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Self-made album cover?

Yup, never tried to do one myself out of fear. But maybe I will some day. Thanks for the inspiration
 
Looks great! :)

I would also check out Canva, which is a free, online design platform that's is super easy to use and comes with many templates for album covers!
 
Nice man! It can indeed be a bit scary but rewarding at the same time if you throw caution to the wind and have some fun.

Picmonkey is also quite a nice tool - not free though, but cheap, and you can cancel and subscribe willy-nilly as needed.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys, will check out those tools that some of you suggested.
 
Nice!

I do all of my art and graphics myself, always have. It's a skill like any other. Learn by copying first. There are plenty of resources to learn from, especially on YouTube. Easiest way to learn is to try and recreate cover art that you like. Colors and drawing, color grading, pay attention to all that stuff. If you don't know anything, pick a course or find a tutorial which has you create something. Either doing photo manipulation or creating art, it'll probably go through most of the tools and you'll learn how to use them. You'll develop your style along the way. I use Illustrator and Photoshop.

You might want to check out https://www.photopea.com/, which is a free online alternative to Photoshop.
 
Here is an updated version, (edited the pic and conformed it to standard album cover size): I know this is a musicians forum, but still wanted some feedback. My goal is to make it look like it's professional and not done by some absolute rookie (which I am).
 

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Nice work!

A lot of my favorite producers do their own artwork. (Madeon, Thomas Bergersen)
I think it goes hand in hand with music. A lot of visual concepts have parallels in audio.

I made these last year:

Screen Shot 2019-09-11 at 11.25.46 AM.png

Just wanted to do something functional that pops.
Maybe a bit too cartoonish, looking back at it.
 
Here is an updated version, (edited the pic and conformed it to standard album cover size): I know this is a musicians forum, but still wanted some feedback. My goal is to make it look like it's professional and not done by some absolute rookie (which I am).
3 things I I may criticize cod-philosophically:
1. Your full name is very small. This being printed out in actual cd album cover dimensions would be tiny and hard to read since it's already suffering from the uneven background.
2. I would get rid of your acronym at the bottom. It's either full name or acronym, not both.
3. Can you mask the bright cloud area around the e of retribution and dial down the brightness a bit? The contrast makes it hard to read the e.

Edit: put the full name where the acronym is if you're getting rid of it. It's way easier to read down there at the dark bottom. But if you do, don't make the full name too big since it will pop out way more than your album title due to the contrast.
 
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3 things I I may criticize cod-philosophically:
1. Your full name is very small. This being printed out in actual cd album cover dimensions would be tiny and hard to read since it's already suffering from the uneven background.
2. I would get rid of your acronym at the bottom. It's either full name or acronym, not both.
3. Can you mask the bright cloud area around the first e of retribution and dial down the brightness a bit? The contrast makes it hard to read the e.

Edit: put the full name where the acronym is if you're getting rid of it. It's way easier to read down there at the dark bottom. But if you do, don't make the full name too big since it will pop out way more than your album title due to the contrast.
Updated: I'm not good enough to do request 3 - I see what you mean but I don't think it's anything that is gonna kill it.
 

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Updated: I'm not good enough to do request 3 - I see what you mean but I don't think it's anything that is gonna kill it.
I like this version way more.
But if you ask 3 people about design, you get 4 opinions so take it with a grain of salt and decide for yourself.

I like that it focuses clearer on the title now.
 
Here is an updated version, (edited the pic and conformed it to standard album cover size): I know this is a musicians forum, but still wanted some feedback. My goal is to make it look like it's professional and not done by some absolute rookie (which I am).


Hi, if that's OK, I have a few observations I hope will help?

1- What genre of music is it?

2- Where did you find the image? Make sure use royalty-free images, or pay a license to the photographer. The photographer seems to have pulled it from Unsplash.com, so it would be important to contact him to find out why, and if it still can be used under the same license as when it was there.

3- The contrast between the bright top and the dark bottom is not exploited properly, imho, so we don't really know where to focus.

4- The title and your name seem to not be using the right font, or size, treatment, formatting, etc. Could be due to the high contrast isolating the top and the bottom.

Creativity often has quite a bit of trial and error.

Keep at it. :)
 
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Hey, I think it looks good. Very moody, looks dark and epic. If I had to guess the genre: epic, hybrid orchestral? Though I love the simplicity of @karelpsota, there's no doubting what is contained within those albums. That's very effective.

IMHO, it's "goodness" depends on what you're going to do with it. I think it's excellent for packaging a dozen tracks or so for marketing to libraries. The cover communicates a certain, dramatic mood. But, if you're going to try to compete with pro style albums, then in that case it's a little generic. Because honestly, it's just a really nice nature picture (which you got from who knows where, you probably didn't take it yourself) and then put a title in front of it.
 
I may be totally off from the direction your music is going, David, but just working on each item a bit.
 

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Hi, if that's OK, I have a few observations I hope will help?

1- What genre of music is it?

2- Where did you find the image? Make sure use royalty-free images, or pay a license to the photographer. The photographer seems to have pulled it from Unsplash.com, so it would be important to contact him to find out why, and if it still can be used under the same license as when it was there.

3- The contrast between the bright top and the dark bottom is not exploited properly, imho, so we don't really know where to focus.

4- The title and your name seem to not be using the right font, or size, treatment, formatting, etc. Could be due to the high contrast isolating the top and the bottom.

Creativity often has quite a bit of trial and error.

Keep at it. :)
Here is the site I got it from and what they said about using the photos:
All photos published on Unsplash can be used for free. You can use them for commercial and noncommercial purposes. You do not need to ask permission from or provide credit to the photographer or Unsplash, although it is appreciated when possible.

I liked your pic a lot actually, with the exception of the skull (you didn't have a lot of info tho to be fair). What did you use to put those effects on it? I'll turn down the contrast, as that's been a common theme. Thank you for the feedback, and please keep it coming!
 
I was looking for a different photographer as named by Google Images search. Yep, that's one of the main sites I go to in order to harvest some great photos. :)

It's a weird blend of two different styles, but the cover is supposed to translate to this sort of style:



The album is dramatic initially and then transitions to a less dramatic feel.


That really helps set the atmosphere, yes. Thanks!
 
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