AwesomeEthan48's Custom Album Cover Tutorial (2024)

Have you seen the Custom Album Covers I (and many other people) did or official Death Battle music track covers and thought to yourself, "Man, I want to make one of those things, but how do I do it?"

Well, my friend, you've come to the right place! Let the Death Battle Wiki's self-proclaimed resident artist guide you on making your very own Custom Album Cover/CAC!

Step 1: Getting the Necessary Items[]

Before you can start working on your Custom Album Cover, you'll need a few things in order to do so:

Item 1: A Drawing App of Some Kind[]

While you can do a rough draft on paper, going digital is the best idea for making your final draft Of your CAC. While there are a plethora of drawing apps to use, I'll be using ibisPaint X in this tutorial, as that's the program I use when making my CACs, along with basically all my other stuff.

Item 2: The Album Cover Background[]

Yeah, this one's kind of important; how can you make a final version of your CAC without the background?! Thankfully, you can use either one of these album cover backgrounds I have with me. I'll be using the one on the left for most of this tutorial, but I suggest you use the one on the right if you want to have your CAC look more official. I also highly suggest using the full size of 1080x1080 in case you want to add minor details.

Item 3: This 8-Line Grid[]

This one isn't necessary, but I'd highly recommend it. This grid thing will help you if you want to center a layer.

Item 4: The Text Below the Title[]

The second-to-last thing you need before starting is the text underneath the title of each official (and unofficial) track cover. From these 3, you chan choose either the version with Yates, Therewolf or my username (though you can change my username to yours when making your own CAC).

Item 5: An Idea[]

This last one's VERY important, probably the most important thing to have before starting your CAC. Besides, you need an idea to get started in the first place!

A good Custom Album Cover idea consists of 2 things:

1. An image that references the 2 combatants (or more if it's a CAC for a battle royale)
2. A title that references the combatants in some way (i.e., Retro Rivals references the fact that Mario and Sonic have been rivals since the Console Wars in the 90s, a time of retro appeal looking back at it)

For this tutorial, I'll be doing this request by fellow DBW user 1pizza877 (and I'll combine the two proposed ideas), but you can do any idea you have, whether it's your most wanted matchup, a request by someone, or even a random matchup.

(Optional) Item 6: Bottom Shadow[]

This item is for when you want your Custom Album Cover to look like an official track cover. This is seen on the bottom of track covers, partially covering part of the track cover in shadow (for example, see Elements of Alchemy below).

Don't worry if part of your track cover gets partially covered by this when using this.

Step 2: Setting Up[]

Now that you've got everything, you must now organize them for drawing purposes. The idea is an exception, as you can store that information in your head. For reference, this is how the other things should be sorted in ibisPaint, color-coded for your convenience:

The Text Below the Title and Album Cover Background are hidden so that they don't get in the way of drawing the actual track cover itself. As for the blank layer, you can have as many as you need (i.e., one for a rough draft, one for the final outline, one for coloring, one for shading, etc.)

Step 3: VERY Rough Draft[]

Now that everything's in place, you're finally ready to start working on your Custom Album Cover, starting with the rough draft!

While I usually go into creating a CAC with an idea already in mind, you may need to plan out what elements of a character goes where. That's where the rough draft comes in! The rough draft lets you draw rough sketches of the elements that reference your fighters and move them to a place you think works well.

It may take a few layers if you have several elements you want to put. Once you're done with that, either merge all those layers together and center it or put them all in a folder. I'd also suggest making the rough draft a bit transparent, as shown below:

Do keep in mind that this is the rough draft, so feel free to move elements around if you don't feel like they're in the right place.

Step 4: Drawing the Outlines[]

Now that you got the rough draft, it's time to start drawing the outlines for every part of the track cover.

"But Ethan, how can I make it not look like a crappy MS Paint job?"

Well, I'm glad you asked!

Reference Pics[]

Reference pictures/reference pics are pictures of the elements you're including that you can use to help you in the drawing process. With reference pics, you can:

• Draw the element based on what you see on the reference pic.
• Put the reference pic in the middle, change its opacity, and trace it on a separate layer.
• Put the reference pic in as a part of the track image.

