OT - The Journal Of The Whills books

[The Lensman]

I did these as a diversion from the UESPA stuff as I was getting a bit burned out. I'll be lumping all my ACE stuff under the umbrella of "J Series Books".

So, yeah, you may not remember these books, but they were a pretty good read. I hear they may have found a seventh book.

I wish Photoshop had a spell checker as I always seem to do the back text at the latest possible hour, when I'm slogging on by sheer will power. There's always that one fucking typo!

Looking over the Net, I find it's extremely rare to see someone do a full cover when they do a fake cover. For myself, I feel like somethings missing when I do my own covers, so I try to make them as complete as possible. For those my age who frequented used book stores in times past, these old ACE editions were far more prevalent and easier to find in them than they are now. Part of the appeal for me is reading the back covers to see how much a simple summary with a nice touch of hyperbole can spark my interest. Sometimes that back cover can make the story sound more interesting than it really is.

However since the dominant style of fake book covers tends to be just the front cover, I wonder if doing the spine and back lessens the enjoyment for most people as it now becomes more than just a pretty picture to look at and there's work in the reading and all. Thoughts?


While I've had a great little creative streak lately, I'm kinda book covered out, so this will be it for awhile. Enjoy!

 

[USS Triumphant]

These are awesome, and I enjoy the effect from seeing the whole cover including spine. I especially like the way you have a good grasp the way the cover writers from that time period wrote with awkward wording and frequently indicated that they had a... to be charitable, we'll say less than precise... understanding of the books' content - bits like "the Princess Leia" and "laser swords" and implying that Anakin was sent with Qui Gon and Obi Wan in "The Phantom Menace".

 

[The Lensman]

These are awesome, and I enjoy the effect from seeing the whole cover including spine. I especially like the way you have a good grasp the way the cover writers from that time period wrote with awkward wording and frequently indicated that they had a... to be charitable, we'll say less than precise... understanding of the books' content - bits like "the Princess Leia" and "laser swords" and implying that Anakin was sent with Qui Gon and Obi Wan in "The Phantom Menace".

Thanks for the input, I've been curious about how people view the whole cover vs just the front. As for Anakin being with Qui Gon and Obi-Wan....in this particular version he did. While I was doing these, I tweaked the story back to what a lot of us thought it was in '77, mixed with what came later.

So Anakin and Obi-Wan were about the same age, Darth Vader is not Anakin, he's just some guy and his first name is "Darth", it's not a title, and the second Death Star is in orbit of Kashyyk because I couldn't stand the Ewoks and I think that's how it was originally or something. And there's no droid army either. It's the clones/separatists vs the Republic.

 

[Albertese]

First of all, I love the backs and spines being included. Keep it up!

Second, I think the cover art is great!

One at a time:

Phantom Menace: I love the take on Theed and having the ghostly Darth Maul... very nice.

Attack of the Clones: I really like this image, but something about it doesn't feel right for the vintage. I just can't put my finger on what, exactly.

Revenge of the Sith: I love this one. Perfect vintage look for Coruscant.

Star Wars: I love this one also, the simplicity and starkness of it works great.

Empire Strikes Back: This is beautiful... I want that cover as a framed poster in my house.

Return of the Jedi: This one doesn't work as well for me. Seems a bit cluttered and busy.

Also, fun fact: Photoshop does have a spell checker! It's under Edit > Check Spelling.

Super awesome work! Keep 'em coming!

--Alex

 

[The Lensman]

Attack of the Clones: I really like this image, but something about it doesn't feel right for the vintage. I just can't put my finger on what, exactly.


Return of the Jedi: This one doesn't work as well for me. Seems a bit cluttered and busy.

Strangely enough, I feel the same. "Attack Of The Clones" seems more 70's style on reflection. I'm not sure that it's the clone warriors and ships, so much as the color.

And "Return Of The Jedi" again, agree. There's a bit of extra work on the UESPA stuff other than the covers themselves (order of publication, figuring out which ship and crew go with which story, internal timeline, etc) so I figured these six would be fairly easy as I wouldn't have to worry about all that stuff and did them back to back over a week.

Most of them were fairly easy, but "Star Wars" and "Jedi" took more time as I couldn't seem to nail them down. The .psd files probably have up to 20 or so layers as I experimented with various elements. I'm glad to hear that you liked Star Wars as I felt that one was a bit sparse.

"Jedi"....well, there was just something about it that I couldn't nail down. Originally "Slave Leia" was the focus , but then I figured I needed Luke in there since he's the Jedi that's returning. It's almost movie poster like, where the others aren't. I think I may rework that one.

Also, fun fact: Photoshop does have a spell checker! It's under Edit > Check Spelling.

Son....of...a....

Ah, well, now I know! Thanks, this will definitely come in handy!

Empire Strikes Back: This is beautiful... I want that cover as a framed poster in my house.

Thanks! That one's my favorite as well! That one was done the quickest, it just flowed perfectly out. If I was going to have one as a poster, it'd be that one. (I may experiment with that and see how big it can reproduce without looking bad. I'll get back to you on that)

When I posted these to my DA page, I thought they'd do better than my Trek covers. They haven't. Worse actually as the only "favorites" have been TPM and oddly enough ROTJ. With two faves for TPM and one for ROTJ. I thought ESB would be the standout....

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

GREAT work! The real novel cover for Star Wars already had that vintage, raw look with the Berkey painting, but the rest of the original trilogy are drawn into that "throwback" feel. This works well for the prequels, which (as films) were so slicked-up, that it lacked heart. Your covers give us a fascinating "what if" we will never experience on film.

 

[Kaiser]

Good Covers the text on the back reads like a good Sci-fi Novel