In The Hunt original game artwork used in PlayStation One longbox edition.
Few years ago I had stopped collecting PSOne games altogether and sold them off on eBay in order to concentrate more on Nintendo. But I do miss those longbox ones. They were different. They towered over the crowd of DVD and jewel cases (pun intended). Same goes for Sega CD games which I still have a few of.
source: http://www.comicartfans.com/
PlayStation Jampack template
After some perturbations with my artwork, layout is finally finished. I went through way too many versions, created way too many files and at the end, decided to go back to original cover, which includes Underground logo. Whoever is responsible for creating this logo should get some kudos. The “U” is just so intricate and creative, that I think Sony should have keep it on its products.
Read before you print & cut.
Printed & ready to cut!
Before posting anything, I’ve made sure that everything fits. And fit it does!
From Captain Obvious:
Paper: glossy photo quality paper is best choice. (I used regular paper just for the purpose of presentation)
Straight edge: a good quality ruler is a must. Better if you have a metal one (it seems I’ve misplaced mine somewhere).
Cutting tool: an X-acto knife is good. I prefer an OLFA Stainless Steel Slide-Lock Graphics Knife SAC-1. Been using it for ages for various printing projects and other crafts.
Cutting mat: these are extremely helpful and great for other crafts. If you don’t have one, try investing. They are not that expensive. I use Darice cutting mat 10×16″.
PlayStation Jampack template – bleed area
Bleed area/Overprint
When designing your layout, remember that you need your image a bit bigger from the actual cover to get a nice, clean cut.
PlayStation Jampack template – cutting tips
Cutting
Do not cut all the way through the sheet of paper, as you’ll remove the guide lines and will not be able to get dimensions correctly. This is important and will save you a lot of trouble. As you can see, I had printed a blank cover just to make sure all dimensions check out. Once cut, your sheet should look like this:
PlayStation Jampack template – cover cutaway
Folding
Cover needs to be folded in the middle. The best way to get a perfect fold, is to make two short cuts above and below the print area on the dotted line. Same applies to folding the spines.
PlayStation Jampack template – cut mark
Next, flip the page face down, place the ruler on cut marks you’ve just made and score it with something pointy, but not sharp. A thin, dull knife can come in handy. Remember, do it carefully. We want to make a nice crease to get a perfect fold.
PlayStation Jampack template – crease line
After all said & done, your cover will fit perfectly into your CD jewel case.
So, this is it. Now it’s your turn. PlayStation Jampack cover template files can be downloaded here:
PlayStation Jampack template
Front: Jampack booklet
Back: Jampack CD inlay
So, that’s all folks. I enjoyed this project and I hope so will you. If you have some questions, suggestions or ideas for other layouts, let me know.
PlayStation Jampack template render
Enuff already, dood. I’m efen tired at looking at some stupid “update” pics. Just post the damn covers already!
… if this thought came through your mind while visiting this small site, don’t worry, I’ve asked myself the same thing. But the truth is, I have little time in a day do the things I like. So even a simple task like this is a problem for me. Besides, I’d like to do them right.
The back cover now includes properly done spines. As for the back itself, I’ve added the PS logo on a white background in a left bottom corner, plus legal notice as you find on PS games. This better reflects real covers. I’ve repositioned everything now to fit the cover area. In a bottom right corner a UPC bar code could be added as well. The ten red dots you see there are bullet points. They can be used to write a game title appropriate to your own demo disk. The three white areas are for placing a screenshot. In a final cover they will be transparent, not white, so a game image could be easily placed behind it.
I’m trying to go for a versatile cover, that could be used pretty much for any PlayStation demo disk. I should have it done by the end of this week if everything goes well.
PlayStation Jampack front cover template
I’m a master of making simple tasks difficult. I started the whole process backwards as I just realized.
Anywho, my bad & I’m stuck with this project. At some point I just wanted to say screw it, delete it and start all over. Then took half an hour break from computer screen and I feel much better now. Really.
But damage is done. What I mean is that layout of a PS jewel case is a bit different form a sleeve and some proportions went to hell. I’ll try to make a back cover inlay next and in meanwhile I’ll post something to cheer you up.
… mental note to self: try analyzing the project first, make a plan and then execute.
PlayStation Jampack cover – work in progress
Quick update on this little project of mine. Cover begins to take shape. I’m aiming to preserve as much detail as I possibly can. Even the “U.S. Postage Paid” is included, but I’m not sure if I got the zip code correct. As you can see, above render of original PlayStation jampack cover still needs some work.
Sure does look simple, right? Wrong.
It took me about three hours to get to this point. I can tell you already, that “2.2” volume number is a pain in the butt. I found some tutorials online, but none of the ones I tried produced desired results. Oh well…
“Quit staring and start playing!” font is completely different, as I wasn’t able to find a match. Other text is done in Helvetica font variant. Getting the exact image of Lara Croft took some searching too, but I found it on GiantBomb here. Stainless steel background got it from here.
Be back soon with more.
PS Jampack CD cover template – work in progress
Being influenced by edward_v12 photo stream (lots of photos of PS1 jampacks) and after finishing making PS2 Jampack template I moved onto PlayStation territory. Few posts ago I’ve redone the Underground logo (don’t worry, I’ll post soon) and now I had some time to start working on cover for it.
Why? First, because I think no one had done it. Second, I just like color scheme. Third, it’s relatively simple to do. So picture above shows a work in progress, one below shows the original scan. I can see already, that making “2.2” will be a small challenge for me. That’s because I’m going to try a 3D text. If I fail, I’ll be forced to do it by hand. I’d like to find a font as close to the original as possible, this would allow me to change the digits in the future.
PlayStation 2.2 Jampack original cover
So, I placed image in a working space, drew few lines, added stainless steel background and voilà! Front is ready. In next post I’ll move onto sides and back. Will keep you informed about the progress. Once done, the cover will be released.
I do have few loose PS demo disks and this cover would make it a good home for them. If you’re in a similar situation and like this project, please stay tuned.
