To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

Firstly - the overall standard is exceptional. All of you should be proud, some of you very proud. Every one is better than every existing 2+2 cover. A few of them are as good as any cover I have seen.

I am interested in how you made your covers. I'd really like to be able to do something similar one day. A few questions

i) What program did you use?
ii) How long did it take you?
iii) What experience in this field have you got?
iv) Are you artistically talented?

Any other hints and tips are welcome.

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

What I find funny is that Mason probably paid thousands for the covers of the other books and these guys get 300 and a t-shirt. Mason is a great business man.

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

[ QUOTE ]
What I find funny is that Mason probably paid thousands for the covers of the other books and these guys get 300 and a t-shirt. Mason is a great business man.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ding ding ding!

To answer the OP, even though my entries were some of the weaker ones (well, besides my kick-ass guns cover).

1. I used Microsoft PhotoDraw.
2. About an hour or two.
3. No experience, although I've used Photodraw a bit to make custom beer labels for my homebrews.
4. Not really.

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

[ QUOTE ]
What I find funny is that Mason probably paid thousands for the covers of the other books

[/ QUOTE ]

You want to take another look at those covers [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

He's publicly stated they used a professional graphic designer for the covers.

I"m not saying the covers were good and I think the covers in the above stickied thread are amazing. I do think mason is saving himself a boatload of money while getting a superb product. He is a good business man.

Hell, I think he could have gotten these covers for free if he had wanted to so maybe he isn't that good of a business man. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

i) adobe photoshop 7
ii) 20 min
iii) none
iv) remotely

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

[ QUOTE ]
What I find funny is that Mason probably paid thousands for the covers of the other books and these guys get 300 and a t-shirt. Mason is a great business man.

[/ QUOTE ]
Lol, if he paid thousands for those older covers, he might be the worst business man ever.

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

Hi Mark:

They also get a complete set of Two Plus Two books. Our shirts are polo shirts, not T-shirts.

Best wishes,
Mason

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

To answer your questions:

1) Corel Photopaint. I know Photoshop is better, I just became comfortable with Photopaint and for something simple like this there's nothing it can't do.
2) Couple of hours, but that means going through more than one design. One design might not even take 20 mins.
3) Designed various other flyers and ads for friends and such, no education or professional experience
4) No, I don't have any artistic talent at all, and personally I don't think you need any. Just an eye for what looks good.

Re: To the people who entered Mason\'s competition.
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
What I find funny is that Mason probably paid thousands for the covers of the other books and these guys get 300 and a t-shirt. Mason is a great business man.

[/ QUOTE ]
Lol, if he paid thousands for those older covers, he might be the worst business man ever.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you seen the cover of Middle Limit Hold'em by Ciaffone? It makes 2+2 covers look almost garish. Maybe the "serious" poker writers take a strange pride in their terrible book covers? Kind of a "this info is so strong it would sell written on a paper bag" type of thing.

.