Hi! im new to Prog Archives but ive used stuff like RYM for many years now. Anyways the reason for posting on this board is i need a little advice. I am currently working on a prog rock album that i am completely self producing. I have made albums before but never truly dabbled in that much prog apart from some organ solos.

Anyways, an album on this scale made me want to go all out, but there is a problem. Album art for a prog album is hard, not only to make, but also to find. I am very much in the process of writing something Symphonic Prog related and album art like Roger Dean is a basic idea of what im looking for. I have no experience in art and I dont really plan on drawing the album art myself.

I've tried looking for commision on fiverr but the only ones who seem up to the task draw mainly fantasy artscapes and they can cost upwards of 300 dollars! which is not something im willing to spend. Another alternative was to use A.I image art which i saw some success with messing around with ideas for art but nothing that quite fits the standard since its a mess of bad brush strokes and just generally really easy to tell its A.I generated and mostly it just doesnt look that good. I tried setting up an A.I generator myself to train on some prog art but it was far to confusing and I gave it up.

Does anyone have any advice? is there a cheaper alternative method to making symphonic prog art?

DO NOT USE AI...for the love of (whichever) GOD you believe in.

Now...Let's start over. Everyone wants the next Roger Dean cover, but how does that distinguish you from any of the others. Time to think outside the box. So, a couple of questions.

1 - What's the title of the album

2 - What (if any) is the concept of the album

3 - What is the moniker of the artist

^ That's an option. 

But honestly, $300  is quite cheap (not to say very cheap), especially if you take into account the hours one spends on such a work and on top of that a fee for author rights (especially if you want exclusivity)... How do you want the world to value your work once it is finished: cheap or for what it's decently worth?

So, for the advice: if you don't want to pay an artist for his work's worth, then you better do it yourself. At least it will be original and it won't cost you much.

This may sound silly ... but here goes. If you can't define a cover, and can not get someone to make it real, just leave it at that ... even with a hand drawn something or other would be much better than the AI stuff ... which to me would immediately suggest ... it's not real anyway ... and I think it will affect the idea of the music itself ... you might be better off with a Beatles cover ... all white ... all gray ... all black ... all green ... you name it ... in order to prevent anyone from making some "assumptions" about the music ... I like the idea of not telling anyone what this is about ... not to hide, mind you, but because I am so intuitive and dream like in my writing (no breaks and changes from the visuals!) that even I do not entertain any ideas about its "meaning" ... but in my poetry and various other pieces, some folks have given me some words ... that I honestly can tell you embarrass me ... I did that?

Surprises are good!

However, in my poetry, I have only given a title to maybe 10 out of 300 poems ... and usually used the first line to "name it" ... because a visual strats at a point and ends somewhere else! I keep telling folks about "progressive" but they are scared of ending somewhere else! Not like Gayle Ebbett who joked back in a letter that he sometimes has no idea what chord this is and he might run the whole thing from A to Z!

There you have it!

BTW ... have you tried some university's art area? Put an add in one of their boards, and see who/what bites ... some youngsters might want to do something nice, or already have some that is quite usable. Usually the art folks are pretty open ... it's the instructors that are a problem, since they are all failed commercial artists! But the youngsters, usually have a mind of their own ... and doing something different and interesting, might be in their cards, just for you!

Wow, thanks to everyone responding on this! it helps a lot and i will definitely not be using any A.I technology. I got some useful advice and il definitely look into taking some pictures of my own and possibly editing something togheter. It gave me some ideas anyway.

The album itself is still very much W.I.P so il have to see where the cover is headed. The best example i could think is Supper's Ready where the song is about a journey through christianity tho my album wont really have any religous themes so its more just a journey. Thank you all for the advice and im sure to update soon enough!

It's one of my go to's when designing covers...from my portfolio.

These are in the vault awaiting an album...