Friday, August 26, 2011

Epic Fail

Yup, in case you were wondering, I epically failed my exam. The good part about it is... it was darn hard. So I don't feel like an idiot for failing (especially since I was 0.3 points away from getting in).

What happened is this - the first half of the test went smoothly with minimal mistakes from my part. The third part was evil - stuff we did not do in school. The fourth part was also evil - I got most of that one right, only we had multiple choice, and I either had too many or too little choices. So... yup, I failed.

As you can see, I'm not exactly upset about it, because I realized that the people who organize this exams have other plans in mind (first session - really hard exam - the spots are not filled. Second session = spots filled + new entry fees = more cash for them). And it's just pathetic. I don't think I want to join a system like that. So, I'm concentrating on getting a job right now. Fortunately, a friend is helping out. :)

But enough about that. That's depressing. Let's concentrate on what I did with my free time. I cooked up my first acceptable cover for HuntersI had tried to cook something like that before, but I'm a bit of an amateur and it takes a little while to get the hang of photoshop and figure out where to go for stock photos.

So... here's what I have:
Pathetic first attempt




I did this before I had finished with the exam madness. It took little time and the main thing I learned was how to handle text. As you may see it's too simple and too... colorful. And the text in itself kinda sucks






So I went ahead, did a little research, poked my illegal copy photoshop for about an hour and came up with this:
Second attempt. Pathetic?


Now, I personally like this a lot more. I'm not sure it's the best cover to grace the Internet (okay, I know it's not), but, for one thing, it's smaller (since I made it the exact book size) and I actually put more elements except for one picture and text together (it's two pictures with some editing to both of them).

It has a good level of detail to it. For example, at the bottom of the cover, in the darkness of the chick's hair, there's a tiny village in the moonlight - which actually is part of the setting at some point.
And I made the chick's eyes green, though it's not obvious. Technically, Rachel has orange hair, but all hair looks black in the night, so I could hardly make it orange and then post it on the night background. That would've looked freaky.


So, yes, this is what I have so far. I'm practicing just in case I decide to selfpublish this. Which I'm not sure about yet. And I will attempt another 2 versions of this. I'll keep you posted.

Hope you guys are doing well :)

9 comments:

  1. I like them both, really, especially from your first attempts. The second one is probably a bit better, but you might consider adding a "Daniel" there too. Just a thought.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ((hugs)) I'm sorry, but I'm glad you don't seem too upset about it. You did the best you could, after all. I wish you the best of luck with your job search.

    I really like that second cover, btw!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Aww! After all that hard work too, that sucks big time. Sorry to hear that, and glad that you're taking a positive view of things and exploring alternatives. I wish you well.

    And I like that second cover. I find it quite striking. Keep going!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I wouldn't call that an "epic" fail - more barely a fail, and it looks like it was rather unfair anyway (featuring things you hadn't covered at school). I'm still sorry it didn't work out though, but glad things are still progressing in a positive way for you.

    As for the covers, I like both of them, although the second one really stands out! I love the way the woman seems to blend into the night. It's just the sort of cover that would intrigue me to pick up the book!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks everyone for being so nice and everything :) Everything will work out :D

    Now, I'm still working on potential covers - I did another one, with a city background, but I'm waiting to make another one or two before posting them and asking for your thoughts.

    Hugs to everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi there, saw you at Views from the Bald Patch. Following. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. BTW Steph, I awarded you the Liebster Blog award. Please pop over sometime to collect it.

    ReplyDelete
  8. @Laila - Nice to have you! Hope you like it here :)

    @Ian - Thanks! I'll undoubtedly pop by an collect it (since I'm a hoarder and everything O:))

    ReplyDelete
  9. By the way, *big hugs* to you. Doggone it, you've worked your tail off for that process. But I wish you the best in your job hunt :)

    ReplyDelete

Show me the love :)