Unexpected Sensations?

Curses! I've been working on a cover based on that Heart Throbs issue, and you beat me to it! Nice job though... :)

Big Sisters 4 is a classic, and really made me chortle. She's all angry about being tricked into girls' clothes, but "I had to go all over town to find a dress that matched my shoes!"...

Curses! I've been working on a cover based on that Heart Throbs issue, and you beat me to it! Nice job though... :)

BobH has already beat you both to the use of that cover (see A New Trio). It's a wonderfully dramatic cover with lots of possibilities to it. The real challenge would be to find a version where the lady in red is the transgendered individual.


Big Sisters 4 is a classic, and really made me chortle.

I agree with Andi. It has some great cover art, and Helen added a fun storyline. Methinks he doth protest too much. ;-)


I think that the Big Sisters covers would work a little better with a display font for the title, instead of a handwriting font. I went through some of the fonts on my computer and created a file showing some of the fonts that I thought might work well. You probably don't have some of the fonts that I do, but I could send you a copy as a Paint Shop Pro file, or some other format, if you want one of them.

Hoi SoCal, that would be great. Here's another Big Sister one,
Helen

Actually, now that you mention it, re fonts I mean, are there fonts available which have a main body colour but are outlined in another colour? Not sure if I described that well,
Helen

Helen, to get the sort of effect you're looking for, you'll probably need more than just a font. I have used two techniques.

1. Comic Life allows you to apply all sorts of special effects to your titles. You can choose plain or fancy fonts, apply outlines, gradient colour, shadows etc. and rotate, stagger, and bend them to taste. It is powerful, but it can be difficult to match the text style to the original cover artwork so that it looks part of the original.

2. Another approach is to use your graphic editor, provided it supports layers. Having entered your text on one layer, you can then duplicate that layer, select the text on the "lower" layer, enlarge the selection by one or two pixels, and finally fill the selection with your chosen outline colour. The upper layer in the body colour will now appear to have a border around it, and you can "merge" the upper layer down onto the lower one if you wish.

If you've never used layers, the above probably sounds confusing. Just imagine your layers as sheets of transparent plastic. Imagine writing "Big Sisters" in red felt-tip one sheet, and then writing it again in a thicker pen on another sheet. Then imagine laying the red text on top of the black.

Hi Andi, thanks for that, I do understand layers, Paint Shop Pro has them but I have never used them. I'll try it.

Andi, Hi, I just tried that, it doesn't work so well as the letters proportions don't lay over the lower ones leaving the space around, like a B for example, shrinking the upper layer show the letter underneath clearly all the away round, like in the central holes. But thanks anyhow.
Helen

Here's an example

Ah... I see. I didn't make myself clear. You have enlarged the black letter layer, and that's not what I meant. The process I used to create the black outline round the word "Crossdresser" in the title of this cover is different:

1. Type the title text on a transparent layer.
2. Duplicate the title layer, and select the "lower" of the two layers as the active one for editing.
3. Select the actual text to create an edit mask. I use GIMP's Select By Color function to do this.
4. Enlarge the selection by one or two pixels. This will enlarge into the "holes" in letters as well as round the outside.
5. Fill the selection with your outline colour.
6. Clear your selection.
7. Apply any filters you want to your two text layers.
8. Merge the "upper" text layer down onto the lower (optional).
9. Sit back and admire your work.

I hope this is a bit clearer. It's one of those things that would take five minutes to demonstrate, but is difficult to describe. Unfortunately I don't know Paintshop Pro, so I can't give detailed steps.

I found these covers in the Pulp Fiction archives and thought they were worth playing around with,
Helen

Hi Andi, I had a look at this in PSP and I shall need more time to sit and work it out. I'm not that fast at this, I do appreciate your help though and shall persevere in trying it out. PSP does have layers and variable transparency so it's possible just a matter of me applying my shrinking grey cells to the problem! Thanks again,
Helen
Ah... I see. I didn't make myself clear. You have enlarged the black letter layer, and that's not what I meant. The process I used to create the black outline round the word "Crossdresser" in the title of this cover is different:

1. Type the title text on a transparent layer.
2. Duplicate the title layer, and select the "lower" of the two layers as the active one for editing.
3. Select the actual text to create an edit mask. I use GIMP's Select By Color function to do this.
4. Enlarge the selection by one or two pixels. This will enlarge into the "holes" in letters as well as round the outside.
5. Fill the selection with your outline colour.
6. Clear your selection.
7. Apply any filters you want to your two text layers.
8. Merge the "upper" text layer down onto the lower (optional).
9. Sit back and admire your work.