You want to aim for that 1st method as much as possible. However, don't feel bad if you need to trace the image on a separate layer if there are small details you want to include or if you're not that good at drawing. I use the 2nd method for certain elements of certain CACs, so it's fair game.

You can do the 3rd method, but try to do that as little as possible. Some elements from some of my CACs (the Monado Arts in both versions of "Power of the Blades" and the Punisher's skull logo in "Dreaded Punishers", for example) are PNGs I used because I was too lazy to recreate them nearly 1:1. But if you're someone like Austin James A who uses just PNGs ripped straight from Google (especially in uncreative ways), that that's just being EXTREMELY lazy, so don't do that. However, if you can make just straight PNGs work, then go for it!

I'd also suggest using ibisPaint's built-in Straight Ruler for perfectly straight lines, Circle Ruler for perfect circles, and Elliptical Ruler for perfect curves (though that last one is optional). Also, you're not limited to just black when doing the outline, so feel free to use different colors for certain outlines of elements (that make sense, of course!).

Here's an example of what the outlines should look like:

But, as I said before, feel free to move and resize the elements of your piece (in this case, the actual Elements of Harmony) if it doesn't feel like they're in the right place. Also, feel free to add elements you've drawn separately to your Custom Album Cover, as seen here:

Step 4.5: Changing Outline Colors[]

THIS STEP IS COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, SO FEEL FREE TO IGNORE THIS ONE AND SKIP TO STEP 5!

Sometimes, the outline for an element (in this case, the flags and flag poles) aren't in the color you want. Now, don't fret, you don't have to trace the element in the color you want on a separate layer. All you have to do is use ibisPaint's built-in color changers! Here's how you find them (read the captions under these two images):

After all that, use what the "Hue, Saturation, Lightness" or "Change Drawing Color" option has to change the outline color of your selected element, as seen in this before and after comparison below:

Like I said, this step's optional, so if you prefer all of your outlines to be black, feel free to skip this one.

Step 5: Coloring and Detailing[]

Once you're done all of that, you're finally ready to add color! I'd suggest using the "Bucket" feature to fill in most of the empty space within the outlines and using the "Brush" feature to get into the nooks and crannies that the "Bucket" can't get into.

You can also add some details and/or elements you didn't draw in Step 4, as seen here:

Step 6: Shading and Effects[]

THIS IS ANOTHER OPTIONAL STEP, SO FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS ONE AND MOVE ON TO STEP 7!

Now, while you can just call the track image "finished" as of Step 5, if you're someone like me, you want to add some pizzazz to your piece (if you want, of course) via shading and some effects!

Shading[]

For shading, I'd suggest using ibisPaint's "Magic Wand" feature or "Clipping" feature (seen below) to keep your shading from bleeding out.

For this part of Step 6, I'm adding some gold shine to the flag poles, as seen in this before and after comparison here:

The shading also helps gives a sense of lighting, life, and depth to your track image.

Effects[]

Effects (which I include inner glows, outer glows, and shines, among other things) are also what can give your track image some pizzazz.

While you can do the glows manually (as seen in my "Keys to the Duel", "Chaotic Discord"' and "Stars of the Universe" CACs), you can make your life easier by using the "Inner Glow" and/or "Outer Glow" features found in the "Style" section of the "Filter" option.

For the shine, you can choose either one of these two brushes found in the "Brush" section.

For the color of the shine, if you use "Light 4", you must make the color white. However, the white part of "Glitter 1 - Add" stays white no matter what color you choose, which means you're not limited to white when using that brush. I highly suggest you use "Glitter 1 - Add" over "Light 4", but you can choose wither one. You can also rotate the shine by using ibisPaint's "Transform" feature.

Here's a before and after comparison to show what utilizing both the glow and shine look like:

Keep in mind you don't have to do both the glow and shine. You can do either one (or neither one, if you want!).

Step 7: The Title[]

Alright, you're in the home stretch now! All that's left to do is the title! But before you do that, make the "Text Below the Title" and "8-Line Grid" visible, with the latter being moved towards the top of the layers, as seen here:

Once you've done that, select the "Text" feature and tap anywhere on the canvas. You should see a button labeled "Add Text" (see left pic). Press that, and you'll arrive at what I dub "the Text Maker" (see right pic).

