Book Covers

kathrynloch

Thanks Cathy!

cherpenbeck

As for Ronan, I prefer the light atmosphere and brighter light version

The Heart's War-Cover:  I think part of the problem ist HIS body. He isn't in a body building studio, he's on a lush meadow with his beloved. I would expect him to be more pliant as well, bending his upper body so he's situated lower, nearer to his arm.

And she's still sittig somehow parallel to him, her upper body should twist turn a little bit towards him, makes it easier for her to caress him.

Besides it would help if at least one of them would slightly open his mouth so that it looks as if they are about to kiss each other. Or exchanging loving words.

But he isn't floating any longer, and the flowers are a really nice touch. I think this kind of cover is just what the reader expects for your genre. It should work.

mjc1016

I have a couple of nits to pick...

1.  While he isn't floating and the grass does look better, it's almost too fine.  The other grass is coarser and what is beneath him looks a bit closer to fur than grass.

2. It looks like she's got a snot hanging from her nose...there is something odd about her upper lip/bellow her nose.

Knittingmommy

mjc1016 said:

I have a couple of nits to pick...

1.  While he isn't floating and the grass does look better, it's almost too fine.  The other grass is coarser and what is beneath him looks a bit closer to fur than grass.

2. It looks like she's got a snot hanging from her nose...there is something odd about her upper lip/bellow her nose.

I didn't notice it last night, but there is a dot of black on her upper lip.  It wasn't in the other renders.  Do you know what that is, Kath?  Is it something that is easy to fix without rerendering?  Has it been turned in yet?  As for the other, I have seen grass that looks like that.  While soft looking, I don't think it looks like fur.

Knittingmommy

I have been working on a practice book cover, not a cover for one of my stories.  This is just a cover I've had in my head while I've been collecting digital products from Daz and other various websites.  If I get a cover I am happy with, I would like to  see if it gets accepted.  I've been thinking of putting it up on a site like this when I'm done just to test the waters and see how I did.  What do you guys all think of these types of site where Indie authors can buy book covers?  While I would love to sell a book cover, my main goal would be to create a cover that follows the guidelines and hopefully, get accepted for sale.  I'm not as concerned about the sale part.  Realistically, I could submit a lot of book covers and no authors would be willing to buy them.  Do you think going through the process would give me valuable feedback?

mmitchell_houston

I honestly don't know if the process would give you valuable feedback or not. However, I don't see that it could hurt anything, as long as you don't make your "for sale" cover too similar to the ones you create for your own use.

Thanks for posting the link. I'd been thinking about submitting a few covers, myself. This might motivate me to get off my backside and get it done next yar (this year I'm too busy with my Superhero RPG project and some of my own stuff that needs completion).

 

mmitchell_houston

Knittingmommy I like what I see. Play with the shadows under him -- it lacks depth. I do like her expression more than I did, and the hair is much imrpoved (and, of course, I know you'll fix the dot on her lip).

Now let's talk about type: I don't like it very much.

• The bevel effect is distracting and reduces legibility. Consider going with just plain text (the drop shadows are okay, though). 
• If you keep the bevels, at least make the colors lighter so they pop against the art.
• Where is the apostrophe in the title? Is it up in the flourish of the "t"? You will probably need to create a separate text box with only the apostrophe in it so you can place it exactly where it needs to go.
• Also, make the titl taller -- or make them bigger -- to fill that big gap between their heads and the title. 
• Hmmmm. If they were bigger, then his arm might actually go below the edge of the cover and that might mitigate the needs for the painted flowers, which are nice, but do look a little different from the foliage surrounding them.

DEFINITELY improved! I look forward to seeing the final version.

 

Knittingmommy

mmitchell_houston said:

I honestly don't know if the process would give you valuable feedback or not. However, I don't see that it could hurt anything, as long as you don't make your "for sale" cover too similar to the ones you create for your own use.

Thanks for posting the link. I'd been thinking about submitting a few covers, myself. This might motivate me to get off my backside and get it done next yar (this year I'm too busy with my Superhero RPG project and some of my own stuff that needs completion).

 

This place seems to be one of the top sites to buy covers for Indie authors.  I can't say that I like all of the covers, but I've seen some that I would consider for my own book if I didn't do my own cover.  I've already learned a few things just looking at the FAQ for artists and downloading the template which actually seems to work in Gimp.  We'll see if I manage to come up with something I like.  If I do, I'll post the cover here and get some feedback from you guys.  If you all don't mind, that is.  One thing I'm not sure how to do is the pixels per inch in Daz studio as there doesn't seem to be a way to specify a pixels per inch setting.  The only thing I seem to be able to do inside Daz is make sure the render is the size specified by pixel demensions in the instructions which in this case is width - 3125 by height - 4167.  I am assuming that this translates into the appropriate 300 pixels per inch, but I could be wrong.  I did a test render at this size.  It is huge!  I let it render all night and stopped before it was done.  My best guess is the final render may take several days.  I now have a deeper respect for you guys trying to get renders done on a deadline!!  You must panic to get it done.  Kath, you were sounding panicked when you posted your render.  Keeping my fingers crossed that you make your deadline!

mmitchell_houston said:

Knittingmommy I like what I see. Play with the shadows under him -- it lacks depth. I do like her expression more than I did, and the hair is much imrpoved (and, of course, I know you'll fix the dot on her lip).

