Do you know what it’s
like using a software program for a long time and feeling
like a hot-shot, and then someone comes along and shows you
something that you can do with it, and you feel like a big
dork for overlooking something so simple?
Well, that’s pretty much
what happened to me.
I’d been using Photoshop
since version 5.0, and to tell you the truth, I never even
noticed that this awesome application had actions until version
7. Yea, I know...just shoot me now.
I was doing things the hard
way and not even realizing the raw power behind Photoshop
actions. I mean really, I've seen the command for years. All
you have to do is record what you’re doing, save the
actions, and you can play them back. The recording is the
hardest part..it’s also what takes the longest.
Anyway, I was doing a lot of
Flash Design and learning from my mentor, Hillman Curtis,
when I stumbled across a website that was selling low resolution
Photoshop Actions. It really blew me away after watching the
video.
Creative Insparation
Personified
And of course like any curious
designer, I opened Photoshop and started learning about the
Actions.
I spent the next three months researching all the other guys
who were also selling ecovers and actions and found out what
I thought was great, and what could be improved. Anyway...
I spent 2 long weeks looking
at what other "web marketers" were offering, and
filled in all the gaps. All were low resolution (72dpi).
So in late October 2005, I made
the first High Resolution DVD Covers and bundled them. Then
I did the same thing with CD Covers, the Box Covers, and actually
scanned the DVD Case and the discs. I cleaned them up in Photoshop
and started selling each online as individual packages.
Grant’s 5-Minute
Cover Designs were born
My first customer was a single
mom who bought my DVD Cover Designs. She contacted me through
my webpage form, saying that I was the 4th designer she's
contacted today.
She explained to me that she
was selling her seminar DVD through her website, she spent
thousands on an ad that was to be uploaded to the magazines
online FTP server "yesterday", and the ad, and her
website was missing a photo of her product because her photographer
backed out on the job at the last minute.
Talk about a headache. I could
feel her tension through the phone. To make a long story short...I
was able to get the seminar cover art done before chugging
my last bottle of designer juice (pepsi), and email the designs
to her for proofing.
She called me on the phone again
and asked me how the actions work. By this point, she was
more frantic than a chicken with it's head cut off!
My First Sucessful
Sale Soved A Serious Problem
When I told her that all
she had to do was start Photoshop, load the actions, and watch
a quick and simple video if she got stuck, I heard a grumble
over the phone, then she freaked. "No, it can't be that
easy! That's too cool.", she said.
Since she already had the artwork
she wanted to use, she added the cover design to her advertisement
in minutes. She loved me! And I had my first success story.
When you really think about
it, you might think it's hard to believe it's that easy. Well,
it is.
If you can imagine what a customer
will be doing and feeling after buying your product, making
a design or background is a piece of cake.
If you had a great cover design
tool like that, it's easy to imagine what it would be like
to make ecovers for almost any product in minutes.
Beware Of The Cheap
Imitators
Even If you've tried other ecover
programs and scripts, I believe you'll clearly see the difference
after opening the first template. Then suddenly, it becomes
clear that most of the other programs you've tried before
just don't measure up to Grant's 5-Minute Cover Designs &
Actions for Photoshop.