I hope this is a bit clearer. It's one of those things that would take five minutes to demonstrate, but is difficult to describe. Unfortunately I don't know Paintshop Pro, so I can't give detailed steps.

Another one from the Pulp Fiction archives, has any one been finding any sites that offer other options?
Helen

Here's one I retitled, it made more sense, in a silly way, the original mag was called Heart Throb, I remembered how the accent was for the guys in Good Will Hunting, I think it's a Boston accent, please correct me if I'm wrong. But I imagined 'Heart' being pronounced as 'Hat' and it seemed to fit!
Helen

Hi Andi, I cheated on that last caption, 'Hat Throbs', the original letters all had straight sides with minimal curvature so I just used drew around the edge using the line tool,
Helen

A lady called Lorna Samuels has been posting some great Playboy cartoons with great captions, I saw one she did as a tribute for Femur and thought it made a great 'tricked' toon. I hope she doesn't mind, she just inspired me,
Helen

At least for your Hat Throbs title, there's no need to do anything with multiple layers (at least in Paint Shop Pro v.7).

Using PSP terminology, the blue is the fill, and the black outline is the stroke. For the example below, since I couldn't find a nice casual bold script font like the font in the original Heart Throbs cover, I instead used the Wide Latin font (which was way too wide, so I squeezed it to about 50% of its original wide). I then made the stroke width 4 (pixels) to match the width of the black outline of the "THROBS" text.

If my Hat Throbs title example didn't need multiple layers, when are they needed? Below are some fairly simple examples using two and three layers and the Franklin Gothic Demi font:

Hi, the multi layers are needed, as I said I just managed to cheat with the ones I created as the letters had straight angles for the most part. It'd be alot easier if I could do layers as you suggested, for instance for 'Undercover Cops' and most of Heart Throbs', the letters have arcs which the layer would make a lot easier to create.
In the ones you have posted I like the first, the fourth and fifth ones from the top. They remind me of the lettering in Word Art in Word for Windows. I wonder if it would be easy to write them there then transpose into a .jpeg file? I'll have to try.
Anyhow, thanks heaps for the advice, very much appreciated,
cheers,
Helen

I saw this pic after it was referenced in another part of the forum and decided to add it here, I think it's an illustration from the book 'The Prisoner of Zenda'
Helen

I have been exchanging ideas and thoughts with a friend for some time now and we often speculate what would happen if things went wrong with fantasies. I saw this pic and my mind went wandering.
I hope you like it, any thoughts would be appreciated,
cheers,
Helen

Here're some more maids caps

Some oldies I had been playing around with. It's been a while since I looked at them,
Helen

This is one that I saw and should speak volumes to all of us in restraining ourselves at inappropriate times,
Helen
N.B.
I have been reminded that I hadn't acknowledged that this cartoon and caption came from the agile brain of Femur. For this I apologise humbly. It was not my intention to claim this as my own and for this reason, also to save confusion, and show disrespect I have removed it
H

A few more I found, I'm not 100% happy and would love some feed-back on them,
Helen

Here's one I found which seemed to need the minimum change in graphics and dialogue.
Helen

Another Indiana Jones and a new one, The Apprentice.
Helen

All are good, but the last two, Indiana's Quest and The Apprentice are my favorites.
There just isn't enough comedy in this medium!

Thanks,

Mr. Ram

That is a a great compliment and I appreciate it. I tend to agree with your comments although I think there is plenty of room for all aspects, comedy, drama, satire, whatever, thanks again,
Helen

All are good, but the last two, Indiana's Quest and The Apprentice are my favorites.
There just isn't enough comedy in this medium!

Thanks,

Mr. Ram

Here's a new Undercover Cops cover,
Helen

Something that I found that appealed, a bit of a new direction,
Helen