Now let's talk about type: I don't like it very much.

• The bevel effect is distracting and reduces legibility. Consider going with just plain text (the drop shadows are okay, though). 
• If you keep the bevels, at least make the colors lighter so they pop against the art.
• Where is the apostrophe in the title? Is it up in the flourish of the "t"? You will probably need to create a separate text box with only the apostrophe in it so you can place it exactly where it needs to go.
• Also, make the titl taller -- or make them bigger -- to fill that big gap between their heads and the title. 
• Hmmmm. If they were bigger, then his arm might actually go below the edge of the cover and that might mitigate the needs for the painted flowers, which are nice, but do look a little different from the foliage surrounding them.

DEFINITELY improved! I look forward to seeing the final version.

 

I think you meant this to be directed to @kathrynloch  <-- hope that works. It is the first time I've tried doing that.

 

My youngest son asked for extra worksheets for math.  He is studying geometry in math and loves it.  I really wish I could find a way to inspire that same desire for extra work with the written word!!!  When I first started homeschooling, I had all of these visions of raising children who loved reading and writing as much as I do.  While they do read well, they would prefer to read technical manuals to fictional exploits.  Apparently, I was doomed to have boys who are all analytical and too much like their father who is an engineer and loves science and math.  It is enough to make an old English Major  .

mmitchell_houston

Knittingmommy: You are correct. I did mean that for Kathryn.

I can sympathise with your desire to have your boys read more. I'm also an English major (working as a technical writer, but I still dabble in fiction). I suggest you increase the pool of what they have to read, and don't be afraid to let them read some graphic novels or manga, if that appeals to them. I grew up reading comics and when I hit high school, more than one teacher commented that I had a very large vocabulary. The truth is, I got most of it from reading comics, which are far more literate than you would suspect.

I suggest the following titles: Blankets by Craig Thompson, My Father Bleeds History (Maus) by Art Spiegelman, BONE by Jeff Smith (find the color edition printed by Scholastic -- it edits out a little nudity that appears at a swimming hole in the b&w edition, plus this edition is readily available at Half Price Books or other used book stores).

kathrynloch

Hey everyone - I'm still here. I just had to do a clean install of Windows 10 and of course reinstall all of the software and my backups. ARGH I'm getting sick and tired of doing that. So I have a new pic to post but I'll be damned if I know where it is right now. lol!

In the romance genre we get our premades from various sites that cater to the romance industry because the average cover stuff doesn't usually quite cut it. So those are what I'm most familiar with. You might want to try searching for "premade cover" and list the genre. I also know many go to Fiverr or sites like that. One of my favorite graphic artists did some of my old covers. She uses DAZ and does a lot of fantasy too. Her name is Erin Dameron-Hill. Her website is http://edhgraphics.blogspot.com/ I'm suggesting her and the sites so you can take a look at cover ideas and prices. There's also Author Marketing Club and The Book Designer has a monthly ebook cover contest. Many of the entries he gives a very brief critique which is sometimes helpful. I've got a ton more but they're mostly romance oriented so I don't know if they would help or not.

But you don't have to limit yourself to looking at book covers. I was browsing Netflix and the thumbnails for the movies are just as good for inspiration. It doesn't matter if it's for a movie - the thumbnail size and the point of the cover is the same - only the genre changes and therefore you do have to keep genre expectation in mind.

 

 

mmitchell_houston said:

Knittingmommy I like what I see. Play with the shadows under him -- it lacks depth. I do like her expression more than I did, and the hair is much imrpoved (and, of course, I know you'll fix the dot on her lip).

Now let's talk about type: I don't like it very much.

• The bevel effect is distracting and reduces legibility. Consider going with just plain text (the drop shadows are okay, though). 
• If you keep the bevels, at least make the colors lighter so they pop against the art.
• Where is the apostrophe in the title? Is it up in the flourish of the "t"? You will probably need to create a separate text box with only the apostrophe in it so you can place it exactly where it needs to go.
• Also, make the titl taller -- or make them bigger -- to fill that big gap between their heads and the title. 
• Hmmmm. If they were bigger, then his arm might actually go below the edge of the cover and that might mitigate the needs for the painted flowers, which are nice, but do look a little different from the foliage surrounding them.

DEFINITELY improved! I look forward to seeing the final version.

