Design Two More Fantasy Book Covers in Procreate

1. Intro: Whether you're an author who wants to take creative control of your own book covers, a graphic designer looking to branch out into a new niche or a pro cri enthusiast eager to explore the world of publishing design. This class is for you. Hi, I'm Donnie. I'm an author and digital artist, and I've been designing book covers professionally for over 25 years. I've had the pleasure of working with bestselling authors and major publishing houses, helping bring their stories to life visually. In 2020, I discovered the magic of Procreate, and it completely transformed how I work. Designing high quality professional book covers right from the comfort of my sofa, Total Game Changer. In this class, I'll walk you through the full process of creating two different fantasy style book covers using Procreate. We'll explore composition, typography, brush techniques, and how to make your cover look polished and market ready. I'll be using a custom brush set, and I will include a link in the description so you can follow along with the exact tools I'm using. Once we finish the covers, I encourage you to jump in and create your own version or put your own spin on it using the techniques you've learned. So grab your iPad and stylus, and let's dive into the world of book cover design. 2. Designing Book Cover #1: So let's get started. Let's create a new file. This will be an Ebook size 1,600 by 25 60. Let's make the background black. Much easier to see on here, anyhow. Okay. Let's go ahead and add in the title. Crown of the Wolf King. I'm going to turn on the drawing guides just so I know everything is centered. Just make that white. Let's go ahead and change the font to something more fantasy. For this, I'm going to use a font called Muniqu and I will go ahead and leave a link to that in the comments below. So let's go ahead and adjust the size and the wedding. I'll squeeze that in a little tighter. And I'm going to reduce the size of the I'll tighten that up. Okay, it looks good. Let's position it toward the bottom. Good. And I always like to add the title first. I think it's easier to position the rest of the design elements when the titles already there. Let's go ahead and add some of the design elements. I'm going to use my fantasy brush set, and I will leave a link in the comments for that one, as well. The main focal point on this is gonna be a wolf. So we will scroll down, find the wolf head. All the stamps in this brush set are hand drawn. There is absolutely no AI in any of my brush sets. So we're gonna position this so it overlaps the title slightly and darken it just We'll set it beneath the title. Now, what I want to do is add a symmetry layer. So I will go into my drawing guides and edit, and I'm going to select symmetry options and quadrant. So everything looks the same on all four sides of the cover. And we're going to add some kind of a flourish element to this. I'm fine. Just the right flourish or the corners. I love florishs because they just lend this elegance to the design structure, and it just gives it that extra touch of class. Okay, there's one I'm looking for, what is it? Here it is. And I'll try to position this element just right. Perfect. I like that. That looks good. Okay. And we'll add in colors and shading in a little bit. Now, let's add the author name. Shrink that down. Okay. Thank you for what? Thank. Next, I'll be taking you I love just enough room. On a different a Cbok cover. See you there. Good now I think I want to apply some kind of a glow behind the wolf. So just so it punches out and it provides that focal point. So we're gonna draw a circle. I'm gonna put one finger down to turn it into a true circle, fill it, and then and then I'll blur it with a Gaussian blur. So I'm just gonna blur it a little bit, and it looks good. I'll stretch it out tiny bit and lessen the brightness. I'm gonna play around with this. Change the heel slightly. Kind of gives the wolf face a I don't know, sort of a wicked glow. I'll put a couple of jewels on his forehead just to make it punch out. Not too much. Now I'm going to go back to the corner layer and apply an alpha lock. And I'm going to give these flourishes a little color just so it ties in with the wolf head. Okay. Okay, I think I'm gonna play around with this color position till it looks just right. Another way you can do this is to apply a clipping mask just above the layer you want to adjust. We'll try it this way. And as you can see, when I apply color to one corner, it applies to the rest of them. That's what I like about the symmetry option. It saves time and it's consistent. Okay, now I'm going to apply a clipping mask to the wolf head and just darken up the bottom so the title's easier to read. Not much. Okay, now let's apply some blending to the title. And again, I'll put on a clipping mask tying in that turquoise color with an airbrush tool. So I'm just so slightly applying a gradation. I'm just applying some very subtle highlights to the wolf head with a pure white. So it sharpens the imaging. Now, kind of as a finishing touch, I like to apply just a very subtle background pattern. I just feel that it lends depth to the whole image and kind of just gives it a more sophisticated look. So for this, I'm going to use a pattern from my portraits brush set. And this is completely optional, but I just thought it would be fun to show how it's done. What I'll do is I'll apply this pattern. It's a seamless pattern to cover the entire cover. Like so. Then I'm going to take the opacity way down to maybe ten or 11%. Just so you know it's there, but it doesn't overpower design itself. I just kind of enhances it. Okay. I think that we are done. I think it looks good. And I will show you the finished cover. What do you think? Thank you for watching. Stay tuned. Next, I'll be taking you through my design process on a different Finance C book cover. See you there. 