look forward to seeing some more contenders emerge.

I often feel poker is like puzzle.

^Not bad at all... good work sir!

did you happen to try a felt green background as an option? I do love the beige cover though.

type face in some places is slightly "lite"(maybe add thickness very slightly)... but overall it's working very well.

[QUOTE=unborn;35122970]some new stuff (related to computers also)



I like this one the best.