 

Ah no worries - I've got an updated pic. Let me dig it up and post it and we'll go from there. Now, where did I put that darn zip file? lol!

kathrynloch

Okay I found it and tweaked the text a bit and I think I fixed the layer mask around her face and his hair. But I'm still having a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

I gotta run to the hospital and take my dad his glasses and stuff. So maybe it will look different when I come back. lol!

Knittingmommy

kathrynloch said:

Hey everyone - I'm still here. I just had to do a clean install of Windows 10 and of course reinstall all of the software and my backups. ARGH I'm getting sick and tired of doing that. So I have a new pic to post but I'll be damned if I know where it is right now. lol!

In the romance genre we get our premades from various sites that cater to the romance industry because the average cover stuff doesn't usually quite cut it. So those are what I'm most familiar with. You might want to try searching for "premade cover" and list the genre. I also know many go to Fiverr or sites like that. One of my favorite graphic artists did some of my old covers. She uses DAZ and does a lot of fantasy too. Her name is Erin Dameron-Hill. Her website is http://edhgraphics.blogspot.com/ I'm suggesting her and the sites so you can take a look at cover ideas and prices. There's also Author Marketing Club and The Book Designer has a monthly ebook cover contest. Many of the entries he gives a very brief critique which is sometimes helpful. I've got a ton more but they're mostly romance oriented so I don't know if they would help or not.

But you don't have to limit yourself to looking at book covers. I was browsing Netflix and the thumbnails for the movies are just as good for inspiration. It doesn't matter if it's for a movie - the thumbnail size and the point of the cover is the same - only the genre changes and therefore you do have to keep genre expectation in mind.

Thanks for the suggestions, Kath.  I'll take a look at the sites you mentioned.  Since most of what I write and do artistically usually has a romantic bend to it, those sites should be helpful.  As a reader, I know what draws me to a cover for further inspection.  I just have never tried it from the other end.  I hadn't come across in these particular sites during my research with the exception of The Book Designer website.  I had seen that one.  I look forward to seeing your latest render.  BTW, I finished Mist Warrior.  Right up my alley as a reader.    I really liked it.  It is also the type of book I tend to read when I'm decompressing while in writer mode because it is not the type of book I am currently writing.  I try to always read a totally different genre than what I am writing when I am in writer mode.  If I'm just at a research stage, I'll read books in the genre I love to write.  I'll have to read the second one soon, but I'm too busy right now with real life, i.e. three testerone filled juvenilles who insist on being chauffered to because they don't drive yet.

Knittingmommy

kathrynloch said:

Okay I found it and tweaked the text a bit and I think I fixed the layer mask around her face and his hair. But I'm still having a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

I gotta run to the hospital and take my dad his glasses and stuff. So maybe it will look different when I come back. lol!

It is looking good, Kath.  I like the way the title and your name stand out better in the thumbnail with this version of text.  However, I think it looks better the way you did your name.  Is the text in the title suposed to look speckly and pixelated?  Sorry, I don't know what the proper terms would be for that.  I think the title might look better with the black part of the text more solid with maybe just a little of that feathering at the edges and not so much in the middle, but I could be wrong.  I'm just guessing here.  It looks better in the thumbnail, but blown up, it is a little distracting.  I like the purple in the background, shadow layer though.  But then, I'm rather partial to purple and might be a little biased toward that particular color.  But since you have purple flowers in her hair, it does fit.  The overall effect looks softer than your original.  It has a very romantic feel to it.  Everything else looks really good.

Knittingmommy

mmitchell_houston said:

Knittingmommy: You are correct. I did mean that for Kathryn.

I can sympathise with your desire to have your boys read more. I'm also an English major (working as a technical writer, but I still dabble in fiction). I suggest you increase the pool of what they have to read, and don't be afraid to let them read some graphic novels or manga, if that appeals to them. I grew up reading comics and when I hit high school, more than one teacher commented that I had a very large vocabulary. The truth is, I got most of it from reading comics, which are far more literate than you would suspect.

I suggest the following titles: Blankets by Craig Thompson, My Father Bleeds History (Maus) by Art Spiegelman, BONE by Jeff Smith (find the color edition printed by Scholastic -- it edits out a little nudity that appears at a swimming hole in the b&w edition, plus this edition is readily available at Half Price Books or other used book stores).

I did a little searching and all three titles are available through our local library.  Only one is available currently as the others are checked out, but I'll put a hold on them and check out the one that is available.  We'll see if these interest them any.  I don't think I've tried graphic novels since they got past the Captain Underpants phase which is similar in design, if not content.    Thank you for the suggestions.  As for nudity, I'm not real worried about my boys seeing a little nudity in a book such as this or in this context.  If I find they like this type of book, I may hit you up for more title suggestions as I have never read this type of book.

mmitchell_houston

Knittingmommy: You're very welcome for the title suggestions. Did I mention that I have taught college English composition? I included some of the Maus material for one of my classes and the readers were surprised by the depth of the material. One young lady (I almost showed my age by calling her a "girl" -- she was about 25 I think of her as a "girl" and the males in the class were "boys") said she was surprised that comics could be used to tell "serious" stories. 

