Album Art Tips

Software

The Gimp is a free software image editor which rivals Adobe Photoshop. Download the Windows installer at http://www.gimp.org/windows/; if you're on Linux it should come pre-installed or be in your distribution's repositories. A Mac OS X version resides at http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Overview.html. For a more graphical approach with many typesetting options, try Inkscape at http://www.inkscape.org/. It is a free competitor to Adobe Illustrator, available on all popular platforms.

For both programs on Mac OS X you need to install an X11-environment first. This came with your Mac installation disks.

Creating Album Art

New Document

  • Begin by making a new document.
  • Choose a suitable resolution (no lower than 72dpi (screen resolution) up to 600dpi would give very high print quality but larger file size). With Inkscape you don't have to choose a resolution since it is resolution-independent; only when exporting your artwork to a bitmap format (menu File > Export bitmap...)
  • CD artwork should be square and 12 cm x 12 cm (4.75 inches x 4.75 inches). In Inkscape you start by setting these dimensions in the menu File > Document Properties.

Finding content

  • Anything from a photo of your band, a colour, or an abstract image.
  • Text, it is often useful to declare the artist name, album name or style on the cover, this is all down to the style you choose though so is often not included.
  • The creative commons logo or some other graphic.
  • Placing the word 'triplexity' or 'tryad' on your album sleeve will increase downloads (I'm joking of course).

Editing

Most software gives you the facility of 'layers' kind of like having all the separate elements on sheets of transparent paper where you can move bits independently or move them on top of one another. It is very useful as editing one layer does not damage another. Working at a high resolution then reducing it once done often hides little glitches. And the use of 'guides' will often prevent those glitches.

Outputting

  • Save your final version as a native format eg PSD for Photoshop or SVG for Inkscape so that you can come back to edit it once you realise it is rubbish.
  • 'Save as' or 'Export' the image as a PNG or JPG. This is the artwork you use for Jamendo.
  • For printshops, most often you use EPS or PDF. Don't forget to outline the texts, since printshops mostly don't have the fonts that you used and the output will not be what you expected.

Style tips

  • Don't use lame fonts like 'Comic Sans' or 'Verdana'. There are a lot of better typefaces out there - even for free. There are some real gems on the internet.
  • You can convert a text to outlines and 'tweak' the single characters to make a very unique logo. Such a logo can best be pasted in a single document, so you can 'recycle' it for further use, thus creating extra value to your own identity.
  • Combination of bitmap art (i.e. photos) with graphic art (i.e. typesetting) works best. You can make text appear as a part of the photograph by using various effects like embossing or drop-shadows.
  • Make sure text comes loose from the background. Do this by using an outline behind the text in a contrasting shade. Is your background light, use a dark gray drop-shadow. Is your background dark, use light glowing edges (neon effects).
  • The KISS-principle goes here as well. Don't try to put too much content on your 12 by 12 cm cover; mostly people view the cover from a distance or as a thumbnail. Keep it recognisable.
  • Try to be as original in your artwork as you are in music!