how easily can an amateur (me) learn to make a ready-for-print LP-cover?

[M***@adobeforums.com]

I've painted an album cover for a CD and now it's going to be released as an LP. The band wants me to do the whole design this time, but I have never done this before so I don't know if I'll be able to learn how to do this in time, so I wonder how difficult it really is...??? And if there are any tutorials to find about this process.

This is the CD-version of the cover:
<http://www.progarchives.com/album.asp?id=17967>

The design in itself will be simple. I'll just add some text and stuff. It's the "turning it into something the pressing plant can use"-process I wonder about.

This is what the record pressing plant requires:
<http://www.gzvinyl.cz/en/vinyl/customer-area/production-materials/digital-artwork/>
They have templates for the LP-cover, jacket and labels and stuff...

I know only the basics of photoshopping and I have never tried working with pdf or eps nor tried any design programs. On the plus side: I'm pretty good at learning stuff on my own (I've learned to paint and to make basic homepages by myself for instance).

Should I leave it to the professionals or is it possible for me to learn this from some kind of tutorial (+ lots of googling) in... say 2 months?

[N***@adobeforums.com]

Monika,

The specs provided are straight-forward and pretty standard for high-quality print reproduction. And the job itself is not terribly complex.

But even so, if you have had zero experience preparing such artwork, there is a pretty good chance you will not get it right. Sure, you could fudge your way through the process. But the consequences of doing it wrong could be expensive, both monetarily and from a client-relations standpoint.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to learn, understand and become proficient in the process -- but even with a simple job like a record jacket, there is a lot of production prep and new apps you'll have to learn and understand. Ideally, I would suggest working and learning with an experienced, patient designer who does a lot of design for print work.

I know only the basics of photoshopping and I have never tried working
with pdf or eps nor tried any design programs.




That is hardly a qualification for success. While it is possible to do a simple job solely in Photoshop, it is like using a hammer to drive screws -- for a number of reasons, it's the wrong tool. So, you will also need to know an professional print-savvy application such as InDesign, QuarkXPress and/or Illustrator, and how to use such a file as a container for laying out and placing properly sized and press-prepared pictures and other graphics, plus type and logos.

You will need to know something about type, fonts, and typography. You will also need to know something about proper file preparation for print reproduction and understand a bit about commercial offset lithography and what happens when ink touches paper. You will need a color-calibrated monitor. You will need to understand the differences and best uses of different file types, resolution, color profiling, ink gain, dpi, ppi, and lpi. This has little in common with .jpg snapshots being tweaked in Photoshop and run out on an inkjet.

By the way, that is a lovely illustration you created for the CD! But, the Photoshop file you may have for the CD is probably of inadequate resolution for decent quality reproduction when enlarged for the much larger vinyl album. It will have to be rescanned.

I hope this helps. Please come back with any other questions.

Thanks.

Neil

[N***@adobeforums.com]

Monika,

The specs provided are straight-forward and pretty standard for high-quality print reproduction. And the job itself is not terribly complex.

But even so, if you have had zero experience preparing such artwork, there is a pretty good chance you will not get it right. Sure, you could fudge your way through the process. But the consequences of doing it wrong could be expensive, both monetarily and from a client-relations standpoint.

I wholeheartedly encourage you to learn, understand and become proficient in the process -- but even with a simple job like a record jacket, there is a lot of production prep and new apps you'll have to learn and understand.

There are also schools, DVD tutorials and other material you can buy and find on the Internet to teach you. But it can be overwhelming to learn in theory and put it all together in a comprehendible way. And then translate that knowledge to a real working project. I would urge taking courses at a good art school or being taken under the wing by a good, experienced designer who deals heavily in print and print production.

I know only the basics of photoshopping and I have never tried working
with pdf or eps nor tried any design programs.




That is hardly a qualification for success. While it is possible to do a simple job solely in Photoshop, it is like using a hammer to drive screws -- for a number of reasons, it's the wrong tool. So, you will also need to know an professional print-savvy application such as InDesign, QuarkXPress and/or Illustrator, and how to use such a file as a container for laying out and placing properly sized and press-prepared pictures and other graphics, plus type and logos.

You will need to know something about type, fonts, and typography. You will also need to know something about proper file preparation for print reproduction and understand a bit about commercial offset lithography and what happens when ink touches paper. You will need a color-calibrated monitor. You will need to understand the differences and best uses of different file types, resolution, color profiling, ink gain, dpi, ppi, and lpi. This has little in common with .jpg snapshots being tweaked in Photoshop and run out on an inkjet.

By the way, that is a lovely illustration you created for the CD! But, the Photoshop file you may have for the CD is probably of inadequate resolution for decent quality reproduction when enlarged for the much larger vinyl album. It will have to be rescanned.

Bottom line: I don't recommend that you do this on your own without someone to guide you.

I hope this helps. Please come back with any other questions.

Thanks.

Neil

[b***@adobeforums.com]

Hi
I would tend to agree with Neil, but would say; you can always try. The gzvinyl page you linked to contains a list of the most frequent problems, as well as other things like ftp file transfer etc.. you can use this as a learning-list. Find out what the items are - and how to do it right. It will take some time, so the question here is if this is something you will be using later on - or if its just this one time?

Oh - and by the way: that's a great painting :-)

[s***@adobeforums.com]

I'll say it won't be easy, but it would be a great way to learn and a lot of fun doing it. I taught myself javascript a little at a time by writing a small script, then learning something new to add to it, then another, and so on. good learning process.