Anyway, I do know of several other titles that are more than just superhero slugfests and bimbos in tights -- there is some serious literature out there being done in comics, and I would be happy to share other titles if they warm up to these books.

Also -- about the nudity -- I just mentioned it "just in case." I wouldn't want you to be surprised because it actually seemed out of place to me when I read the material (I read the color books first, and then found out later that there were about a half dozen edits made throughout the series when it was converted from b&w to color; a dozen edits in a 1,000-page pic is not a lot!). 

mmitchell_houston

kathrynloch: Interesting direction, but if I'm being honest I don't like the purple haze at all. The graininess just clashes with the softness evoked by the rest of the cover. Can I suggest that you go the opposit direction that you are currently going? Instead of lightening the top and using dark letters, try to darken the top and go with light letters. Either pure white or very light lavender would "pop" against the background. Also, I liked the font you used the first time better for "Heart's War." I just didn't like the placement of the apostrophe.

My final concerns are this: The characters are looking softer than they did before. Is this on purpose?

And his hair has become just a black mass hanging from his head. Can you add some highlights to it? Just a little to give it shape?

Knittingmommy

You guys must all be very busy.  How is the book cover coming along, Kath?  I finished my two entries for this month's beginners contest and thought I would pop in and see how everyone is doing. @Kathrynloch  I had a chance to go over and check out edhgraphics' website.  She has some amazing covers in her portfolio.  If I don't make a cover I like by the time I'm ready to publish, I may have to give her a try.  Her prices seem very reasonable, too.  I love her current style.

_manne_

kathrynloch said:

Okay I found it and tweaked the text a bit and I think I fixed the layer mask around her face and his hair. But I'm still having a hard time seeing the forest for the trees.

I gotta run to the hospital and take my dad his glasses and stuff. So maybe it will look different when I come back. lol!

HOLY @#$% I've been out for a while!! Kathryn, I didn't even know you'd dropped back into orbit, glad to see you back and (mostly) undamaged.  ;)  I hope your dad's doing okay.  I know I'm late but I had a couple of questions for you with this cover my apologies if this has already been covered by someone else.  

The first issue doesn't have to do with your people at all, rather the background.  Your plants (at least the ones providing the top framing) look more tropical which kinda threw me because I wasn't sure if you were changing up your story settings or not, and then I noted the gal's dress and thought to myself: "No, I'm not completely crazy she's still doing the celtic thing." Long story, longer a different plant type may work better for you.

Secondly, I have to agree with mmitchell_houston the purple haze and the graininess don't really work for me and don't seem to make the thumbnail more readable either. 

It could be just the perspective, but your gal's left arm appears to be going through your guy.  Also both figures are really blurred out on my monitor, almost as though your depth of field is set to something else instead of them.

Anyhoo, just my 2 cents on the matter.  Hopefully I'll have something to post up pretty soon. 

 

_manne_

Knittingmommy said:

I have been working on a practice book cover, not a cover for one of my stories.  This is just a cover I've had in my head while I've been collecting digital products from Daz and other various websites.  If I get a cover I am happy with, I would like to  see if it gets accepted.  I've been thinking of putting it up on a site like this when I'm done just to test the waters and see how I did.  What do you guys all think of these types of site where Indie authors can buy book covers?  While I would love to sell a book cover, my main goal would be to create a cover that follows the guidelines and hopefully, get accepted for sale.  I'm not as concerned about the sale part.  Realistically, I could submit a lot of book covers and no authors would be willing to buy them.  Do you think going through the process would give me valuable feedback?

Hey Knittingmommy, sorry for the late response.  I think you can get amazing feedback with this group that would help get the work more polished even before submitting (at least that's been my experience).

_manne_

Okay just getting the rust off, and in hopes that we see more of Kathryn...here's a romance image.  Not quite a cover but let's just work with what we have shall we?  As always, I love your feedback guys and gals.  :)  - Edited and uploaded more complete cover.

 

 

 

kathrynloch

Manne! Great to see ya hun! 

Thanks everyone for the feedback on Heart's War - honestly I'm getting to the point where I'm sick of this cover. lol! Yes, the glitter was intentional, it's a layer style I made I followed suggestions and removed it.

