Dragonslayer

Since Ric Easton has mentioned that he may not do any "Voyager" covers until all 7 Seasons are released, I thought that I'd give it a shot, since I can't stand the thought of having all those Paramount cases on my bookshelf.

I've posted the 1st Season's front, back, chapter insert & the panoramic spine. The front and back covers are pretty much set. I may only do some minor tweaking. Likewise with the chapter insert. On the other hand, I'm not really pleased with the panoramic spine. It seems crowded. I'm definitely going to resize the Comm badges much smaller. I'll also probably resize the Voyager image just a little bit smaller. The text could be resized a tad smaller, but I'm undecided at this point.

I have one BIG problem! Like Ric, I also do not have cast pictures that I find entirely suitable. At this point I'm unsure whether I'll use single person images on the back cover or whole cast images. ANYONE who can help me with acquiring higher quality cast images will have my undying gratitude!!! Thanks in advance for your help & comments.

Ric Easton

Drag,

Looks like you are off to a good start. I'm not sure about all the downward pointing Voyager ships though. They just look odd to me. Since you want to go with a big VOYAGER on the spine, have you thought of maybe giving each letter its own cover? V-O-Y-A-G-E-R .. seven letters, seven covers? I don't know, when I get around to it, I thought of giving it a try. Not sure what to do about the words Star Trek, though.

Good luck!
Ric

Dragonslayer

That makes sense to me. I'll try it out & see. Do you have any suggestions about the top of the spine area? Thanks!

Ric Easton

Just don't forget, the first set only has five discs, so I'm not sure that idea of mine will work. I'm not sure what to do about the top. You know me, I'd go with a big honkin ship across the whole thing. But this is your cover, so in the end, you have to go with what feels right to you.

Ric

Dragonslayer

I did not forget about the smaller width of Season One. It is incorporated into the size of the spine. I just finished putting the individual letters of V-O-Y-A-G-E-R on each case. I think it looks better. Thanks for the idea. I'll resize the Comm badges, but I'm now really undecided about the top. I'll post the revised spine & invite suggestions for the top.

DarthVong

Nice to see your "talent" hasnt changed

Dragonslayer

And you still love to put people down & make fun of them! How little you must be if this is the only way you can build youself up. You are a MEAN person who deserves no respect.

DarthVong

Ah see you slight me. I wasnt insulting you, merely stating that you havent gone the way of the new trend of custom cover making.

At least yours are original.

But you are correct. I deserve no respect.

Ric Easton

Now boys... Don't make me separate you.

Ric

Dragonslayer

I'm working on a treatment for the top of the spine that replaces the starships. I've reduced the size of the Comm badges, I'll probably post it tomorrow or Saturday. One part of it is giving me some trouble.

UPDATE: I've added symbols of various cultures that appear in "Voyager" to the top of the spine. Again I'll probably post it today or Saturday.




Here is the revised spine & I've included a look at how the 1st season cover will appear, minus the cast picture(s) & running time.

Dragonslayer

I'm redoing the color scheme of the front, back & chapter insert because of a suggestion that I received that made good sense. I'll post the changes when I'm done.

Dragonslayer

After struggling with a nonresponsive Digitalpose I finally got all the revised & alternate images uploaded a few minutes ago.

Above you will find the Front & Back covers & the Chapter insert with the changed color scheme that Tony suggested. I think it looks better. Also you will see two spines with different images of Voyager on them. If I decide to put an image of Voyager on the spine it will be one of these 2 images. At this point I'm leaning just a tiny bit toward the spine image with the greenish background. They seem to be the best for the job of the ones I downloaded from the site Ric pointed out. If I use an image of Voyager on the spine then I must find six other images for the front covers. I'd save the current front cover image for the seventh season as it fits better there.

Dragonslayer

Above you see the back cover with a crew image. The image is from a scanned VHS "Voyager" tape. I took the image & used Photoshop's Filter Gallery to make it look like a painting. I think this technique solves the problem of lower quality images & is a little different way to display an image on a DVD cover.

Dragonslayer

Ric Easton said:
I might shrink the icons slightly, I'm not sure yet. Their location on the spine is not related to their appearence in terms of when they appeared in the series. But if they were, then location is about right since Klingons, Marquis & Vulcans appeared before the Kazon.

I tried what you suggested Ric. It did not make much of a difference, so I'm leaving the painting effect as it is. I believe it looks better than just the scanned image without the painting effect. The image that is in the 1st season back cover will be changed.

Now all I need is front cover images & I'll be set. Any help in finding some will be most welcomed.

