My First Ever Mock-Up…So Exciting!

Yesterday I did a mock-up using a template from a great guy, Mark Monciardini of Covervault.

The first one is the template…obviously…and the next is the one I did of one of my stories…Murder in Blue Lake.

This was just a test…me learning how to do it in Gimp. I’ve used Gimp before, but I don’t use it much and until now I had no idea what a “mask” was used for, or what an “alpha channel” was…but I’m learning!

And did I mention just how fun it is?

Looking at the image now I see I should tweak the e-reader just a bit…it’s over too far on the right…and of course I never could figure out how to get the binder line like it has in the template but it kinda looks like a paperback instead of a hardback, so that’s okay.

Still, I’d like to know how Mark did that…

If you have any great video resources on doing gimp, book covers, etc., I’d appreciate recommendations!

Template

First mock-up!

Didn’t get too much fiction done this morning, but I’ll work on it as soon as I sign off here for at least 20 minutes before it’s time to get some sleep and, God willing, do it all over again tomorrow!

Have a great evening!