But things are stupid crazy here. My dad took a turn for the worse and is sedated on a ventilator with really bad pneumonia. So it's wait and see. We'll probably have to go through this multiple times. The man's 76 y/o, and after 50 years of smoking, there's only so far to go here. My health unfortunately isn't doing so well either, I know stress is a huge part of it. But when I got my new computer/reading glasses I told the eye-doc I was worried about my vision because lately it looks like the room is always filled with smoke. Yes, I do smoke as well (working on that) but this is a bit much. Sometimes I get phantom smells and other times downright hallucinations - especially when I'm tired. Well, the eye-doc said that's text-book symptopms of Migraine with Aura. The funny thing is, my pain tolerance must be pretty high because I'm not noticing a headache as much as I am the symptoms. But when she shined the light in my eyes - holy cow did that hurt like crazy! But I'm super sensitive to light and sound right now - which is why the new forums here kill me. I had every thing set to dark backgrounds and light text but they changed stuff again and I haven't figured out how to put it back. Also sensitive to smells like you wouldn't believe, It's fun how things that never bothered me before are now suddenly huge issues. The hallucinations can be downright scary though, I keep seeing someone in my house, the bad thing is even my cats and dogs react to it . . . er . . . whatever it is. I write about the paranormal in my books, but that's fiction, it takes a lot to convince me about stuff like that in real life - now.... not so sure any more. lol! So I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row to see a doc. The fun part is going to be all the stupid tests. *sigh*

All of this has totally taken the wind out of my sales when it comes to writing. I've been trying but writing new stuff is like pulling teeth right now. However I'm trying to get the mojo going again by working on my book covers and reformatting stuff in InDesign. I decided to enter two books in the upcoming Rita Contest for RWA. This contest is special for me because Romance Writers of America is one of the largest author organizations in the nation and was co-founded by my mentor Rita Gallagher and her daughter, Rita Clay Estrada. When I was active in my local writer's guild, me and two friends would travel once a month from Beaumont to Rita Gallagher's house in Houston for our critique group. We did that for over a year and I learned a lot. Unfortunatley, Rita Gallagher passed away in 2004 or thereabouts. But the Rita contest in RWA is named after Rita Clay Estrada and is a huge deal in the romance industry. Even making the finals is a huge accomplishment - I doubt I'll ever make it but it's important for me to enter. Last year I entered one book but after all was said and done, I found out my historical was entered into contemporary - why, I have no clue, but it was too late to fix the mix up.

This year I'm entering Spirit of Dragons and Haunted Heart into the paranormal category. Last year the contest filled up within two weeks of opening, and I had to go on the waiting list in case someone didn't send their books in. I sent mine so they were there just in case and it paid off as I was able to get a spot when books didn't arrive by the deadline. This year, I entered early so now I'm working on making sure these books are all spiffy. Because we have to enter print books, I go through Createspace and have them shipped directly to RWA in Houston. Of course I'm going over them again and again to make sure they're as good as I can get them.

So as soon as I finish the Heart's War cover, the new Heart's Ransom print file (and I'll update the ebook too) is ready to for upload. 

Oh good news on the Heart's Ransom audiobook! I checked yesterday and it was ranked in the top 5,000 on Audible (may not soud like much but believe me that's huge) and was in the top 100 (72 at the time) on Amazon's audibook list and that's huge too. So it's doing well on sales.

Manne, I'll think about changing the plants - I think it might be too far gone, but if it turns out I need to do an overhaul and start over, then I'll change that. I think the depth of field is a little wonky and I had to do a bit of a guassian blur because at the time my renders were going two hours and not completing so I was getting a lot of grain. Not sure what was up with that but I moved to DAZ 4.9 Public Beta and knock on wood that hasn't been an issue lately.

So here's what I have for Heart's War right now.

I did get sidetracked with a little fun project - I did some character art for the HowReRoll live stream on Twitch I was telling y'all about. I figured it was good practice so why not? lol! Here are those images.

Kia is an elven mage. I ended up doing the cloak and the hair by hand in Photoshop. I just couldn't get either of them to look nice in DAZ. The flames I also did with the Photoshop render.

Marlow is monk and eastern martial arts are her fighting style. She was really tough because of the shuriken coming straight at the camera.

Radovan's armor is from the Knight Guard package and I had to redo the shield texture. He's a Cleric so I used the symbol of St. Cuthbert that he follows. In D&D, Clerics can't used edged weapons, only blunt like morning stars and macesI had to remake it in Photoshop because the images I had weren't very good. In Daz I crossed two Dwarven Hammers and rendered them, then I brought everything into photoshop and made it into a texture that would fit the shield, with it's own spec, bump, and normal maps. I pulled it back into Daz a a texture and rendered accordingly. .

Raica is a half elf and her talent is archery but while I like the pose and the angle, I didn't put the arrow in because it blocked too much of her face. I suppose I could say it's a magical arrow too. lol!

 

I've also started my own live stream where I demonstrate photoshop techniques and DAZ stuff. My next stream is on Wed at noon Central, y'all should come on by if you get the chance www.twitch.tv/kathrynloch But the stream has been keeping me busy too.

 

WHEW! No wonder why I'm tired!

 

lol!