Once you've loaded up "the Text Maker", you'll notice a couple of sections at the bottom. Here's what you need to do for the first 3:

• Text: Change the font to "Default (Bold)" and set the text position to "Center" and "Horizontal".
• Size: Set the text size at 100. This will be the base text size, so if the title doesn't take one line when you stretch the text box all the way, you can shrink the size until the title fits on one line.
• Style: Set the text color as white, the text stroke as black, and the stroke size (as labeled as the outline of the letter A) at 10.

You don't need to worry about the other sections, meaning you can type out your CAC title! Make sure you type it out in full caps and, as I stated above, extend the textbox to it's fullest length (or width) to make sure the title fits on one line, like this:

Coloration, Movement, and Transformation[]

Now, for this tutorial, the title will be in the style of the titles before Appetite for Greed, meaning at least one word in the title will be red (unless we're talking about one-word titles like Marvelous, in which case leave the entire title white).

Before you can recolor some words and change the shape of the text, you need to rasterize it first. Otherwise, you can't do anything with it. The photo below shows you how to find the rasterization option.

Basically, all you have to do is press the sideways ellipsis button (1), then finding the "Rasterize" button (2) and pressing it.

After the rasterization process, you can now use the "Bucket" feature to fill in the letters you want red, as seen here:

Once you're done with that, use the "Transform" feature (it's the button with the 4 arrows), specifically the "Perspective" section with the "Perspection" setting turned off, to stretch, resize, and center the title.

The size of the titles for all my CACs vary, but this is roughly where you want it. Once you're satisfied with the title placement, hit the green checkmark.

After all of that, make the "8-Line Layer" invisible, make the "Album Cover Background" visible, do some cleanup, and voila! You should be done with your Custom Album Cover!

If you're wondering why my signature and the date of completion are at the top two corners, it's because I usually do that so that people know I did it. You don't have to do those things.

Bonus: Making Your CAC Look Like a "Modern" Track Cover[]

Now, the look of the official track covers have changed since Shredder vs Silver Samurai, which you can see below by comparing Retro Rivals and Appetite for Greed with each other:

With that, you'll need to make a few changes to the CAC Making Process that I just listed out if you want to make your Custom Album Cover look like the real deal. For this part, I'll show you the process with a request from Sharaku Jr.: Mario vs Link.

Layers[]

First of all, if you weren't using it already, change the background from this...

To this.

Next, you want to add in that Bottom Shadow (which you can find in Step 1) directly below the text underneath the title, as seen here.

Title[]

Now, as I stated earlier, all official track covers from Appetite for Greed onward have a new design to them compared to the track covers from Shredding Silver to Marvelous, mostly in the fonts of the text.

With that said, you'll need to make changes to how the title looks. And by changes, I mean one major change. Anyway...

• Text: Keep the font as "Default (Bold)" and the position as "Center" and "Horizontal".
• Size: Keep it at 100, and shrink it down if you need too.
• Style: Keep the text color as white, but set the stroke size at 0. The color of the text stroke itself doesn't matter here since it'll be added in a separate layer.

Once that's done and the text has been rasterized, it should look something like this:

After that, center the text and stretch it until you achieve the desired look, like so.

Now for the text stroke. Have it on a layer that's directly under the title text, go to the "Style" portion of Filters, and find "Stroke (Outer)". Once you find it, adjust the size and color so that they match with the examples below.

Finally, the reason why the stroke if the title is on a separate layer: the shadowy gradation at the bottom of the white part of the title.

To make that, have a layer directly above the title text (not the stroke), enable Clipping, and use the Straight Ruler (positioned horizontally) and one of the Airbrushes to create the shadow.

Once you're done, the layers should look like this...

And the final product should look like the title seen here.

Alternatively, you can use the Avant Grande (Bold) font for the title, as it's (most likely) the font used in the official covers. After doing everything above with the Avant Grande font, it should look something like this:

And that's basically it!

Final Thoughts[]

I hope this tutorial helped you improve on drawing your own Custom Album Covers. If not, I hope this gave you some inspiration to do so.

If you really don't want to draw it (or can't for one reason or another), you can always make a request to me! Just don't overwhelm me with requests. I have a life, people!

Anyway, thanks for reading and special thanks to Fox-Shock for inspiring me to do this!