Saturday, March 26, 2016

Shapes and Swirls | Graphics Design

Last week, I pushed all of my fonts on you. This week, I'm going to introduce something that I have SO MUCH FUN with! Some are under the category of "Dingbat," others are just swirls and designs. All of them plug into your fonts on your computer.

Some of the dingbats/swirls I have on my computer and use often are Kfon, Nymphette, WW Floral Corner. 

For example, here is the banner I created for Orphan Journeys:


You can see it on the top of Journey to Love.



Compare the new Orphan Journeys series banner to my former thought (which was...no banner).



How did I create the new and improved? Let me introduce you to my favorite "font," Nymphette. I probably overuse it, I like it so much!

First, I kept "Orphan Journeys" in the font Cinzel. Then, using good ol' font Times New Romans I placed a line on top and on bottom of my text (yeah, I could have just drawn a line, but this is just how I do things the hard way).


THEN, the fun part! I used Nymphette letters KL (capital, yes) to create the double swirl. Then, I copied those, flipped them horizontally, and here ya go.



It is simple, but adds so much! Here are a couple of other designs in which I've used Nymphette to embellish:



What do you use to embellish your work?

Do you have a link to something you've designed? Share it in a comment--I'd love to stop by and see it!

6 comments:

Faith Blum said...

This is great to know! I always wondered how people did those. Now I know and can use them for my own! :D

Amanda Tero said...

Happy to give you something to use on your own designing journey, Faith! ;)
~Amanda

Willowy Whisper said...

I really like how you "re-did" your cover! I love your finished one (the other was good, too, though). The first one had a little too much distraction, but you toned it down perfectly! I love looking at your work. You have amazing talent. :)
I just finished my latest novel and am "thinking" on the cover plan. I've kind of decided to get a picture of an old-fashioned gun, and somehow fade in a letter or something. I kind of have my heart set on only using my own photos, which kind of limits me on what I can do. Also, I'd really like to have a person on the cover, but I don't know who to use. What do you do? I know you said the JTL girl was your friend, but I don't have any friends or acquaintances that even look like my characters, you know? In the past, I've pretty much used myself, but that won't always work. I don't look like all my characters.
Sorry if my comment was too long, and thanks for the post! :) Any advice or ideas will be welcomed! :)

Amanda Tero said...

@ Willowy,

Thank you! I like the final cover much better too! :) Praise the Lord -- for He has definitely given me that talent! :)

Ah, yes, I know how limitations are (which is WHY I use my own pictures). First off, I pray about it. Sometimes, I've not even had an IDEA for a cover when I needed one. Then, like you mentioned, I DO need to have a "model." Otherwise, I look online for royalty free images. You might want to check and be sure these are all free, but I've used images from morguefile.com and freerangestock.com. I know that Shutterfly has a lot of royalty free images, but you usually have to pay for those. If it's a cover that's going to be making money, though, it may be worth it if you have no other choice.

Another thought is to use the back of your model. I actually like the professional covers that have this, because then I can "create" the image of the character in my mind.

I don't know if that helps or not--hope so. :) So far, your covers have been very neat! :D And no worries about lengthy comments. ;)

Willowy Whisper said...

Oh, thank you! That's a neat idea about using their back, and I'll check out those websites. :) Hopefully I can create the cover I'm really wanting. :)

Amanda Tero said...

@ Willowy - You're welcome! I hope you can create it too! Sometimes it's a little tough to get from vision to product. :)

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