Maybe it’s due to the dream I had awhile back about a video store’s VHS clearance sale, but I’ve been thinking about custom cover art for VHS and DVD lately. More specifically, covers created by rental store employees after something happened to the original cover. I’ve only seen this happen a couple of times, with the styles ranging from hand drawn covers to “blank burst” advertising signs crammed it into a black clamshell case with the title written on in black marker. My personal favorite has to be a Children of the Corn cover consisting of a mostly B&W drawing of a corn stalk with a trickle of red ink “blood” on it. If memory serves me correctly, the artist even went through the trouble of designing a logo for the title instead of just scrawling it on in block letters.
However, I’ve noticed that practically everyone I’ve talked to about this has never been to a video store where this has happened. Instead, the stores used photocopies of the original cover art. Has anyone out there ever seen the sort of replacement covers I’m talking about?
Bonus links:
Printable custom DVD covers hosted by Retroslashers.
TheGreatWhiteDope’s custom DVD covers.
This page offers horror-themed printable CD/DVD covers which are similar to the cardboard slipcases used for promotional CDs.
These covers look great, but don’t seem to be printable.
This page has some examples of covers put out by a professional video company that look amateurish.