• Decorate your record cases using album art tools.Vynil player image by Photosani from Fotolia.com
  
  Whether you’re releasing your band’s first album or creating a compilation, the first image listeners get of the band might be the album art, or cover. When creating your album cover, you’ll want to combine grabbing potential audience attention with a way to display something about your band, whether it’s the type of music you play, your target audience or what people should be prepared for when they slide your music into their player.
  
  

Graphics Editors

• Graphics software programs allow you to design album art restricted only by your imagination. If you want your album cover to feature your band on a beach, train tracks or a secluded rainforest, but don’t have the finances or time to travel to a location, with a couple of clicks through a graphics editor such as Photoshop, Lightroom or Paint, you can transform a couple of images into your desired cover photo. Graphics editors allow much in the process of editing and enhancing pictures; you can add makeup, lighten teeth, add a tan, change clothing colors, edit out blemishes and dust speckles and change backgrounds, all with a few quick clicks. You’ll also be able to see your images clearly on the screen. You’ll know who or what you’ve got to repose or whether you’ll need a complete reshoot without paying for additional film.
  
  

Desktop Publishers

• Chances are, your computer has a built-in tool that can help speed your album art creation. Desktop publishing programs, which provide layout and design functionality, include items such as Microsoft Publisher (part of the Microsoft Office Suite) and Adobe InDesign (part of the Adobe Creative Suite). By using a desktop publishing program, you can create the template for your album cover (including exact sizing), then layer items such as a photo and text to create the artwork. If you’ve already got your cover image, for example, you could bring that into a desktop publishing program as the base of the cover, then create text boxes to display the band’s name as a logo and include a few lines of text such as “Our latest release” or “Check out the new hit single.” A desktop publishing program provides precision in layout because you have control over where to position graphics and text.
  
  

Camera & Scanner

• Although a camera and scanner are different tools, they can work together to produce art for your next album. Your digital camera can take snapshots of just about anything for your cover art-large crowd scenes, gritty city streets or an up-close image of an animal. But if you’ve got hard-copy photos you’d like to use for your cover art, a scanner can come to the rescue. Scanners are an inexpensive way to beam paper images onto your computer, which you then can edit in a graphics program. Scanners also can handle items such as ticket stubs, patches, magazine clippings and other flat items you want for your cover, making them instantly accessible for your album artwork.