Buffy: The Complete First Season on Blu-ray and DVD!

Buffy is undoubtely my favorite TV show ever. I just love everything in it. So it's no surprise that the first cover I'm posting on this site... is a cover of Buffy the vampire slayer.

Since the DVD quality of the series, particularly in its first seasons, is mostly awful, my greatest dream right now is that the series hit Blu-ray soon. Therefore, I just took some advance and made a cover art for the edition. Links to download those are at the end of the article (along with a DVD version!)

But first, here's how I made it:

It's when I saw this picture that I got inspired. It made me think of the design of recent Blu-ray releases of Pixar movies, that have the characters on one side and the title and all on the other. Since I wanted to do a Blu-ray edition, I felt it was appropriate.

Step 1: The front

Step 1.1: Starting with a template

To make it look real, I used a pre-made template for FOX's Blu-rays (available on this site, subscription needed). If you aspire to make fan covers, templates are necessary if you don't want to do them yourself. It actually allows you to have the real design a company uses and you can modify it according to your needs.

The front didn't have anything that went with the template. So, I didn't have anything to tweak! Let's get started!

Step 1.2: The background

I had to find just the right background for the design. I decided a cemetery would be appropriate. I tried to find a picture of the one from the show, but I couldn't, so I used a generic one. I applied depth blur to it and tweaked the lighting to make it look like it was nighttime.

Step 1.3: Buffy

The next step was to add Buffy to the mix, of course. I got rid of the weird blue background to replace it with the cemetery. And since I didn't like the bizarre surface she had her hand on either, I replaced it with a wooden door, finding it a bit spookier and truer to the show's mood. The wooden door comes from a picture of a wooden door (Guess you didn't see that coming!). Of course every one of those layers are affected by a filter that makes them bluer and a bit darker.

Step 1.4: Text

Maybe this is more of an ending step, but I did it there anyway. Truth is, I thought the cover was finished at that point (but guess what, it wasn't!) When I put in the text, I found the design a bit weird and felt like something was missing... Anyway, let's get back to the text. I used, of course, the official logo with the opening credits font. It's also, if I'm not mistaken, the font used for the "the vampire slayer" part of the logo for the first two seasons. I used a more traditionnal font for the "2-Disc Set" mention.

Step 1.5: Background details

That's when I realized the front design was way too empty. I decided to add some fog, first, but it didn't quite work. Then, I had an idea: integrate the Big Bad of this season, The Master, in the cover. I decided that this would become a trend for future Blu-ray covers as well. I got rid of the background, like always, and then did a bit of color change to make it fit the rest a bit better. I also put a depth blur effect on the picture, to make it a bit more discrete.

And there I had it! The front design for the cover! It was then time to make the spine!

Step 2: Spine

Step 2.1: Background

I decided to keep the graveyard idea for the spine as well. I did basically the same thing there that I did on the front, coloring it in dark blue and adding the fog.

Step 2.2: Information

I took the same fonts that I used on the front cover for the texts on the spine. I decided to put the name of the series horizontally instead of the traditional vertical, I thought it looked quite good! I also put a picture of Buffy from the same photoshoot, I believe, since the dress is very similar from the one she wears on the front cover.

Step 3: Back

Step 3.1: Adjusting the template

This step mostly consists of changing information so that it fit the edition (audio tracks available, years and runtime...). I also erased the Digital Copy banner, found it unnecessary for this release. Please note that the background is the continuation of the one used on the spine, so I didn't have to work on it again.

Step 3.2: Images

I used promo pictures for specific episodes here, except for the group shot which is from a photoshoot. The other ones are from the pilot, Angel and the season finale, if I recall. I softened the edges manually and I think it worked out great!

Step 3.3: The text

Everything there is taken from the official DVD cover. The summary was just slightly altered to include the fact that it was a Blu-ray edition. Other than that, you can see that I added some Special features (the ones I added are marked "NEW!". Those are, of course, imaginary and don't exist in any way, unfortunately. But it's the kind of things I would love to see if they make Buffy on Blu-ray.

Step 4: Enjoying the final product

It was the last step! The only thing left to do is sit back and enjoy the hard work! And you can do it do by downloading the HD covers with the links available below. It doesn't cost a dime!

Blu-ray version

DVD version (altered to fit the actual release (No "NEW" bonus features))

Disc 1 (Blu-ray)
Disc 2 (Blu-ray)

Disc 1 (DVD) - Coming soon

Disc 2 (DVD) - Coming soon

Disc 3 (DVD) - Coming soon

Don't forget to comment below if you liked the cover or if there's something you disliked. You can also ask for something to be changed (Putting it in a certain language, adding special features, changing the color of something, etc. ) and I'll see if I can do something about that! Don't forget to share it, too, the more people on the site, the more I get motivated to give you other covers!