diff --git a/_posts/2024-11-01-cover_design.md b/_posts/2024-11-01-cover_design.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bc8998c --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-11-01-cover_design.md @@ -0,0 +1,550 @@ +--- +title: Cover Design +date: 2024-11-02 +last_modified_at: 2024-11-02 +categories: [bookbinding, projects log] +tags: [] +description: Designing book covers in Affinity Design 2. +media_subpath: /cover-design/ +image: header_image.webp +published: False +--- + + + +# Comprehensive Guide to Book Cover Design with Affinity Designer 2 and Silhouette Cameo + +## Overview + +This guide walks through the complete process of designing and cutting book covers using Affinity Designer 2 (AD2) and Silhouette Cameo (SC). While the principles apply to other software like Adobe Illustrator or Cricut, specific tips and techniques focus on AD2 and SC workflows. + +## Initial Setup + +### Document Settings in Affinity Designer 2 + +Create a custom "Book Cover" preset with these specifications: +- Width: 350mm +- Height: 300mm +- DPI: 144 +- Document Units: mm + +>**Pro Tip:** These settings provide ample workspace while maintaining print quality. Always save this as a preset to ensure consistency across projects. +{: .prompt-info } + +### Workspace Organization + +For optimal workflow in AD2: +1. Create two main layer groups: + - Book Components (visible elements) + - Print Components (technical elements) +2. Keep your layers panel organized with clear naming conventions +3. Save custom workspaces for different stages of the design process + +## Design Process + +### 1. Design Conceptualization +1. Brainstorm initial concepts +2. Use AI tools like ChatGPT for design ideation +3. Gather reference materials and inspiration +4. Sketch rough layouts before moving to digital + +### 2. Asset Collection and Preparation +1. Source assets from AD2 stock library +2. Import and organize external assets +3. Convert all assets to appropriate format (vector/raster) + +### 3. Creating the Base Structure + +#### Measuring and Layout +1. Measure physical book dimensions precisely using calipers +2. Create cover shapes: + - Main cover: Usually 144x218mm + - Spine: Typically 24x218mm + - **Always measure the actual book and adjust accordingly** + +#### Border Creation +1. Use the Contour tool for professional borders: + - Inset: 7.5mm + - Stroke width: 2.5-3pt + - Fill: Transparent + - Stroke color: Match your design scheme + +>**Technical Note:** When creating borders, using the Contour tool rather than manual drawing ensures perfect alignment and consistent spacing. +{: .prompt-info } + +### 4. Advanced Design Techniques + +#### Using the Pen Tool +- Press 'A' to select/edit nodes +- Press 'V' to select shapes +- Press 'P' to activate pen tool +- Blue-highlighted nodes indicate connection points +- Hold Shift for straight lines +- Double-click curves for quick adjustments + +#### Vector Tracing Tips +1. Import reference image at 50% opacity +2. Create new layer above +3. Trace key elements with pen tool +4. Use node tool (A) for refinements +5. Apply appropriate fills/strokes + +#### Text and Typography +1. Use the Warp tool for curved text: + - Easy method: Text Studio panel + - Advanced method: Custom path warping +2. Convert text to curves before final export +3. Recommended fonts: + - American Typewriter + - Rockwell 4 + - STIX Two Text + - Plantagenet Cherokee + +### 5. Spine Design + +#### Creating Spine Bands +1. Design single band template +2. Position at spine top +3. Duplicate for additional bands +4. Use Transform panel for precise spacing +5. Measure from physical book for accuracy + +>**Measurement Tip:** When spacing spine bands, measure from the top of the spine to each band's top edge on the physical book. Use these measurements in the Transform panel for perfect positioning. +{: .prompt-info } + +### 6. Export and Silhouette Cameo Preparation + +#### Exporting from AD2 +1. Hide Print Components layer +2. Export as PDF +3. Ensure all text is converted to curves +4. Verify vector integrity + +#### Silhouette Cameo Import Settings +1. Import as vector +2. Uncheck "Group objects" +3. Position with 10mm minimum margins +4. Mirror horizontally (Object → Mirror → Flip Horizontal) + +#### Critical Cutting Settings +- Text elements: Use outline cutting +- Solid shapes: Use center-line cutting +- Verify cut preview before proceeding +- Place material shiny side down + +## Troubleshooting Common Issues + +### Vector Fill Problems +- Ensure objects have proper fill, not just strokes +- Use Layer → Expand Stroke when converting strokes to fills +- Select all objects before applying vector fills + +### Text Cutting Issues +- Convert all text to curves before export +- Check for proper node reduction +- Verify cutting depth settings in Silhouette Studio + +### Alignment Problems +- Use snap-to-grid for precise positioning +- Leverage alignment tools for consistent spacing +- Group related elements before final positioning + +## Resource List + +### Recommended Tutorials +1. Pen Tool Mastery +2. Vector Tracing Techniques +3. Typography in AD2 +4. Silhouette Studio Advanced Cutting + +### Useful Keyboard Shortcuts +- Ctrl + Alt + V: Paste inside +- Ctrl + J: Duplicate in place +- Hold Shift: Constrain proportions +- Hold Alt: Copy while dragging + +## Final Tips and Best Practices + +1. Always work with backup copies +2. Test cut settings on scrap material +3. Maintain organized layer structure +4. Document successful settings for future reference +5. Regular saving and versioning + +>**Workflow Tip:** Develop a consistent naming convention for your files and layers. This becomes crucial when working on multiple book covers or revisiting projects months later. +{: .prompt-info } + + +# Notes + + +I want to write a post on my processes for designing book covers using affinity design 2 and siloutte cameo. +the tutorial will be applicable to other software, such as illustrator or cricut, but will have many specific tips for AD2 and SC. + +the overview of my process is something like this: +1. brainstorm ideas for the cover and go back and forth with chatgpt on possible designs +2. use any assets from GPT or the affinity design stock images that i can +3. make a document with my book preset +4. measure the book with calipers/ruler and draw the cover and spine +5. use the outline? tool to trace any art (need to give tips here) +6. add text +7. export as PDF +8. import into siloutte cameo + +There are several things that i think i have specific tips on such as: +- using the pen tool +- using the contour tool +- using the shape builder tool +- using the text tool +- using warp to make nice shapes with text (there was an easy and a hard way iirc) +- using the stock images in affinity +- the exact document settings that I use +- how to organize the layers in affinity +- how to organize workspaces in affinity +- how to import the PDF into siloutte cameo (grouped or not grouped, etc) +- how you can change the text or lines so that they cut correctly in siloutte cameo...there is something special about whether it is rasterized or not that i think is in my notes + - if it isn't, you have to treat it differently when you are in siloutte cameo, because some things will cut the outline, and others will cut the line in the middle +- tips on filling in shapes and good and bad ways to do it + +------------------ + +here is an example of how i do tips and formatting in other posts: + +#### 6. **Scoop and Chill the Dough:** +1. Using a **¼-cup measure**, scoop dough portions onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. +2. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for **12 to 48 hours**. + +>**Rest the Dough:** It doesn't need to be a baking sheet -- I shove mine into tubberware. But you must let them sit at least overnight. In my experience, the flavors continue to merge and the final texture improves for up to about 2 days. +{: .prompt-info } + + +#### 7. **Prepare the Oven and Bake:** +1. Preheat oven to **350°F**. +2. Place **6–8 dough balls** on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet. +3. Bake for **15–18 minutes**. +4. Let them crystalize! Rest them for about 3 minutes, and they will be warm, gooey, and perfectly crunchy. Eat them too soon and they will just be too hot and soft. + +>**Baking:** Baking is maybe the most important part of any cookie. You can have the best recipe, but if you don't bake it right, it won't shine. I usually take them out around 15-16 minutes. The goal is some softness in the center but a nice crunch on the outside. The tops should have a nice golden brown color. If the cookie isn't the perfect mix of gooey and crunchy, then you need to adjust your baking times. +{: .prompt-info } + +-------------------------------- + +here are some notes that I took while learning affinity design and taking tutorials: +Cutting Objects +If you are going to subtract objects from each other, they need to have fill, not just curves. Its good to do it like this: +the base object should be crafted from the start with no stoke, just fill +if you are already far into your project, you can duplicate, remove stroke off one, and use the contour tool to increase the size to remake it like the original +if you need to subtract any strokes, you can Layer => Expand Stroke +this will convert a stroke to a fill +then arrange the objects in the layers panel, subtract on top, and + +sick t shirts guy +what the hell are artboards?? + + +HOLY SHIT +incredible video of dude making a mushroom character in vector art with shading and stuff + +Selecting +click an object, go to the select menu, then select same +you can do by color, brush type, etc + +Control + alt + v +paste drawing inside another drawing +double click to get inside of objects to select theem + +Making Objects +When sizing an object, hold shift or control to lock the aspect ratio or scale from the middle +Hold shift key while rotating to lock to 15 degree increments + +Using the Pen Tool +You can hold shift to lock the line +You can drag while placing a point to make it curved + +Pencil Tool +the pencil tool automatically makes curves that match a softened version of what you drew + +Brush Tool +take a shape and apply a brush to it +you can then change the size with brackets + +Booleans +don’t forget these, they are very cool +divide, holy shmoly + +Alighnment +use the menu to align stuff relative to the canvas +actually, you can do all kinds of alignments +use the magnet icon to snap shapes to each other + + +Hold control to duplicate + +Image View + +What