I do use both but I'm not about to just grab interesting pics I see. A lot of those pics have been grabbed from somewhere else (talking about Pinterest here) and I don't think it's just right to use artwork or photograph that isn't mine. True you can ask permission but sometimes that takes too long.Just use google but then again I guess it depends on your story but a lot use google/pininterest
I'll add a note here, because I too used to be a huge fan of Dafont - but as it turns out, many of the fonts uploaded onto it and marked as "free for personal/commercial use" are actually stolen, and many of the fonts that are allegedly free are actually paid for, licensed fonts. While Dafont is a great database for fonts, be aware that many of the fonts are actually stolen. Cross reference the names of the fonts with google searches to see where they are hosted elsewhere, and check who the original creator is and if they really are free to use. FontSquirrel AFAIK is more legit but I would still be cautious in cross referencing any fonts you see on there just to be safe.If you want to typeset your novel title/author credit, you can grab amazing and free-for-use fonts from FontSquirrel and Dafont.
oh dang!!!! I didn't know that...I'll add a note here, because I too used to be a huge fan of Dafont - but as it turns out, many of the fonts uploaded onto it and marked as "free for personal/commercial use" are actually stolen, and many of the fonts that are allegedly free are actually paid for, licensed fonts. While Dafont is a great database for fonts, be aware that many of the fonts are actually stolen. Cross reference the names of the fonts with google searches to see where they are hosted elsewhere, and check who the original creator is and if they really are free to use. FontSquirrel AFAIK is more legit but I would still be cautious in cross referencing any fonts you see on there just to be safe.
Lost Type is pretty good and FontBundles is another site I use, and from my research they're more reliable and safe, but I also almost always research every font I download these days. You can also make your own fonts using your handwriting if you have a tablet or a scanner with Calligraphr, but the free version has a limited amount of characters you can make with your font. It's fine if you're just looking to do book titles and don't need to use the full range of punctuation (: and ' and sometimes , ! ? is basically the most you need for titles). I used Calligraphr and a program called FontForge to make a full font set of my own.
Yeah me either but I meant as a temporary alternative, always see Authors on WN eventually replace. A good 10-15$ for a Fiverr artist to make a cover.I do use both but I'm not about to just grab interesting pics I see. A lot of those pics have been grabbed from somewhere else (talking about Pinterest here) and I don't think it's just right to use artwork or photograph that isn't mine. True you can ask permission but sometimes that takes too long.
oh dang!!!! I didn't know that...
.... so scary... just thinking about accidental licensing issues...
gonna bookmark those sites!! And making your own font is such a pro move
When I'm talking about art, I mean free stuff. Not owned by someone else. Open-sourced art. Stuff you can use as a background to your book covers? Does anybody here have sources for that?
I usually make my own art, but back when I used to make fanfiction covers I would just go outside and take pictures of flowers or of my neighborhood parks, just general area that fit the theme of my novels and then would use free photoshop apps or websites, (which you can look up online, some are even google extensions, like Samurai Paint) to add a title with. You'd be surprised with how pretty somethings can turn out. You can always also wait for an artist to open up for requests, you may just get a sketch instead of a full piece, but even so, they can be very pretty! I usually avoid "copyright free" image sites since most of the time you need a paid membership to get actually free images, and google isn't reliable with all of us sinners on the internet (me included lol). The guilt still pains me to this dayWhen I'm talking about art, I mean free stuff. Not owned by someone else. Open-sourced art. Stuff you can use as a background to your book covers? Does anybody here have sources for that?