Design a six-panel CD package

The CD package I'm going to show you how to create over the following pages was a real commission I undertook for New Jersey rock band Hollywood Avenue. The band gave me a lengthy brief that described their vision for their album artwork down to the very last detail. This was both a good and a bad thing; good because I knew exactly what to create, bad because with the client having such a specific idea there was little room for manoeuvre.

The band's idea was very imaginative and allowed for a surreal and artistic piece. Typically, I found stock photos of individual pieces or textures and assembled them together using various image-manipulation techniques in Photoshop, and I even used hand illustration to fake some parts. Colour overlays and other subtle effects and textures were also used to help blend things together.

Follow this tutorial to find out how I made Hollywood Avenue's insane vision come to life. I'll talk you through my workflow and decision-making process rather than focus too much on specific graphical techniques and I'll also explain how to use printers' templates to make sure your design comes up to their specs.

Click here to download the support files (13.2MB)

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