 

Cheers,

Kath

 

kathrynloch

_manne_ said:

Okay just getting the rust off, and in hopes that we see more of Kathryn...here's a romance image.  Not quite a cover but let's just work with what we have shall we?  As always, I love your feedback guys and gals.  :)  - Edited and uploaded more complete cover.

 

 

I really like this Manne the post and characters are great! My only complaint is the girl's tat on her arm doesn't work for me with the image's noir feel. Otherwise I think it's awesome!

 

Cheers,

Kath

kathrynloch

Knittingmommy said:

You guys must all be very busy.  How is the book cover coming along, Kath?  I finished my two entries for this month's beginners contest and thought I would pop in and see how everyone is doing. @Kathrynloch  I had a chance to go over and check out edhgraphics' website.  She has some amazing covers in her portfolio.  If I don't make a cover I like by the time I'm ready to publish, I may have to give her a try.  Her prices seem very reasonable, too.  I love her current style.

Unfortunately, I've got too many irons in the fire so couldn't get an entry in. I'll keep an eye on this month's contest tho. How's the contest going with your two entries? I suspect it will take a few days before they announce the winners. Good luck hun!

_manne_

kathrynloch said:

Manne! Great to see ya hun! 

Thanks everyone for the feedback on Heart's War - honestly I'm getting to the point where I'm sick of this cover. lol! Yes, the glitter was intentional, it's a layer style I made I followed suggestions and removed it.

But things are stupid crazy here. My dad took a turn for the worse and is sedated on a ventilator with really bad pneumonia. So it's wait and see. We'll probably have to go through this multiple times. The man's 76 y/o, and after 50 years of smoking, there's only so far to go here.

Very sorry to hear this, that's difficult.

kathrynloch said:

My health unfortunately isn't doing so well either, I know stress is a huge part of it. But when I got my new computer/reading glasses I told the eye-doc I was worried about my vision because lately it looks like the room is always filled with smoke. Yes, I do smoke as well (working on that) but this is a bit much. Sometimes I get phantom smells and other times downright hallucinations - especially when I'm tired. Well, the eye-doc said that's text-book symptopms of Migraine with Aura. The funny thing is, my pain tolerance must be pretty high because I'm not noticing a headache as much as I am the symptoms. But when she shined the light in my eyes - holy cow did that hurt like crazy! But I'm super sensitive to light and sound right now - which is why the new forums here kill me. I had every thing set to dark backgrounds and light text but they changed stuff again and I haven't figured out how to put it back. Also sensitive to smells like you wouldn't believe, It's fun how things that never bothered me before are now suddenly huge issues. The hallucinations can be downright scary though, I keep seeing someone in my house, the bad thing is even my cats and dogs react to it . . . er . . . whatever it is. I write about the paranormal in my books, but that's fiction, it takes a lot to convince me about stuff like that in real life - now.... not so sure any more. lol! So I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row to see a doc. The fun part is going to be all the stupid tests. *sigh*

My condolenses also on the stress induced illnesses.  I can totally relate!  Take your time and only do what you can, sounds like you're on the right track with finding a doc who can help.

kathrynloch said:

All of this has totally taken the wind out of my sales when it comes to writing. I've been trying but writing new stuff is like pulling teeth right now. However I'm trying to get the mojo going again by working on my book covers and reformatting stuff in InDesign. I decided to enter two books in the upcoming Rita Contest for RWA. This contest is special for me because Romance Writers of America is one of the largest author organizations in the nation and was co-founded by my mentor Rita Gallagher and her daughter, Rita Clay Estrada. When I was active in my local writer's guild, me and two friends would travel once a month from Beaumont to Rita Gallagher's house in Houston for our critique group. We did that for over a year and I learned a lot. Unfortunatley, Rita Gallagher passed away in 2004 or thereabouts. But the Rita contest in RWA is named after Rita Clay Estrada and is a huge deal in the romance industry. Even making the finals is a huge accomplishment - I doubt I'll ever make it but it's important for me to enter. Last year I entered one book but after all was said and done, I found out my historical was entered into contemporary - why, I have no clue, but it was too late to fix the mix up.

This year I'm entering Spirit of Dragons and Haunted Heart into the paranormal category. Last year the contest filled up within two weeks of opening, and I had to go on the waiting list in case someone didn't send their books in. I sent mine so they were there just in case and it paid off as I was able to get a spot when books didn't arrive by the deadline. This year, I entered early so now I'm working on making sure these books are all spiffy. Because we have to enter print books, I go through Createspace and have them shipped directly to RWA in Houston. Of course I'm going over them again and again to make sure they're as good as I can get them.

Sweet! 

kathrynloch said:

So as soon as I finish the Heart's War cover, the new Heart's Ransom print file (and I'll update the ebook too) is ready to for upload. 

Oh good news on the Heart's Ransom audiobook! I checked yesterday and it was ranked in the top 5,000 on Audible (may not soud like much but believe me that's huge) and was in the top 100 (72 at the time) on Amazon's audibook list and that's huge too. So it's doing well on sales.

