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Album Art Without AI ​

We asked our community for resources on how to put together album art without relying on AI, and this is what they responded.

Where to find images ​

A few things to keep in mind ​

If you use stock photos, there's a chance someone else—maybe a political party or a brand—uses the same image. That connection might not be something you want, and we want to hear more about this if this happened to you.

Some artists will let you use their work for free if you ask politely and credit them. One person said they have about a 90% success rate getting permission this way.

Digital Tools for making the art ​

  • Canva and BeFunky – Both have free tiers with templates, effects, and sortable stock photos. You can upload your own images and add text, using both services as a simple layout editor.
  • Inkscape – Free vector graphics software. Good if you want simple geometric designs.
  • Krita – Free painting software. Someone mentioned using templates in Krita so you can just drop in your own images.
  • Graphite – A web-based vector tool, no installation needed: https://graphite.art/
  • GIMP – Despite the name, this free and open source image editor has been a popular alternative to Photoshop.
  • Affinity Studio – Now owned by Canva, this free software allows editing of pixel and vector images, with room to customise your workspace layout.

Low-tech options ​

Scissors, printed pictures, glue, and a scanner. Collage is easy and effective.

Your phone camera is fine. There are YouTube tutorials on basic photography if you need them.

No tech options ​

For folks seeking inspiration away from the computer, we’d recommend checking these titles out, some of which cover layouts and techniques whilst others give an overview of how independent labels built a strong visual identity, even though the bands on their roster may have been very different from one another. PostSecret also happens to be a fascinating read, as well as a fantastic volume in cut and paste art.

  • Design It Yourself by Ellen Lupton
  • Hand Job: A Catalog of Type by Michael Perry
  • PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions From Ordinary Lives by Frank Warren
  • Wobbly Sounds by Jonny Trunk
  • Touchable Sound: A Collection of 7-inch Records from the USA (quite hard to find but crammed with inspiration)
  • Mute: A Visual Document by Terry Burrows
  • Factory Records: The Complete Graphic Album by Matthew Robertson
  • The Wild World of Barney Bubbles: Graphic Design and the Art of Music by Paul Gorman

If you have a small budget ​

Look for artists using hashtags like #commissions or #commissionsavailable. Some offer non-exclusive licenses for existing work, which costs less than a full commission. One person mentioned they do this with their paintings and illustrations and encouraged other artists to do the same.

Reciprocity and skill exchange ​

Something we've been toying with for a while is finding ways for artists to share and collaborate. If you want help, you can ask on our discord, or ask on socials. Tag us and we'll bump you! If you're interested in exploring solutions to this, let us know.

Someone wrote a guide on making book covers without generative AI. Most of it applies to album art too:

If you have other resources to add, pass them along! You can also check out (and contribute to) the lively original thread on the Fediverse.