Vinyl artworks for my unreleased collection (sleeves & labels)

Olympia · May 8, 2023

Just finished jackets and labels for 4 vinyls (3 jackets) out of my 19 vinyl collection for unreleased material. Thought I might share it with you for inspiration.

I have worked on the tracklists for this for 3 years now until I finally felt satisfied enough to get them pressed on vinyl. (... and I know exactly how I will feel when the next bunch of great unreleased songs will leak, which would have fitted in well, lol)

(I have just ordered a copy of "Black Beauty" and "Queen of Hearts" - hope they will turn out as intended.).

I hope I will be able to finish the other jackets and labels soon. The tracklists are kind of ready, but before I write them on the jackets, I usually listen to and change them again, at least a bit :-P

Black Beauty - double black vinyl in gatefold jacket:

jacket, outside:

inside gatefold:

labels:

Queen of Hearts - transparent red vinyl in normal jacket

jacket (2 versions)

labels (two versions for side A, depending on choice of cover)
res-Queen-of-Hearts-label-A-Version-1.jp

res-Queen-of-Hearts-label-B-Version-1-an

Yes to Heaven - white vinyl in normal jacket

jacket

labels

Full project overview:

Have to see about the GND vinyls (7). Either I have to sticker one of these old vinyl boxes from 50 years ago I found somewhere in the house, or I might see if all three of them fit into a normal gatefold jacket.

wilting daisy · May 8, 2023

these are nice! i've actually been designing unreleased vinyl collections lately too but they're nowhere near as nice as yours. i originally just had my sister design the sleeve and labels for me for a 2 disc collection of post-btd pre-nfr songs but before i ordered it i emded up designing two 1 disc collections (one of some of kitschy lizzy era songs and one of cute pop songs) and since then i've already designed 5 more and i was gonna order a couple of them this week lol. the worst part tho is once i'm done picking songs and organizing them and designing the sleeves and labels, i just start working on another one. i need to stop myself. i wouldn't mind posting some pics of the ones i designed too (or at least thw one my sister deisgned for me bc its the nicest one)

Olympia · May 8, 2023

8 minutes ago, wilting daisy said:

these are nice! i've actually been designing unreleased vinyl collections lately too but they're nowhere near as nice as yours. i originally just had my sister design the sleeve and labels for me for a 2 disc collection of post-btd pre-nfr songs but before i ordered it i emded up designing two 1 disc collections (one of some of kitschy lizzy era songs and one of cute pop songs) and since then i've already designed 5 more and i was gonna order a couple of them this week lol. the worst part tho is once i'm done picking songs and organizing them and designing the sleeves and labels, i just start working on another one. i need to stop myself. i wouldn't mind posting some pics of the ones i designed too (or at least thw one my sister deisgned for me bc its the nicest one)

That's the usual problem for me, too 😅🙈 just too much of a perfectionist. I think it is often easier to overtake someone else's design (as your sisters one) because towards other people's work we are often less critical 😅.

Just post them, I'd like to see them!

Currently my bigger problem are the songs/track lists though as I know how often I have changed those damn track lists in the last years and I know what will happen if I discover just the slightest wrong decision when listening to the vinyls. 😱🙈 CDs are easier to compile also, because I don't have these strong time limitations. For the vinyls, one side should not exceed 21.30 minutes for quality reasons and often I want to have a certain order but have to change songs from A to B sides, not to exceed the running time...

MamaDelGhey · May 9, 2023

Holy balls, these are gorgeous! :heart:

wilting daisy · May 9, 2023

17 hours ago, Olympia said:

That's the usual problem for me, too 😅🙈 just too much of a perfectionist. I think it is often easier to overtake someone else's design (as your sisters one) because towards other people's work we are often less critical 😅.

Just post them, I'd like to see them!

