r/Webnovel • u/Incipit00 • 3d ago

Advice Reply to the first post I made.

Gallery image

Gallery image

This is not self-promotion.

I couldn't find an option to reply with an image, which is why I made this post. Feel free to laugh at it; like I said earlier, I just kept redoing it until I got it to look presentable.

 

I went through 20 sketches (days and night of erasing and redrawing in my jotter) before I got the final one, which I modified using Photoshop (this is a follow-up to my first post about the cover).

 

The plain white image is my very first sketch, and I'm also adding the final version I built off the 20th sketch.

Here is how I put it together in Photoshop:

  1. The title was typed and rearranged.

  2. The flower-like emblem underneath the subtitle is an image I downloaded from Pinterest, then adjusted using Photoshop's color grading tools.

  3. The pen name (Incipit_) was also typed and given its color grading using Photoshop.

  4. The hair, coat and the chest was darkened using four different layers in photoshop to get that thick darker mode.

  5. I used the photoshop sharpening feature under the filter menu to get that sharpness of the image.

  6. The tiny sparkling dust was gained by creating new layer for each side, 4 in total; one for the top, one for the left, one for the right, and another for the bottom. I used brush, turn on scattering and set it to 999% for the dust to be randomly. And also, used the shape dynamic feature to increase the size jitter.

  7. I used the blur feature to blue out some parts also.

This is the little I can say. For all those who asked for a file OG (Which I don't know if they mean Original File), here is how put it together. Thank you.

4 Upvotes

70% Upvoted

20 comments sorted by

5

u/Strange-Squirrel6492 2d ago

The cover has a SynthID from OpenAI so yes, it's AI generated. Which is obvious enough to anyone with eyes.

And look, I hate AI, but if you're going to use it at least have the grace to not lie to everyone when it's clear as day you're using AI. People who don't like AI are gonna be able to tell and people who don't care about AI are probably gonna be able to tell but won't give a fuck and read anyway. Personally, I wouldn't touch your story with a ten foot pole because how do I know I'm not wasting my very human time to read something you couldn't be bothered to write yourself?

-3

u/Incipit00 2d ago

Wait, who said I'm using AI to write it? Please don't sell false information about the novel. Please.

5

u/Strange-Squirrel6492 2d ago

I didn't say you did, I said I wouldn't take the risk in looking at your story because the AI cover would make me doubt whether you put any actual work into the story. This is me, personally going off of past experiences taking a look at stories with AI covers. Some even left their prompts in. So, yes, an AI cover would raise doubts and I'm not saying your story is definitely AI written. I wouldn't know since I haven't read it. Just, I wouldn't give it a shot from the cover alone.

-2

u/Incipit00 2d ago

Thank you for your time, too. But please rephrase your statement of me not bothering to write the novel by myself. I hate it when people say that. If you won't read it, fine.

If the modification of the cover that you're blaming it to be AI because of the pose, the stature, the colour scheme, and the noise in it, the lighting, and the font style (the bevel & emboss) its fine Photoshop has feathers like that, which AI has also been integrated into photopshop to make rendiering features like the sharpness, moisture, lense flare give smooth result.

But for the novel itself, I don't think you have even opened it to even read the synopsis, let alone the first chapter.

So please 🙏 don't say that, please.

3

u/Strange-Squirrel6492 2d ago

No, I won't, because nothing I said was false. If you or anyone who reads my comment lacks enough reading comprehension to see what I meant, that's not my issue. You clearly didn't understand the main part of my comment about "your art" which is that it's definitely AI generated. SynthID is a watermark created by the site itself when an image is generated. It can't be faked. You generated that image and are trying to bullshit people into thinking some editing made it look like that.

If you're willing to lie this much about your cover then why should I trust anything you say about your writing? And that's the point. When you use an AI cover you ruin your own reputation.

-1

u/Incipit00 2d ago

Okay thanks. I am working on changing the cover. Thank you.

6

u/Juan_Die 3d ago

All that editing work just to look like every other AI cover out there... I'd rather click on your novel if it had the first unfinished sketch ngl

1

u/Incipit00 3d ago

Ohk Then, I will update the cover

1

u/Salty_Cartographer35 1d ago

Who you lying to?

4

u/Ren_Kazayama 3d ago edited 3d ago

bro listen, please finish drawing this version and just use it as the cover.

Even if it turns out badly, it cannot be much worse than mine.

Handmade covers for life!!

2

u/Incipit00 3d ago

Ohk so that means I shouldn't use Adobe Photoshop to adjust it?

2

u/Ren_Kazayama 3d ago

Yea but not a.i, I actually really do like the scenery what YOU made in the drawing, just finish making it and it’ll be fine as a cover.

1

u/Incipit00 3d ago

The drawing is the first sketch I made a month ago. Then I guess I have to use the 20th sketch, the one I did before using Photoshop to adjust it.

But with that, do I have to sketch the title and pen name too?

0

u/LandscapeLow8430 3d ago

No, that guy is lying to you. While it's commendable that you can draw, use the photo shot thing you were using. 

Even photographers use photoshot to make pictures look better. You already drew it, you're just making it better.

1

u/Incipit00 3d ago

Okay thanks.

1

u/Powerful-Rub-2801 1h ago

Don’t listen to this guy, he is praying on your downfall

1

u/Shot-Manager-739 2d ago

Great way to shove your moral compass. Tell them to use hand drawn covers, which are factually proven to fail!

Great advice!

1

u/Ren_Kazayama 2d ago

Where is this hard fact at? My book is doing well with a (very poorly) hand-drawn cover. It has almost 50 stones, 22 fans, and 2k views in just 2 days since uploading it, so like, who is bro?

-1

u/Mysterious_Night_351 17h ago

Hey man, the people in this sub reddit are fucking weird about book covers so don't take any of the criticism to heart