Lyris Lite :: Custom Covers

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A lot of video games and DVDs get released with covers that aren't very nice to look at. That's partly understandable. The companies are trying to make their box stand out on the shelf and maybe gain some impulse sales. But, what about once the deal has been done and you take the game or film you've just bought home, and would rather it looked a little bit nicer?

Usually, I create custom covers for games or DVDs if something is objectionable about the original, and I have enough high-quality material lying around. If a game is released with a cover I REALLY don't like, for example, the Zelda Master Quest Bonus Disc for the GameCube, I create the cover even if the elements I use aren't of very good quality (the results are usually blurry as hell, though).

One thing that I can't stress enough: some people associate custom cover art with piracy. If you're visting this site trying to get a cover for some game you've just downloaded from Bittorrent, then, well, you smell, and leave now, please. The cover art here is designed to appeal to hardcore collectors who'd like nicer box art, not for people expecting a free ride.

If you'd like to try your hand at making your own custom covers, then I also have some templates to let you do so, at the bottom of this page.

Covers that I'd rather not have on my main covers page - that is, ones I'm not very pleased with - can still be had on the old covers page.

covers from 2006

The first piece of Wii software that Western (and Australasian) Wii owners will have, whether they like it or not! Sadly, if you're a North American Wii owner, then this fun mini-game compilation comes in an el cheapo cardboard sleeve, since it's a pack-in game. This isn't too bad on its own, but it means it can't adorn your shelf and sit beside all your other Wii games. Not any more! Now you can buy a nice crispy white DVD box and use this full-size cover image to make your Wii collection look bigger and beefier.

I went to see Serenity when it was playing at the cinema and I liked it lots! Then, when I got an HD DVD player over Summer 2006, it was one few films available. I also heard that the video transfer was excellent (it is). Unfortunately the American cover art is not as pretty as this film looks on a 1080p TV set. Putting the emphasis on women and explosions, most fans felt that it sold the film short.

My cover is based on the international version, but I think it ends up being a little nicer because it's less cramped. There's more "dead space" around the characters on the front so I think it looks a bit more like a movie poster instead of a box.

The covers for the Zelda games are typically simple, gold, and shiney. Normally I think that's great - but when you have artwork THIS good hidden away on the inside of the manual, you feel like something's the matter.

This is actually one the covers I'm most proud of. I originally did it in 2003, then re-did it in 2006 working off the original as a base, to see if I'd gotten any better with graphic editing in the space of 3 years (yes, I certainly had). Like last time, I had to erase one of the characters at the very top of the picture, because there was no way of making it look right with the GameCube curve at the top of the cover.

The Legend of Zelda is © Nintendo. Nintendo does not endorse or approve this fan-made cover.

covers from 2005

One of the best games ever made never got released in North America on the system it was designed for. Fortunately, American gamers who were smart enough to figure out how to use a credit card and an import loading device could order the British version of Shenmue II, which featured English language subtitles to accompany the Japanese voice acting. The only problem is that European Dreamcast boxes are monstrosities, with garish, clashing logo colours and weak hinges that would break if they landed on a mattress.

It's for these reasons that you may well appreciate this set of custom prints, made from materials kindly donated by s13 that were originally designed for use with the Xbox version of the game. Translation: the image quality of this cover is excellent, with no material ever leaving the digital domain (no scanning here). A lot of graphical manipulation was done to the front cover in order to fit all of the characters properly into the smaller size of the CD case (something Sega of Europe themselves didn't do).

The ZIP archive includes the back cover and transparent insert to accompany the front image. (Note: both of these are designed to fit into a quad-CD case, just like the original Shenmue.)

This is the second time I've done a cover for this game, which is strange seeing as I don't even like it that much. The simple fact is that the Japanese cover art is so damn gorgeous that I couldn't pass up the chance of working with a highish-res version of it to bring it to the American Dreamcast box style.

If you're visiting this page, there's a good chance that you'll known that Eternal Arcadia is the cooler-sounding Japanese title for what Western gamers got as "Skies of Arcadia". I guess "Eternal Arcadia" sounded too much like a compilation disc of 80s arcade games.

covers from 2004

Series creator Jhonen Vasquez drew this damn nice looking cover art that was designed for Volume 2 of the Invader ZIM DVD set, which was later coloured by Rikki Simons (the voice of GIR from the show!). Apparently, Nickelodeon deemed it much too insane and offputting, and afraid that "Wal*Mart soccer moms" wouldn't pick it up to use as a video babysitter for their kids - despite the fact that this supposed "children's TV show" never seemed to appeal much to children in the first place - they asked for other cover art to be used instead. The end result was that the covers for subsequent volumes used boring stock art instead of custom-designed stuff like this.

Anyway, thanks to a member of the production crew making the high-res art available online, my custom cover looks basically like it should have.

Invader ZIM is © Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon does not endorse or approve this fan-made cover - and neither do the show's creators.

This cover was going to use the original name of "Jet SET Radio" instead of the baffling American reworded title, but sadly Sega of Europe aren't as good as their American counterpart at accidentally letting members of the public download hi-res logos designed for press. The source for the character on the front was a calendar/poster given away with the January 2001 version of Official Dreamcast Magazine UK, which was scanned in about 8 parts, pieced together, and set against more press material.

In retrospect, I think I went overboard with the Photoshop effects on this one, and designing it for the size of a DVD case (unlike the traditional Dreamcast CD case design) was a bad idea, but I still like it.

covers from 2003

As soon as I booted this one up in May 2003, I saw the crazy anime intro sequence and said "This one is NEVER coming to America". Four years on, it looks like I was absolutely correct, and rumors of a PAL version for Europe have also been squashed. But now you have a nice US-style cover that will fit in a standard sized DVD case, and you can pack your fragile Japanese cardboard sleeve away in a warm, safe, dry place.

Technically, I think this cover is average. Back in 2003, I was OK with adding elements to covers (such as the "NTSC-J" icon) that weren't on the real things.

It's a real pity that Disney threw this lovely theatrical art out for the DVD of what is their best family film in years. Instead, they went with pictures of the characters having fun and smiling, as they tend to do for family-oriented DVD releases. That's why the animation enthusiast in me made this cover using a theatrical poster.

Unfortunately, I lost the original version for this, which was made for the US DVD. The only surviving version is this UK cover.

Covers that I'd rather not have on my main covers page - that is, ones I'm not very pleased with - can still be had on the old covers page.

cover templates

At a curiously systematic rate of one-per-year, I've been churning out these cover art templates. They've been recreated to match the real thing as closely as possible. You'll need Photoshop to open them, but you can try your hand at using the free alternative, The GIMP, as well (no guarantees).

If you're new to cover creation (or even if you're not), I've put together a list of things I've learned over the years. Read it here: Tips for Good Custom Covers, featuring graphic examples of things not to do!

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