I'm keeping a consistent look for the covers in my romantic suspense series, maintaining the overall look but changing the background images, the color, and of course, the title. This is how my first-in-series looks: I want to keep the headshots representing my protagonists consistent, but I don't think the poses I used in the first book are appropriate for the second one. Unfortunately, Shutterstock only had one image each of these models, so these pictures (which I've licensed, btw), are all I have to work with. But AI has come a long way, and I'm thinking I might use it to play around with the headshots I have to get more of what I want. Change the expressions, alter the tilt of the heads, make the female head a profile instead of a three-quarter, that sort of thing. Can you suggest a good AI photo manipulation program that'll do that, preferably one that requires no subscription and is free? I'm coming along with the second cover, and I can't put off dealing with the heads much longer.
I would not usually reply to OP as I know very little about AI image manipulation but as there have been no suggestions I will have a go. In my limited experience of AI image sites I have found they apply limits on the size of images allowed. Your first cover seems to be from a paperback/hardback and I assume your new one will be the same. I doubt you will find a free AI image site that allows high res images to be uploaded which you will need if you want a print rather than a digital cover. I also wonder if you need to involve AI to deliver what you want. If you want to alter the facial expressions or change the head position then I think image editing software can do that. Photoshop in particluar will do that. There are a number of tutorials on the internet that demonstrate how to change facial expression and head position in PS. PS is not free, of course, and I do not know if GIMP (free) has the tools you need.
For somewhat free-resources, I'd suggest joining Nightcafe: https://creator.nightcafe.studio/ . You get free points everyday, but you can gain more by liking and commenting on stuff as well. It's designed to be interactive with others and boost newbies. It may take some time to build up a cache of points, but overall it's been worth it for me. They're very fair. An excellent free resources I was shown is Dezgo: https://dezgo.com/text2image/sdxl . It's fully free and uses several excellent Models like Flux. Only downside is it's slower in generation. Both sites are decently priced if you want to subscribe to their Pro service. Here's some stuff I've made to give you an idea about their quality. https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/02gjCDMQ4Ujyruv5daOf https://creator.nightcafe.studio/creation/feOgmkfkeHVrU4sSCkck
Cool art! I'll have to look into that site. (I've put my cover on the back burner until I get my ebook formatted. But it's nice to think that resource is there.)
Having played with both Bastion's suggestions I find Dezgo a better option for most cover images. Nightcafe might be better for sci-fi and fantasy covers.
Hi, Free for a good AI design program is iffy. But I use Deep Dream and I've been impressed so far. And it's not that dear. I think the las time I bought some energy it was $70 for five thousand energy units and at 4 units per image that's a lot of images to play around on. I have a few images / covers on my Facebook page you can check out. Facebook Cheers, Greg.
Just gave you a follow. With the Deep Dream tool, can you start with an existing image? I don't mind paying a reasonable amount, not at all. I just don't want to fork over good money for something that won't do what I need it to.
A word of caution about this , does your shutterstock licence allow for using the image as a base for AI generation of derivative works? many photographers are just as precious about their work not being fed to AIs as writers are to be honest I wouldn’t worry about changing the models writers do that all the time even in trad, you can keep the general vibe of the cover with new but similar looking people and no one will care
Good idea for me to check. It'd be stupid for me to get too far into it, then discover I can't use A.I. to alter the images I've licensed after all. EDIT-- I've checked, and the Shutterstock standard licensing agreement says nothing whatever, pro or con, about what tools, including A.I., you can use to alter or manipulate the images you license from them. It's totally concerned with the types of products you can use the images for, and how many of them.
Shutterstock has an image editor, although I've never used it. I had a cover that was hand drawn and the artist warned me, altering the image would violate the copyright. I'm deep into a non-fiction book and I was able to generate almost all my pics from AI One of many