Manne, I'll think about changing the plants - I think it might be too far gone, but if it turns out I need to do an overhaul and start over, then I'll change that. I think the depth of field is a little wonky and I had to do a bit of a guassian blur because at the time my renders were going two hours and not completing so I was getting a lot of grain. Not sure what was up with that but I moved to DAZ 4.9 Public Beta and knock on wood that hasn't been an issue lately.

If you're rending using Iray, 2 things I found that help are: Turning on the Optix Prime Acceleration on the Advanced Render settings tab, and turning off my virus scan's real-time scanner when rendering as it was scanning every write to the drive. Your background doesn't look huge so that wouldn't account for it, but sometimes (for me) the addition of hair makes everything slow to a crawl.  I have a utility I turn on to see how much actual memory my scene is taking to see if it's over-running the amount of memory in my video card, if it is, I can pretty much expect to do nothing with my computer for the next couple of hours while it renders as it will totally ignore my video card and do a straight CPU render.

kathrynloch said:

So here's what I have for Heart's War right now.

I like this font better in the full sized picture but in the thumbnail it is difficult to read. But that's probably not the font and more the effect that's on it.

kathrynloch said:

I did get sidetracked with a little fun project - I did some character art for the HowReRoll live stream on Twitch I was telling y'all about. I figured it was good practice so why not? lol! Here are those images.

 

I've also started my own live stream where I demonstrate photoshop techniques and DAZ stuff. My next stream is on Wed at noon Central, y'all should come on by if you get the chance www.twitch.tv/kathrynloch But the stream has been keeping me busy too.

 

WHEW! No wonder why I'm tired!

Take some time and don't forget to REST when you can. 

 

 

_manne_

kathrynloch said:

_manne_ said:

Okay just getting the rust off, and in hopes that we see more of Kathryn...here's a romance image.  Not quite a cover but let's just work with what we have shall we?  As always, I love your feedback guys and gals.  :)  - Edited and uploaded more complete cover.

 

 

I really like this Manne the post and characters are great! My only complaint is the girl's tat on her arm doesn't work for me with the image's noir feel. Otherwise I think it's awesome!

 

Cheers,

Kath

Yes you are quite right, but the fantastic side of me wouldn't let me do anything else. 

Knittingmommy

I'm sorry to hear about your dad.  I certainly hope that he gets better.  Pneumonia in older people is not a small thing and can be a challenge to recover from.  It is even harder for someone who smokes and has compromised lung issues.  I lost my brother to a bad case of pneumonia so I understand the stress you are under.  However, do try to keep yourself from letting it get to you too much.  It won't help if you let yourself get run down, either.

I smoked myself for twenty years before finally giving it up.  Best decision I ever made, but it took several attempts over several years.  It didn't finally stick until I was in the right mindset and determination to quit.  Also, I set up my environment to make it easier to quit than to keep smoking.  It certainly wasn't easy.  And, it took several years before the cravings completely went away.

kathrynloch said:

Unfortunately, I've got too many irons in the fire so couldn't get an entry in. I'll keep an eye on this month's contest tho. How's the contest going with your two entries? I suspect it will take a few days before they announce the winners. Good luck hun!

Well, they've been entered.  No announcement, yet, as to the winners.  I have serious doubts that mine will win.  There were a couple of really good entries and I have at least one favorite among them that isn't mine.  However, I have to say that I learned a lot just by competing.  There was also a lot of great feedback which I found extremely helpful.  I can see a huge difference in what I'm currently doing and the renders that I did last year when I first started so I'm learning.  Even looking back through the WIP thread and looking at my first effort and the final image shows a dramatic change so I'm happy that I took everyone's advice throughout this and other threads to join the contest.

 

This year I'm entering Spirit of Dragons and Haunted Heart into the paranormal category. Last year the contest filled up within two weeks of opening, and I had to go on the waiting list in case someone didn't send their books in. I sent mine so they were there just in case and it paid off as I was able to get a spot when books didn't arrive by the deadline. This year, I entered early so now I'm working on making sure these books are all spiffy. Because we have to enter print books, I go through Createspace and have them shipped directly to RWA in Houston. Of course I'm going over them again and again to make sure they're as good as I can get them.

 

Good luck with the contest.

kathrynloch said:

So as soon as I finish the Heart's War cover, the new Heart's Ransom print file (and I'll update the ebook too) is ready to for upload. 

Oh good news on the Heart's Ransom audiobook! I checked yesterday and it was ranked in the top 5,000 on Audible (may not soud like much but believe me that's huge) and was in the top 100 (72 at the time) on Amazon's audibook list and that's huge too. So it's doing well on sales.

