Multiple ways to create eye-catching album art

Learn all sorts of ways to make heads turn with your album art by using the following artistic tips, online resources, and more…

by Bear Greenholtz of MusicRiser

Your album artwork plays a vital role in creating attention among the listeners. You may hear people say not to judge a book by its cover. But we all know that the cover is the first thing that grabs our attention in the book.

Similarly, your album artwork will make the first interaction with people in general. And if your album artwork fails to make sense or grab attention, fewer people will be interested to hear your music. The album artwork has always been the first impression maker of an album. You can feature your album artwork in Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube, Social Media, ads, or any promotion.

Explore Things Related to Your Album

• Look for other album artwork

• Explore yourself and your music

• Explore the market

• Where will the album artwork exist?

Find the best concept for your album artwork

• Use Digital Software

• Adobe

• Canva

For Creating Artwork That Draws Attention

• Keep it simple

• Think out of the box

• Use eye-catchy colors

• Don’t compromise the quality

• Test it out

Ways to create the album artwork

• Collaborate with a professional

• Hire a professional

Explore Things Related to Your Album

The more you explore, the more you know. The first step in creating an album artwork that draws attention is to explore. 

Look for other album artwork

You can do your research about the existing album artwork. Look for some great albums and see how their cover was and how they featured the entire album with just one art cover. You can always take inspiration from other artists who crafted great album covers and brainstorm to use those ideas in your album cover. Don’t just copy, but getting inspiration is always welcome.

Explore yourself and your music

A good work of art can tell an entire novel. Ask yourself, Who are you? What do you want to portray with this album? And try to feature it in your artwork. Your album cover should also portray what the album is about. If there is any specific message or an elevator pitch. Think about the emotions you or your team had when creating this music. All these explorations will help you in generating ideas and concepts.

Explore the market

It is important to feature your music and personality on the art cover, but it must be crafted so the audience understands. Before you start working on your album cover, research a little about the market. Usually, what kind of people listen to this kind of music, their understanding, age, etc.

Where will the album artwork exist?

Also, keep in mind where you are featuring the album cover. Whether or not it is going to be released digitally. Keep in mind the platforms like Spotify, apple music, YouTube, Facebook, and others. Also, imagine how it may look on different screen sizes like desktops, banners, smartphones, posters, etc.

The exploration process is vital no matter which way you will ultimately follow to create the album cover.

Find the best concept for your album artwork

There are three major components for an album cover or any design. These are-

1. Photos
2. Illustration or Graphics.
3. Typography

You can use either of these components or combine them all for your album cover. The choice is yours. Artists are free to feature things in whatever way they want.

To generate a good concept, you may need a long time of creative thinking. A pencil and paper help you best in the concept-generation process. Thinking is not enough sometimes. Make preliminary sketches of your ideas draw and think about how they may look. You may have to try dozens of sketches to get the satisfying one.

Use Digital Software

The use of digital tools is the most popular way to create the album artwork. Here are some of the best software for designing an album cover.

Adobe

Adobe Photoshop is professional software for photo editing, manipulation, and digital artwork. If you are planning to work on any image capture on camera or craft a complete artwork, adobe photoshop is a great option for you.

Illustrator is another software featured by Adobe, which works best for creating vector graphics such as logos and icons. Adobe Illustrator can be a great option for crafting an album artwork from scratch. But Adobe is not free and is also a bit complicated for beginners.

Canva

Canva is the easiest tool for designing an album cover. If you are short-budget or looking for a free option, then Canva is the best way for you. There are many templates that you can edit and use for free. Even you can craft from scratch. Canva also has a premium version, which gives you many more options.

For Creating Artwork That Draws Attention

If you want your artwork to stand out from the crowd, your album artwork must be attractive. Here are the suggestions you may like to apply.

Keep it simple

If your design appears in front of anyone, remember it has only one second to draw attention because that’s how much time we give to decide whether or not we will see it in detail.

So make sure your design is easy to understand. Avoid an overflow of information. Avoid clutter and distractions, and focus on creating a clean, clear design that communicates your music effectively 

Think out of the box

Remember, our brain always interprets a lot of information in this digital era. If you can find a unique concept that not many people have come across, you have a better chance of being seen. 

Use eye-catchy colors

Find more visible colors. Get yourself introduced to the concept of color psychology.

Don’t compromise the quality

You should remember that maybe you are crafting the design on your PC screen, but it may be featured on a big screen. So be careful about the details. Make sure it has the highest quality you can produce so that the design doesn’t look fading.

Test it out

 Before finalizing anything, you can share your design with a small group of audience, friends, or family. You can also reach out to a professional designer, if possible, for his opinion.

Ways to create the album artwork

Apart from making the album artwork by yourself, you can try the following options.

Collaborate with a professional

By collaborating with a professional graphic designer or album cover artist, you can make the entire thing fast and easy. You can share the ideas you generated in the exploration process and share your suggestions with the professional designer. And together to create the perfect album artwork.

Hire a professional

Hiring a professional designer may be a costly option, but if you can get a good designer, he will make the artwork by himself according to your preference. There are many freelance designers on different freelance websites, such as Fiverr and Upwork. Contact and consult with them and let them handle the design for you.