Free Download: Mockups for Book Cover Design

Turn your designs into captivating book cover jackets with this free PSD template

The front cover of your book is the first thing your audience sees; it's a bridge between our world and the one created within the pages, which is why it needs to stand out for all the right reasons.

To create a cover that really catches the eye, artist and illustrator Owen Gent (@gentowen) illustrates subtle, intimate, human imagery using watercolors and Photoshop. He's worked with publishers including Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, and Vintage.

Here, Owen shares two PSD book mockup templates to help you experiment in the world of book cover design.

What is a mockup and why would you use one?

Mockups allow graphic designers to show a client how a design will be applied to different objects and get a preview of the expected results, as well as acting as a useful guide for designers during the creative process. But there are many ways in which mock-up can be useful:

- They give you a realistic perspective of what your final project will look like
When working on visual art, often our final product ends up completely different to our initial idea. Mockups can help shine a light on problems that would be hard to spot before transferring your design to paper, a screen, the street, or whatever context it will be presented in. It is only through these "tests" that we can discover what chosen material doesn’t work, what details are not visible and other such issues.

- They allow you to easily test out various options
If you were developing physical prototypes, it would be very difficult to apply and change themes. With mockups, you can test out combining different themes and layouts until you get the right result.

- They save you time and money
Why waste resources and money on physical prototypes when you can create mockups for way less? It will allow you to see everything ahead of time and ultimately decide whether the project is worth your investment.

- Mockups are great portfolio pieces
Showing how your ideas would be applied to objects in the real world is a great way to professionally present your design projects in the most attractive way.

Download a free PSD book cover mockup

In his course, Owen guides you through the steps you need to create a meaningful book cover of your own using a variety of both digital and analog techniques - and then how to show off those covers by creating mockups.

In this download, he shares two mockup templates: one for a full jacket (front and back covers, wraparounds, and spine) and one front cover and spine design. Drop your designs onto the template and experiment with colors and texture to craft a cover that suits your book and fits your brand.

After clicking on the button below, you'll find a file in .zip format in the Downloads folder on your computer containing the Book Jacket Mock-up Templates by Owen Gent.

If you want to learn more, you can sign up for Owen Gent’s course Book Cover Design: Illustrate Stories with Evocative Images.

You may also like:

- Adobe InDesign Tutorial: 4 Basic Tips to Create a Magazine Cover
- A Brief History of Book Covers
- 3 Free Tutorials on Creating Digital Mockups and Dummies
- Book Cover Illustration: Unraveling the Essence of a Story, a course by Silja Goetz
- Editorial Illustration for Magazines, a course by Emma Hanquist