does rasterizing the layer do?? +an image layer is not editable as pixels, but rasterizing turns it into a pixel layer that you can edit + +Selections +While making a shape selection, you can hold space to move the selection around. +You can use selection brush tool. W on keyboard. Make the brush bigger and smaller. Zoom in and move with mouse and alt +After selecting, you can click the refine button and then paint with foreground and background + +Tutorials +Unfinished Tutorials +Halftone Boom +Overlapping Letters Logo +Video Link +Download fonts from https://www.myfonts.com/products/condensed-regular-winner-394140 +You just download it, double click it, and it gets installed +Layer -> convert to curves +this will turn the letters into vectors so we can play with them as if they were shaps +Sizing +if you draw the whole letter, it will fuck it up. So instead, you can use the nodes tool to only grab the top nodes and collapse them +Hold shift to stay in a straight line +Magic Letter Fuckery +grab the nubs of the E using shift and then nodes tool (A) +Grab transform from the top bar and hold control to size them at the same time +I’m guessing this is going to be great for messing with symmetric covers +Oh I see. it is treating the selection as a single shape, but doing the transform from both directions. Since they are nodes, it makes it seem line it is expanding +You can use this to widen individual parts of the letter. Just imagine it forming a square with your selection +Contour +You use the contour tool to make the duplicated letters bigger +then the shape builder to delete parts and then merge parts so you end up with the final shape +Lines Letter Logo +Video Link +make a letter with a bold font. I used Arial Black Bold +convert to curves +draw a line with the pen tool, holding shift to make it straight +increase the stroke width using the stroke tab on the far right +You can click the pressure button on the right, add a point, and then drag it to change it to an embiggining line!!!!! +magic copy +after copy and pasting and moving carefully with shift, you can press control j to duplicate in the same location each time. i had to try this a couple times, it didn’t work immediately. probably som OOO thing to figure out +use shapebuilder to minus the strokes, then delete or hide you letter layer +to add sexy colors, Layer, Geometry, Merge Curves (I have no idea how this is different from adding shapes or whatever) +Gradient, stroke, linear +Warped Text Logo +Video Link +When you are typing, you can hold down alt and then arrow to completely change the kerning of text. This is in the text, spacing menu +Don’t forget, you can hold control while sizing to do it from the center. This works with edge and corner sizing. +on the layer menu, you can turn on warp, then at the top, you can turn on snapping. i also had to turn on snap to object geometry +after setting first the corners and then the top, you can click on the nodes to gain access to the curve handle. you can then tweak all the node curve handles to get a nice circle +convert to curves and then warp with the fish eye + +draw the shape you want to warp into. I start with a rectangle, then convert to curves, then warp the rectangle with the node tool +type the text and size it inside the box +convert the text to curves +select the text, go to the layer menu, and convert to quad warp +get the corners warps. then you can grab the center of one of the warp line as if you were using the node tool +Nature Sucks +video link +Line Joins +when making a shape and then editing the stroke, you can change how all the line connect by altering the join. In our case we went from a soft round to a miter +Door Frame +To give ourselves a door frame, we can come over to the corners tool, select both corner nodes, and then fully round over the corner +Door Border +to make the border around the inner door, do a duplicate and then a contour, choosing the contour type of miter at the top of the screen so that you will still have sharp corners +Spacing +the align menu has an align thing which will auto align the shape within the exterior of the are that they describe. +Shape Manipulation +After making a rectangle and rotating it, we can then convert it to curves and break the curves in order to get two V shapes. This is a useful way to break apart shapes when the shape builder minus tool is inconvienient +Vector Fill +I was having a really hard time with vector fill, and I believe the solution was to select all the objects prior to using the fill +Shield Letters +Building Shapes from lines +You can make lines between two points make making individual clicks with the pen tool +after drawing some stuff with lines, you can use the shape builder to actually make the shapes as objects. In our case, we make 4 triangles by drawing lines through a square +Making the grid +as you drag copy elements by using alt, you can let go of alt to allow snapping +immediately press control j to copy the action +Making the shield +as you make the circles, don’t forget that you can still align horizontally by 3 spacings +use the intersection tool to create the shield + +Repeat Objects Along A Path +Link +Build the shape +make a 10x14 square grid. +select everything, enter the shapebuilder, then delete the stuff you