Dragonslayer

Season 1 Cover Pic: Caretaker Array

Season 2 Cover Pic: Kazon Ship


Season 3 Choices: Bioship & Borg Cubes


Season 4 Choices: Bioship & Voyager "Year of Hell"


Season 5 Choices: Delta Flyer & Voyager "Timeless"


Season 6 Choices: Delta Flyer & Borg Queen

Season 7 Cover: Voyager & The Golden Gate Bridge

Above you see the tentative cover images & alternate choices for each season. Unless I find higher quality images on my own or if some very generous person provides me with some higher quality pictures, those you see are it. Perhaps the individual sets that Paramount releases will have some decent images, but I won't hold my breath.

All those images are low resolution pics from the Internet except the Delta Flyer & the Kazon ship & the Golden Gate image, which are all scanned images.

I've spent a lot of time searching for images, maybe I missed some. If you know about a site with high resolution images PLEASE let me know about it. Thanks for your help & comments.

Ric Easton

Drag,

There's been a few other comments in my HTF thread that I went and chased you out of. Again, sorry! Feel free to post there.

Ric

Dragonslayer

Any impressions of the potential cover images above?

It was not polite of me to hijack your thread. You know sometimes threads wander off in another direction.

Here is the spine based on the overwhelming opinions expressed:

This is the spine image that I'll use to upload to http://www.dvdgreek.com/ . I'll be mildly surprised if I get any feedback that someone is using the cover.

Below is the version of the spine that I'll use for myself:


The icons that left the spine are ending up here:

I'll use this version of the front cover for myself. The front cover version with the registry number is the version that will be uploaded to The Greek's site.

I'm still hoping that someone will be kind & help me find some nice high-resolution images from the series. I'm not holding my breath though, because I've seen so much disdain expressed toward the series. This cover, like most of mine, is being done for me primarily. If another person or persons find it worthy of being used, then I'm honored. I appreciate your continuing support Ric, and the truly constructive comments expressed by others.

Ric Easton

Well, I really like the spine, now! I also like the addition of the registry. If i ever get around to doing Voyager, I'm gonna have a hard time not wanting to use that spine design.

As for other pictures, I have resorted to buying old ST calendars on ebay. I haven't started with Voyager yet, but I have only seen two different ones for that series. Good luck!

Ric

Dragonslayer

Thanks Ric! Feel free to "borrow" any of my design. I'd be honored. I'll help you in any way I can. Your a lot more likely to have your designs downloaded than I. I'm somewhat of a pariah on this forum & at DVDCA, as you can see from the complete lack of other constructive input. Your using my ideas would help them to live on & get exposure.

I bought one of those Voyager calendars myself from Amazon. I only used it for one cast pic, I selected out Chakotay & Seven of Nine from the cast picture to use for the painted effect crew pics. I have several weeks to look for more images, but I'm not optimistic that I'll find high-resolution images that span the series. I may be stuck with those I previewed above. I'll have to do some test prints to see how they hold up.

I'll need luck.

Dragonslayer

I think I might have solved my "Voyager" high quality image problem. I won on eBay a set of 180 cards featuring images from every episode. Below is an example of the cards I believe:



They only cost me $12 + shipping. I'll see when they arrive. I paid that much for the calendar, which I got little use out of.

BasiaMille

Slayer,

My apologies if this has been addressed before: does Digitalpose lower your images' resolution before you can post them? Because that might explain why some of your scans look like they're only 256-color, or so. I thought the issue might be with the cgi images that you said were lo-res, but the card scans shouldn't be that grainy. Is digitalpose limiting your image size/quality?

Just curious,

CS

Dragonslayer

I don't know if they are lowering the resolution or not. The size of the images you see are the max that Digitalpose will allow. I'm limited in the maximum total size of all my images there so I have to post lower quality .jpegs. Of course if I eliminated all the older pics, I'd have room for better quality jpegs. If you or someone else knows of a site that has a bigger allowance for free, I'd like to know.

Most of the images above that I'm considering for use are 150 pixels/inch or less, in fact most are 72. The image of the cards is the image that the ebay seller posted at ebay. I don't have the cards yet.

Ric Easton

I have a feeling that as long as you don't try to go too big with those images on your covers, you should be fine.

Ric

Dragonslayer

The images will be used within an area that measures 13 x 13 cm. That is unless the cards I have coming will offer much higher resolution & better quality.

I see from the reaction to your trial "Voyager" spine that I will more than likely be left in the dust. Oh well, I really did not figure on anyone else going for mine. I simply don't stand a chance against artists of your stature & reputation.

DarthVong

Yes. Ric Easton is very talented.