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How to Mock Up Your Own Album Cover

How to Mock Up Your Own Album Cover

Album Cover Mockup in Photoshop

We always say that in Photoshop there are many ways to achieve the same result; sometimes it takes more, sometimes less, work, depending on the final quality you're looking for. But, there are times when a simple square and some layer styles can make a quick mockup for previewing your designs quickly and easily as if they were already printed. Today I will show you how fast and easy it is to mockup your own album cover designs to present them in a much more enjoyable and realistic way.​

Step 1

Open Photoshop and make a new file at any size you want. In this case i will make mine at 1800 x 1200 px.

Step 2

Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool (U) and click once over the artboard to open the Create Rounded Rectangle window. Apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 3

Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer. Name the layer as "My Design" and click OK.

Step 4

With the "My Design" layer selected, go to Layer > Smart Objects > Convert to Smart Object.

Step 5

Go to Layer > Create Clipping Mask.

Step 6

Select the original Rounded Rectangle layer. Go to Layer > Layer Style > Bevel & Emboss and aplly the following settings.

Step 7

In the Layer Style window, select the "Inner Shadow" option and apply the following settings.

Step 8

Still in the Layer Style window, check the "Gradient Overlay" option and click once over the Gradient thumbnail to open the Gradient Editor.

Step 9

In the Gradient Editor window, set the first color stop to #e6e6e6 and the second color stop to #ffffff. Be sure to set the Location of the second color stop to 75% and click OK.

Step 10

In the Gradient Overlay style option, apply the following settings.

Step 11

Now, check the "Pattern Overlay" option. Select the "Gray Granite" pattern from the thumbnails dropdown, apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 12

Select the Rectangle Tool (U), be sure to have the mode set to "Pixels" in the top toolbar and in a new layer above the Background layer draw a small rectangle using a black color as shown.

Step 13

Go to Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur. Set the to Radius to 6 and click OK.

Step 14

In the Layers Panel, set the blend mode to "Multiply" and bring down the opacity to about 35%.

Step 15

Select the Background layer. Click on the "Create new fill or adjustment layer" icon in the Layers Panel and from the dropdown list select "Gradient".

Step 16

In the Gradient Fill window, be sure to select the "Foreground to Transparent" gradient, apply the following settings and click OK.

Step 17

To place your design in the recently created mockup, select the "My Design" layer and double click on the layer thumbnail. Alternatively you can right click on the layer and from the dropdown menu select "Edit Contents".

Step 18

In the new opened document, go to File > Place. Locate the album design image on your computer and click on Place. Reposition the image if needed and hit the Enter key on your keyboard to commit the changes.

Step 19

Go to File > Save and close the Smart Object File. As you can see, your album cover art is now placed in the original file.


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