Hallelujah!
That was my response on learning about Kuler from Adobe Systems (thanks Passive Guy!).
Kuler: Choose Your Colors
What is Kuler you ask?
Kuler is a site sponsored by the wonderful folks at Adobe Systems that gives designers and non-designers alike the ability to create and save color swatches that those infinitely more knowledgeable than myself have figured out go well together.
You can even load these swatches into Photoshop and use them when designing your covers! (Adobe Kuler, Wikipedia)
Passive Guy writes: If you like a particular color swatch "just click a download button, then import it into Photoshop and you're ready to go"!
Here's a screenshot of what Kuler looks like:
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| Adobe Kuler (click to enlarge) |
Color Scheme Designer
Not satisfied with simply giving us one terrific program to play around with, Passive Guy also mentioned Color Scheme Designer (CSD).
Passive Guy writes that CSD, while it doesn't give you pre-defined color swatches the way Kuler does, allows you to design your own and--this is the important bit--"makes it hard to do them badly".
Yes!
I have been waiting for something like this for a very long time.
In his excellent article, Choosing Colors for Your Covers, Passive Guy steps the reader through creating their own, custom, color palate complete with screenshots of the process.
If, like me, you've struggled with choosing the best colors for your covers PG's post is a must-read. (For help choosing fonts see: How To Design A Great Looking Book Cover.)
Here's a screenshot:
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| Color Scheme Designer (click to enlarge) |
Do you do create your own covers? What programs do you use? Can you give us any advice on how to create a decent looking book cover?
Other articles you might like:
- Different Kinds Of Story Openings: Shock And Seduction- Trying To Replace Duotrope? The (Submission) Grinder Is A FREE Database Of Fiction Markets
- Chuck Wendig On Story Structure, Part 2
Photo credit (top photo): "sunset at peggy's cove" by paul bica under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.
