Creating CD Cover Art: Tips for Design

Creating cover art for your album can be done many different ways. A good photo may suffice for your album. But don't be cheesy (unless that's what you're going for). Remember, you want your album art to reflect your music and your album. That is key to success. A creative photo, shot with a photographer's touch will give the photo the edge it needs to stand out. Set up for your photographic needs if shooting yourself. Set the mood and the look with props, make-up, and lighting techniques.

A photo that is altered with a graphics program, or done manually (if shot with 35mm film) can produce great results as well. Use Photoshop to crop, create effects and the like. Play around a bit to find the most suitable type of image for the album. Metal albums are known for having a real dark, gothic look, while pop albums generally have a bright, vibrant look to them. Keep the music in mind.

It would also be a good idea to listen to the music while you are creating the cover art. The idea here is that the music should set the mood and inspire your work. Graphic designers listen to music all of the time when they are working on a particular project to get their creative juices flowing.

Fine art is also an option. Scanned hand drawings, photos of sculptures, or scanned images of paintings or pastels will work for this. Again, remember to set the mood.

100 percent graphic design or "digital painting" is often used in creating great CD covers. Using Photoshop or Illustrator to create stunning images will help get you the type of look that you are going for without all of the expense and mess of using fine art techniques. You also have many options when you use software programs such as this. You also have the option of creating more than one.

You shouldn't settle on the first image that you create. Create many images, over and over again. Go with the one that best fits the album's style.

Ask others for advice. Have them listen to the music, and ask them to tell you what they visualize when they hear this music. Take notes and refer to them when creating your CD's cover art. Remember that music and art are both emotive, and that should shine through in your designs.

Look at other works of art, and particularly CD art. This may inspire you as well, or give you an idea of some kind. Think of it as homework. Research is a good way of triggering the brainstorming process.

You should also keep your packaging in mind. Some bands, like Tool, create interesting package designs with their CDs. Tool recently released an album that is packaged with stereoscopic viewing lenses that create a 3-D effect of the art inside the booklet.

Decide if you are going to make a booklet, foldout, or just a single sleeve. Your design is going to have to coincide with the physical attributes of the packaging as well.

If you keep all of these special tips in mind, you should be on the road to success in creating a great cover for your next project.