Design an Indie Rock CD Cover in Photoshop

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Design an Indie Rock cd cover in Photoshop11

15 December 2010by SebastianoPhotoshop

Today Im going to explain how to realize a retro cd cover in Photoshop. We will photo-manipulate a sunset


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scene, then we will combine other elements like textures and vector resources to finalize the composition. At theend I will show you how to apply the final design to a cd case mock-up template.

Preview:


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Step 1

Lets start by creating a new 1000 ! 1000 pixels document in Photoshop with a high resolution (300 pixels/inchsince it is destined to print).


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Step 2

Fill the background with a subtle grey (#a4a5a5).

Step 3

Download the first stock image that we need for this composition: the image of a sunset on a beach land . Mergethe image into the Photoshop canvas and re-size it (press ctrl+T to activate the Free Transform tool).


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Step 4

With the Dodge tool, click over the sun to lighten that area. The Dodge tool allow you to choose a specific brush,so make sure to select a round, large and soft (hardness 0%) brush.


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Step 5

Lets switch to the Burn tool to darken the edges of the composition. Set the tool to Shadows mode and gentlypaint always with a soft brush.


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Step 6

At this point, grab the Blur tool. The aim is to give depth to the composition. So paint again over the edges,always with a soft, large brush. Here is my result:


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Step 7

Set the layer blending mode to soft light. In this way the beach will merge the grey background. The result is notso cool but, dont worry, we will fix it soon.


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Step 8

Press ctrl+J to duplicate the beach layer. Now a step a little bit tricky: with the duplicated layer selected, add alayer mask by pressing the add layer mask button, which is at the bottom of the layers window. Make sure tohave black as foreground color and press alt+delete to fill with black the layer mask. What happened? Theduplicated layer disappeared. This is due to the layer mask filled with black. We could use a white brush toreplace pixels simply by painting over the mask. And this is exactly what we will do: grab a large soft white brushand make a spot over the center, and the central area will be replaced.

Why using the layer mask when we could simply erase the edges of the duplicated layer with the Eraser

tool? The power of the layer mask is that it allows you to delete and replace pixels at any time. This is why Ialways prefer the Layer mask rather then the Eraser tool.


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Step 9

Create a new group and title it Adjustments. Here we will put in all the color corrections. Take in mind that thisgroup will be always on top of all the other layers.

The first adjustment consists in lowering down saturation. So go to Layer>New AdjustmentLayer>Hue/Saturation and reduce saturation to -70.


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Then add a Gradient Map layer going from purple (#6f156c) to green (#00601b) to orange (#fd7c00). Set thelayer to Overlay with opacity about 30%.

Finally create a new layer and fill it with a color of your choice (its not important). Then right-click on the layer


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thumbnail and select Blending options. Reduce fill opacity to 0%:

Add a gradient overlay going from Pink (#e1006a) to Yellow (#ecdb1f) to Blue (#025b94). By clicking on thearrow on top of the color picker, you can set up the opacity of each color. Reduce the values so the effect will bemore soft.


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Step 10

Remember that the adjustment group needs to be always on top. Create a new layer below and fill it withblack. Go to Filter>Render>Lens Flare and select the 50-300mm zoom lens.


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Set the layer to screenet voil! The cool lens flare effect!


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Step 11

Now that the background is complete, you can put in whatever you prefer. In my case, I decided to play aroundthe concept of time, so I downloaded the image of a hour glass . Open the image in Photoshop and use the pentool to extract it:


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Paste the image into the main canvas and re-size it (ctrl+T).


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Step 12

As you may notice, theres a problem with the transparency of the glassthe problem is that the glass is nottransparent! Lets fix this bug. Duplicate the hourglass layer (ctrl+J) and set the duplicated layers blending modeto multiply with opacity 90%.


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Zoom in and, from the layer set on normal below, erase the area that should be transparent.


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Select the layer set on multiply and erase the area where theres the sand. In this way, the sand of the layer below more saturated will appear.


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Step 13

To enhance the hour glass, we can use one of our Radial Vectors . You can open the .AI file in Illustrator or usethe Photoshop brushes version. They are both available into the .zip file. Select the radial you prefer, then copy(ctrl+C) and paste it (ctrl+V) in Photoshop as a smart object. Feel free to re-size it at your pleasure: since it is asmart object, its scalable. Put it below the hour glass.


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Reduce fill opacity to 0% then add a light blue (#599fac) color overlay with opacity 80%.


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Step 14

For the text, Ive used a sans-serif and minimal font, Cicle. Anyway any clean font will work fine. The only effectadded to the text is a 1px drop shadow, just to enhance it a little bit.


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Step 15

To complete the composition, lets play with a couple of our textures. Lets start with one of our Folded andScratched Paper Textures . You can use the free sample and, if you like the texture, consider to download theentire set (or you can download all our 2500 design resources for just $7/month ).

Merge the texture into the canvas and re-size it. Apply the sharpen filter (Filter>Sharpen>Sharpen) to enhance thedetails.


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Set the layer to overlay and reduce opacity to about 30%. Cool result, dont you agree?


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Step 16

Download one of our Subtle Grunge Textures and paste it into the canvas. Set the layer to overlay with opacity50%. The composition is now finished!


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How does the graphic look on a cd?

You can show to your clients/friends how the graphic looks on a cd template. Download our cd case mock-upand open it in Photoshop. My choice was the cover template. To customize the design, simply double click on thesmart object thumbnail. A new window will appear.


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Put in your graphic and save. Then you can close the window and see how the mock-up looks updated.

DOWNLOAD SOURCE FILE


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Become a Premium Member and get unlimited access to source files and premium resources for only 7$/month.Click here to learn more .Are you already a member? Login to download the PSD file.

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back to the blog

Sebastiano

Howdy! I'm a self taught graphic designer who loves to create amazing stuff using every kind of media. I'mcurrently living and working in Italy.

11 Comments

(+add yours)

1.Sajib

December 15, 2010 at 8:18 am

Simply awesome!

Reply

SebastianoDecember 15, 2010 at 9:28 am

Thanks Sajib ;-)

Reply

2.Anton AxenovDecember 15, 2010 at 4:37 pm

Beautiful result. Thank you for good tutorial.

Reply

3.ulisesDecember 15, 2010 at 7:21 pm

ineteresante

Reply

4.

W illiamDecember 15, 2010 at 7:55 pm

I just rocked this. Awesome tut. Love the style, please please please, keep more coming like this. I amtotally digging the textures, mockups, brushes/vectors and everything you guys have been rocking.Everything you guys provide is well worth the premium membership.


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Reply

5.arizona web designerDecember 15, 2010 at 9:38 pm

Sweet tutorial! Thanks for putting this together.

Reply

6.Studio Ace of SpadeDecember 16, 2010 at 10:35 pm

Oh woaw, thank for using some of the resources we created for you guys in a tutorial! We feel kinda partof the design :-)

And it looks pretty awesome too.

Reply

7.techwenchDecember 17, 2010 at 7:39 am

thank!!! you for the tutorial..

Reply

8.LogomondoDecember 20, 2010 at 11:15 am

Very creative and nice tutorial.

Reply

9.rui198000December 24, 2010 at 2:14 pm

great tutotial, really nice use of texture in the final image

Reply

10.OgbeifunMarch 31, 2011 at 1:49 pm

I am indeed Grateful. I just found your site and i will go try this out. Thanks alot.

Reply


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Design an Indie Rock CD Cover in Photoshop

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