Book Cover with Paint.Net

Paint.Net (getpaint.net) is one of my favorite image editors to work with. It is free and easy to use. If you're not yet familiar with it, check out some tutorials on their Forum or on YouTube to learn the basics.

And now, let's create a book cover:

In Paint.Net, open your image.
Now, go to File > New, and in the pop up window, set the pixel size to 1600*2400 (width*height) and then click OK.
Now go back to your image, select it and click copy or go to Edit > Copy. Now click the new, blank image and paste your image to a new layer: Edit > Paste Into New Layer.
Set the image as you prefer, dragging it with your mouse, and don't worry if only a part of it fits, or the upper and lower parts are missing.

Now, you have something like this:

Now, my image is smaller than the given measures, so I can either recolor the background layer, by selecting it at Layers, then grabbing the paint bucket under Tools and picking a color, then clicking the image or I can add a frame to the upper and the lower parts. To do that, I'll first add a new layer via Layers > Add New Layer. Then make sure you deselect everything else at Edit > Deselect.
Now I will use the Shapes under Tools, then select rectangle and click Shape Draw/Fill Mode and select the middle one: Draw Filled Shape. Then I pick a color - I'll use black, then I go and draw a rectangle to the bottom of the image - covering the white parts and some of the rose stems, then repeat it at the top as well:

As you see, the upper frame is thinner than the lower one. I like it this way,but you can do however you'd like to.


The next step is to add an additional frame to list the author and title - it is optional, but for this image, I need to do that, because the image with the roses would look odd if I skip this step. What I'm going to do is similar to the previous step with the frames, but now, I need to lower the opacity when coloring. So, to avoid a disaster, I first add a new layer, deselect everything, then go to Tools > Shapes, set it to rectangle and at Shape Draw/Fill Mode I pick Draw Filled Shape again. Then I go to Colors, select my preferred color and then click More the I set Opacity / Alpha to about 140 - 170, depending on the imgage.
Here is what the cover should look now:

The next thing is to add the author's name and the title of the book: I'll add a new layer, then I go to Tools > Text, then I pick a Font and a size and type in the info and picking a color:

Now, I wasn't fully satisfied with the plain white text. For me it just didn't pop out enough.
So, what I did is: I selected the text layer at Layers, then duplicated it. Then I went to Adjustments and clicked Invert Colors. It turned my duplicated text's color to black. Then I went to Layers, and moved the duplicated - now black text layer down. Then I went to Tools > Move Selected, then I dragged the layer a little to the right and a little upper, creating a "shadowy" or "3D" effect to the text. Here it is:

And here is the final version of the eBook cover. Plain and simple and it made under minutes, and for free:

Save everything: File > Save As (name the file) and make sure you save it as a paint.net file, so later on you can always make adjustments. Save it in .jpeg or .png format too and flatten the image, so you can use t as a book cover art.



Note: You can play around and recolor the image and the frame to your liking: Press Undo twice, so your image will again be in separated layers. Then go to Adjustments, and use the Black and White, the Sepia and Hue and Saturation. Make sure you select the layer you want to recolor.

These modified versions may be used as covers of books in series.

Now, let's make a Two-Toned Book Cover 

example:

I got a simple "background" image from Pexels for this example cover, but you can use any background image you want. (Always read licences if you use a free image from the net.)


Next is to crop it.
Now, if your image is not black and white, you must turn it to b&w, so go to Adjustments > Black and White. Go to Layers > Add New Layer and change the properties to "Overlay"

Go to Colors and pick a blue shade, then under Tools, select the Gradient tool. Now go to the left side of your image to about mid-height and left click drag the shade to the right.

Now go to Layers > Add New Layer. Change the 3rd layer's Properties to "Overlay" just like you did with the 2nd layer, then go to Colors and pick an orange shade and select the gradient tool once again and go to the right side of your image to about mid-height and left click drag the shade to the left.

Now, I think that my image is a little too bright. I prefer to darken it a little, but it is up to you and the image you use.
To darken it, go to Layers > Add New Layer, then change its properties to overlay select the black color and opacity to about 186 then use the Paint Bucket tool and paint the layer. (you can darken or lighten it)

Next step is to add the text - your author name and the book's title.
I used white color.

Now, to make the text pop up even more, select the text layer, if not selected already, then go to Layers > Duplicate layer
Now the top text layer should be selected, if not, select it, then go to Adjustments > Invert Colors. Then go to Layers > Duplicate Layer.

Now the black text layers are atop and the white is the third. Go to the Layers Box and push the white text up, using the "UP" arrow twice.

Now go to the first black text layer from the top, select it, then Tools > Move Selected. Drag and drop it to the right or to the left a tiny bit, to make a skinny shadow for the white layer. When you like it, let go of the layer and go to Edit > Deselect.
We need a little more shadow, so go to the other black text layer, that's second from top and select it. Go to Effects > Blur > Gaussian Blur and drag the handle to the right to set the radius to about 40. When done, your image should look like this:

Two-Toned Book Cover with Paint.Net

Using the above methods, you can create many different styles.
Images (city and couples) are from Pexels




Also: 

Similar method as above:

Just reverse the selection to remove the background around the character. This makes a lovely book cover as well.

Images used in this project, for this post, are from Pexels.