Oh, wow... I'm updating a day after I last posted a chapter, definitely not once a month, am I right?

...

Anyway, these are just some tips I picked up while learning manipulation covers and I want to share it with you :).

I'm not really good at it yet so, manip gods, teach me your ways~

1. FAKE LIGHTING is *chef's kiss*

If your manip cover is leaning more towards realism (face claim + real background), add some fake sunlight and BAM you're done.

You can make it very clear like the top one or a really subtle one like the bottom.

But if you are not into fake lighting then it's fine, it's just personal preference but for me I really like 'em. It justs elevates the pic a bit.

How to do it (subtle one) :

1. With an airbrush, color half of the pic with white
2. Change the blending mode to Add
3. Then lower the opacity and you're done.

The other one I showed at the top has the same steps, except instead of coloring half of the cover white, just make two lines at the upper left part of the cover.

2. Hue/saturation/lightness is your best friend when coordinating pictures together.

I use this filter all the time and I LOVE it.

Use this filter if you want to match the face claim with the background

E.g.

1. Put the face claim above the background
2. Then go to filter > adjust color > hue/saturation/lightness

How to match it :
- the background consists of mostly pinkish colors so the for the hue we set it to 20° where the face claim's face is getting a little bit more pink

- I thought the face claim a bit too colorless(?) so I set it to 15% where her hair matches the pink thunder lmao

- The original pic was a bit too bright for the background so I set lightness to - 10% so it's darker bc it's thunder - y and it's night time.

3. Do whatever you want with it :v. I just retouched her face and gave her a glow behind her. I didn't bother to do anything to her clothes bc I was lazy af.

Reference :
How to make the background : part 59
How to retouch her face : part 43

3. Covers look better from far away

Ya'll know the fact that pictures become weird when you put it on Wattpad, it's like you took off your non-existent glasses.

That's why in my cover shop I like to zoom out my cover with some type of background behind it to catfish ya'll (oof this clown is exposed).

It's not just all about aesthetics purposes, because Wattpad compresses and stretches your pictures so it looks poop-y and blurry. Meanwhile, when you zoom out the cover, you can barely see the change and it looks more HD.

Compare :

and

Plus, having a nice looking background makes the cover looks better :).

Also, the viewer can see the cover as a whole.

That's why when I screenshot steps the canvas is always zoomed out because it's a force of habit :).

This doesn't apply exclusively to manip covers only.

And this background layout I'm using rn is a cheat system for Wattpad's 20 pic limit because I can fit 2 to 5 pics at once lmao (so far I've just used 5 pics)

Con : It just takes more effort :').

4. Seperate the face claim/object/main focus from the background

Sometimes when we make manip covers... we get carried away. Such as the pictures above.

The one on the left, I was so busy making this that when I zoomed out, it was a bit too overdone and the face claim molded into the background a little and I had to think of a solution.

I went to the layer underneath and color it white then lower the opacity. The result was decent after that (right) :v.

There are also other solutions to seperate your face claim from the background :

*All the methods are done with the filter tool (go to part 9 - all i know about filter for a thorough explanation).

1. Blur the objects behind them
2. Add a drop shadow behind them
3. Make them a whole different color
4. Add a glow behind them

With your imagination, there are more ways to do that.

Of course, there are occasions where your face claim has to mold with the background so it looks more natural.

*there is another one I have but it's a failed attempt so I won't show it :v.

There are countless of experts that can make two pictures look like they belong together in Pinterest so it just depends what you want to make.

5. Soft mapping pen (bleed) is the MVP

When I discovered this brush existed in ibisPaint... my whole life changed lmao. I used for almost everything. Putting it behind titles, blinding people by crossing their eyes out--

What makes them different from other brushes is that they have this rough texture which I think is cool :

I hope this counts as a useful information :v and it's not only exclusive for manip.

That's all!

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How is the new layout I'm trying?

Can't believe this book'll end in another 7 parts :'). Idk I just like ending it exactly on 100.

See you next time ♡