3. Designing Book Cover #2: So let's get started with a canvas size of 1,600 by 25 60. I'm going to add a black layer for the background. The first thing I'll do is add the frame for the looking glass, more commonly known as a mirror. So I will scroll down to the mirror. But first, I want to turn on the drawing guides to help me center everything. Let's enlarge that and center it in. And you don't have to turn on guides if you have snapping turned on. This is just my own little habit that I do. Now I want to give this frame an antiqued look. So I'm going to create a clipping path above the layer. Then I'm going to select the silver tin foil brush. As you can see, this gives the image that aged silvered metallic look. And I'm just brushing this over the entire frame. Okay, next, I'm going to add decorative embellishments in the corners. For this, I'm turning on symmetry and quadrant, and I will make the guides white. Let's find a suitable embellishment that goes well with the design. Here's one. I love the quadrant symmetry because you only have to place it once and it aligns perfectly on each corner. I use this a lot in my book cover projects. Let's change the color to a pale blue. Good. Now I will add in some roses because, you know, it's not really a dark romance title without roses. Am I right? I know I'm profiling genres right now, but indulge me a little. I created a rose bunch for this that I will also leave as a free download in the description. And I'll change these to a Teal blue. And dupe it for the bottom as well. Now I will add a drop shadow effect beneath each rosepng just to give it a little bit of a three D look. I'll work on the inside of the frame to give it a reflective look. H first, I'm going to add a base color. So I'll just draw an oval under the frame and fill it in. Now I will select the Pearl beads brush, and with free form selected, I'm just shaping it to the frame. I'll duplicate this a few times to give it the darkness and the richness I want. Looks good. I think I want to tie that in with some more pearls around the cover. So I will choose the pale blue again and bring down the size. No, on second thought, I'll change that to pale gold. And I'm going to turn on drawing assist, so it's symmetrical. There we go. Now we'll go back to pale blue. And for this, I'll just add in a few decorative pearls around the cover. I love how this is taking on a Victorian feel. Let's add a couple roses to the sides. Very cool. Okay, it's time to put in the title. I'm using a font called Coventry Garden. This is a free font to use commercially, and I will include the link for this in the description below. And now I will put in the author name. Let's give the title a drop shadow. And for this, I'm grouping the text, duplicating it, and flattening the new layer to make it black. Then I will apply a Gaussian blur. And the same thing with the author name. Let's move this down just a tad. Looking good. Now for some finishing touches. I want to antique the roses just a bit, so I'll add a clipping path and brush in a bronze tone using the soft airbrush. And I will make sure this is set to the overlay filter. This gives the roses a little more depth and aging. I'll apply a subtle drop shadow beneath the frame for a little more three D effect. Let's go ahead and add a pattern to the background. For this, I'll choose a rose pattern from the brush set. And it might be hard to see it on screen, but there's a subtle rose pattern that can serve also as a Victorian wallpaper. This also helps visually tie in the cover imagery. I think I want to add one more thing. I want to work in something that has significance in the story. Let's say that something happens around an old tree. So for this, I'll choose the gnarly tree, and I'll place it inside the looking glass. Then we'll add a small smattering of stars with the glitter flakes fresh to finish the scene. Tara. Here's the finished cover. 4. Final Thoughts: Thanks so much for joining me in this class. I hope you had some fun exploring the world of book cover design and Procreate and picked up some new techniques along the way. Whether you followed along exactly or put your own spin on the designs, you've taken a big step toward creating professional quality covers right from your iPad. Don't be afraid to experiment, play with different styles, and really make it your own. Book cover design is a powerful mix of storytelling and visual art. And with Procreate, your creative options are endless. I'd love to see what you come up with. So if you feel comfortable, please share your final project. And if you have any questions or want some feedback, feel free to drop a comment. I'm here to help. If you've enjoyed this class, be sure to follow for more digital art and design tutorials. And if you know someone else who would love this, feel free to share it with them, too. Until next time, keep creating and happy designing.