So for my first real lesson, I've decided to do simple covers.
I think it's important to master simple covers before trying to move onto manipulated covers since it teaches you about coordination and gives you a better eye when making covers.
For example here are some of the first covers I made back in 2013
As you can see my use of space and overall design choices weren't that great.
so let's make a decent simple cover.
STEP 1
Find the right image.
Since simple covers rely heavily on the image you choose, this step is the most important. Find an image with enough empty to place a text on, or one where the background of the main focus is solid since there is an easy fix.
Here is the image I chose
the image has no clear place to put the text without it looking crowded, however the background is a solid color.
So, I will open up a white base on photoshop using the size 480 x 750 and place this image over it.
After I've resized the image, I click on a color square at the bottom left corner which will open up a color picker tool. All you have to do is click the color of the solid background / select the background.
Then click on the paintbrush tool and paint the solid white background so that the colors match.
Now right-click the image that you placed down and hit the rasterize layer option. If you don't do this step you won't be able to erase or do anything to the image.
( It should remove the little paper icon on top of your image in the layers panel )
Once you've erased your image to blend, the demarcation line should disappear.
After that, you should be left with a nice base where you can put your text.
and now you're done.
Here is my final image with a psd and topaz.