don’t want +add the remaining stuff +make it black and then group it +Make a brush +with the shapes selected, export as png +use selection only. this should give you just the black with a transparent background in and around +make a brush category and then add a new textured intensity brush +change body from stretch to repeat by double clicking on the brush +using it +you can now use it as a stroke. +remember that you can change the scale with object checkbox if desired + +How to use the pencil tool +link +HOLY SHIT +stabilizer, rope mode +this is incredible, allows you to make these beautiful smooth lines with sharp corners +window mode +can’t really fully tell the difference between these two modes. Probably need to watch a dedicated tutorial on the subject +sculpt mode +this will let you continue lines after unclicking from a node, creating a single curve +pressure profiles +use this to change the thickness along the length of a stroke +HOLD DOWN COMMAND TO ENTER NODE TOOL +Stock Images +you can activate the stock window and download free vector and other images + + +Mastering the Pen Tool +after you draw with a pen, there are 3 kinds of nodes +sharp +the two handles on either side of the node adjust separately +enter by holding option, either while forming a node, or while adjusting a handle +smooth +the two handles on either side of the node adjust together +smart +pen modes: +pen mode +this is all the stuff that we have been talking about +smart mode +polygon mode +just draws straight lines between points that you can later come back and tweak +i had the best luck with this while doing the flame +every time there seems to be a fundamental change to the curve add a new break +click and hold, then you can set the contour of the curve by using the handles on the first point +you can click and drag at every step +hold option while adjusting a node and it will snap one side of it? + + +-------------------------------- + +here is a previous partial draft of the cover design post: +## Making a Cover in Affinity Design +I use a custom "Book Cover" preset in Affinity Design 2. +Width: 350mm +Height: 300mm +DPI: 144 +Document Units: mm + +Measure the book cover, not the spine. Under measure if you need to. + + +144x218 +24x218 + +make cover shapes that match these dimensions. + +copy one of your covers and then use the contour tool to make the border. i've been doing it inset by 7.5mm. You will want to give it transparent fill but a colored stroke. I've been using 2.5-3 pt for the stroke width. + + +Hold alt and drag to copy the cover. + +For some of my recent books, I have been making simplified vector versions of the original covers. Find a nice copy of the original cover online and paste it into your document at 50+ transparency. Then trace over it with the pen tool. You can use the contour tool to make the border. + + +Tips for using the pen tool + +A to select and edit nodes +V to select shapes +P to select the pen tool +While using the pen tool, if an existing node is highlighted blue, you can continue from it. +You can edit your curves by clicking a node and then moving the handles. You can also hover over a curve and see a wavy line and drag it to adjust the curve. You can add new nodes along the path of curves. + + + +When making the bands, create a single band of the correct dimensions, slightly darker than the cover material. The position it at the very top of the spine and copy paste it for each band. Measure on the book from the top of the spine to the top of each band and use math in the tranform panel to add the numbers to each band. + +Once you make the band text, you can align vertically and distribute horizontally. You always want to select the bands first, and then the text. + +I like to group everything into Book Components and Print Components, then hide the print components and export as PDF. + +When bringing it into silhoutte, import it as vector but do not group. This will allow you to change the cut settings for the text vs the cover. + +Arrange it in silhoutte and position it reasonably close to the top. I try to leave some space around the covers, because any excess plastic can be marked and used as a positioning aide. Try to leave at least 10 mm on all sides, since the inset is usually around 7.5mm. + + +Once it is placed, go to object, mirror, then flip horizontally. + +Don't cut off more than you need, just 20mm or so beyond the expected bottom. You are leaving some room for positioning and some room for the cutter to be misaligned. + +The shiny side goes down + + +Where to download https://ng.maisfontes.com/bimbo-serif-main.font + + +List of good fonts + + +American Typewriter +AppleMyungjo +Plantagenet Cherokee +Publico Text +Rockwell 4 +Sama Tamil +STIX Two Text +Trattatello + + + + + + + + + +The post structure should be something like this: + +- + +. make workspaces if needed for different iterations + +main sections: +- why affinity design + - single purchase: $69.99 + - affinity design 2 has really caught up to illustrator +- do you need silouette studio buisness edition? + - no, you can use affinity design 2 + - i thought this was needed to get SVG import, but turns out PDF is the best +using affinity design... +- setting up the canvas. i used a +- making an \ No newline at end of file