That is great news.  I don't do audio books, but it sounds like a LOT of other people do.  Hopefully, it will keep climbing the charts.

kathrynloch said:

 

Raica is a half elf and her talent is archery but while I like the pose and the angle, I didn't put the arrow in because it blocked too much of her face. I suppose I could say it's a magical arrow too. lol!

I'm glad you started with an arrow.  That makes me feel a little better.  My first thought when I saw the image was STOP, she might accidentally dry fire the bow.  As an archer myself, it is a huge mistake to pull back on the bowstring without an arrow.  It is one of the first things I tell my students to NOT do after we talk about all of the safety issues, because as soon as someone picks up the bow the first thing they usually try to do is pull back on the bowstring.  Of course, this is even more important now than the era or fantasy period of your elf.  Wood doesn't break quite like fiberglass and if a wooden bow breaks, it doesn't do quite as much damage as the current fiberglass bows can do when they break.  Other than the missing arrow, it looks pretty good.

kathrynloch said:

I've also started my own live stream where I demonstrate photoshop techniques and DAZ stuff. My next stream is on Wed at noon Central, y'all should come on by if you get the chance www.twitch.tv/kathrynloch But the stream has been keeping me busy too.

I'll have to look into this.  Maybe I can improve my postwork skills.

kathrynloch said:

WHEW! No wonder why I'm tired!

I would SAY!!  You need a break.

_manne_ said:

Okay just getting the rust off, and in hopes that we see more of Kathryn...here's a romance image.  Not quite a cover but let's just work with what we have shall we?  As always, I love your feedback guys and gals.  :)  - Edited and uploaded more complete cover.

I really like this cover.  While really cool looking, I agree with Kathryn that the tattoo doesn't really fit the noir feel to the image, however, I don't think it looks completely out of place.  I actually kind of like the whole look to the cover so I guess I'm on the fence about the tattoo.  I'm not actually sure I would like the cover as much without the tattoo.

FirstBastion

As usual Manne,  awesome cover for "Remember When" ,  I don't mind the tattoo,  it's a splash of subdued color in the wash of subdued blue.  I understand the question about the Film noire vibe, and the conflict with the established genre expectations,  but this has that exotic flare of something from the Asian continent,  as if this story may be set in Bangkok or Calcutta rather than cookie cutter Hollywood.  

_manne_

FirstBastion said:

As usual Manne,  awesome cover for "Remember When" ,  I don't mind the tattoo,  it's a splash of subdued color in the wash of subdued blue.  I understand the question about the Film noire vibe, and the conflict with the established genre expectations,  but this has that exotic flare of something from the Asian continent,  as if this story may be set in Bangkok or Calcutta rather than cookie cutter Hollywood.  

Awww FirstBastion, so nice of you to say! I think you bring up a great point with the exotic.  I do think the tattoo adds visual interest which wouldn't be there otherwise.

_manne_

Knittingmommy said:

 

I really like this cover.  While really cool looking, I agree with Kathryn that the tattoo doesn't really fit the noir feel to the image, however, I don't think it looks completely out of place.  I actually kind of like the whole look to the cover so I guess I'm on the fence about the tattoo.  I'm not actually sure I would like the cover as much without the tattoo.

Knittingmommy, Thanks for your input!  I agree, the visual interest the tattoo provides, wouldn't be generated by just her bare arm. 

You should have heard the debate with myself regarding the mechanical wings for her.   
It takes a lot of effort to peel me back from the sci-fi/fantasy/steampunk genre.  I do it with great effort and usually under duress.  

_manne_

kathrynloch said:

Here's a totally off topic, off the wall question. But as I'm waiting for DAZ's install manager to finish, I thought I'd ask this just for fun.

What is your total count of elements installed? (I have 731 installed more as soon as I reinstall Bryce.)

Total count of elements installed is over 1800+ (counting old libraries and items from other sites) in fact so many that I now count it in GB when I have to switch out my hard drives.  My Daz runtime is 89+GB and my Poser runtime is about 30+GB.  Outrageous!  I KNOW! 

kathrynloch said:

Do you have a favorite element or package that you migh consider your best "purchase" (or freebie, creation etc) ever? What is it? (Mine's probably the Gianni Pro Pack. I've got other hero packs but when all else fails and I can't get the others to work, I default to Gianni and he usually works like a dream.)

Best purchase?  Purchase used in every render?  Light sets from Dimension Theory hands down.  I even still use the skies of economy pack in my environment for Iray renders. 

kathrynloch said:

Do you have a least favorite? A "why did I actually spend money on that?" or a mystery element "when did I buy/download that one?" or "where did that come from"? If so, which one? (Mine's probably the Look at My Hair plugin. I can rarely find it and when I do, I can't get it work. I've had it for months but haven't created anything in it and barely had it open for more than a few minutes - it was also crashing my system left and right.)

Least used GenX and GenX2 libraries.  I am too dumb to figure out how to use that tool.

kathrynloch said:

Anyone else have anything they want to mention?