A little while ago, my son Hive account@merenludick started a little story of his own on the blockchain. You can find it here: Bob the Blob Part 1.

Meren is 11 years old right now, turning 12 in May. He was inspired by Hive account@therneau's Freddy the Flea which is now on it's part 24! - FTF - Part 24.

A Cover for my son's story

While I was making the cover, Meren wanted me to add "Reader discretion advised!" to the post which I find hilarious whenever I look at it. This is also a tip of the hat, it seems, to myself and Hive account@lex-zaiya and our Mortis Custos story. Mortis Custos is a dark fantasy story that is a chainstory that bounces between myself and Hive account@lex-zaiya. You can find the latest part here: Mortis Custos Part 15

Right, let's look at how I made the cover and give the credits where they belong!

Thank you Pixabay!

I used this cute Blob here. - What is really wonderful about this character is that he is so very customizable!

I was showing Hive account@merenludick how I could change it's expression by changing its eyes or adding a mouth and eyebrows. Props go well with the little gooey guy and open up the opportunity to make a collection of characters! Perhaps I will use them to illustrate his story or give him different cover images!

I also used this landscape - House which has now become Bob and his mom's home. I do not know if I will be using the same picture again, it depends on what Hive account@merenludick does with the story!

Gimp work

Guys, just about anyone can make nice cover art like this.

Pick a cover image and then a vector graphic character and put them together with GIMP! Gimp is a freeware alternative to Photoshop. It takes a bit of time to get used to working with layers and then the tools to rotate, resize and move tools and that is already 80% of the way there.

The details are the last 20% and that is what gives everything character and flavour. Here I simply drew a sword. I could not find a vectored sword that suited the style of the picture AND Meren's story. Bob starts out with a wooden sword, so I just drew it on a separate layer and then ordered it so the sword was on Bob's back.

And as a bonus, I now have a poseable sword that I can whip out and use in all sorts of other situations until I need to include other props.

Right now, I am really happy with the work and I also need to make some dividers and stuff for Hive account@lex-zaiya so I will get to that tomorrow probably!

Cheers for now!