Currently my bigger problem are the songs/track lists though as I know how often I have changed those damn track lists in the last years and I know what will happen if I discover just the slightest wrong decision when listening to the vinyls. 😱🙈 CDs are easier to compile also, because I don't have these strong time limitations. For the vinyls, one side should not exceed 21.30 minutes for quality reasons and often I want to have a certain order but have to change songs from A to B sides, not to exceed the running time...

yeah i find with thw one my sister deisgned for me, i just gave directions and was happy with whatever she did from there but with my own i'm constantly changing them and moving text over ever so slightly and hoping i don't wish something was slightly to the side when i have it. and i'm constantly switching out songs for othwr songs and that's usually how i end up making more collections bc i'll be bummed about some songs not working well enough thematically or into the time slots. like out of the 5 ones i haven't ordered yet, i still kee going back and changing songs or fonts on the cover or all kinds of stuff like that. for now i'll post the ones i've already ordered since those ones aren't changing lol.

this is the one my sister designed:

Spoiler

and here's the first one i designed:

Spoiler

and this is the second one i designed:

Spoiler

as you can see, the ones i did aren't as professional as the one my sister did but i still like them. maybe i'll post my other ones as i order them (since thats the only momwnt i can consider them finalized)

Olympia · May 9, 2023

7 hours ago, wilting daisy said:

yeah i find with thw one my sister deisgned for me, i just gave directions and was happy with whatever she did from there but with my own i'm constantly changing them and moving text over ever so slightly and hoping i don't wish something was slightly to the side when i have it. and i'm constantly switching out songs for othwr songs and that's usually how i end up making more collections bc i'll be bummed about some songs not working well enough thematically or into the time slots. like out of the 5 ones i haven't ordered yet, i still kee going back and changing songs or fonts on the cover or all kinds of stuff like that. for now i'll post the ones i've already ordered since those ones aren't changing lol.

I think they look great! The one by your sister looks very Lana-like, but yours are very pretty in their own style, too.

I think you should let them press in this layout. About the track list, just keep on playing them in a row and try to find the perfect order. Have you already found a shop to get them pressed? Depending on the price, you can still do another one if you change your mind.

7 hours ago, MamaDelGhey said:

Holy balls, these are gorgeous!

Thank you very much. I only hope they will come out like this once pressed and printed, too.

wilting daisy · May 9, 2023

3 hours ago, Olympia said:

I think they look great! The one by your sister looks very Lana-like, but yours are very pretty in their own style, too.

I think you should let them press in this layout. About the track list, just keep on playing them in a row and try to find the perfect order. Have you already found a shop to get them pressed? Depending on the price, you can still do another one if you change your mind.

i don't have the skill to create good ones like my sister so i just settled on making mine kitschy lol. i'm having these 3 cut thru intheclouds but i think i'm gonna try my next couple records on kunaki bc ita cheaper and they allow 20 minutes per side (intheclouds only allows 18 minutes a side) but intheclouds just started offering a variety of different vinyl colours (of course after i make my ordwr lol) so i might get anothwr one there if i wanna try fun colours. i wish i just had a lathe bc i could just cut unreleased collections whenever i want. i'm really nervous about the sleeves tho bc intheclouds didn't mention not putting text too close to the edges but a bunch of other lathe cut vinyl sites say that so i'm worried the text will get cut off on the sides and top of them, especially the ones i designed. ans yeah i make little folders with all the songs for each collection and listwn to thwm over and over and tweak them hear and there if something seems clunky. for the last few i've been working i've also started using some short concept demos as interludes to fill up space when i don't have room to add another full song and i've been experimenting with using pieces of instrumentals of songs to make my own interludes when i need to fill up space but i'm not super happy with those yet lol.

Olympia · May 9, 2023

14 minutes ago, wilting daisy said:

i don't have the skill to create good ones like my sister so i just settled on making mine kitschy lol. i'm having these 3 cut thru intheclouds but i think i'm gonna try my next couple records on kunaki bc ita cheaper and they allow 20 minutes per side (intheclouds only allows 18 minutes a side) but intheclouds just started offering a variety of different vinyl colours (of course after i make my ordwr lol) so i might get anothwr one there if i wanna try fun colours. i wish i just had a lathe bc i could just cut unreleased collections whenever i want. i'm really nervous about the sleeves tho bc intheclouds didn't mention not putting text too close to the edges but a bunch of other lathe cut vinyl sites say that so i'm worried the text will get cut off on the sides and top of them, especially the ones i designed. ans yeah i make little folders with all the songs for each collection and listwn to thwm over and over and tweak them hear and there if something seems clunky. for the last few i've been working i've also started using some short concept demos as interludes to fill up space when i don't have room to add another full song and i've been experimenting with using pieces of instrumentals of songs to make my own interludes when i need to fill up space but i'm not super happy with those yet lol.

don't they have templates to use? On the site I use they offer their printing templates - then you can be sure that they won't cut anything you don't want to be cut.

That's how it looks then:

wilting daisy · May 9, 2023

16 minutes ago, Olympia said:

don't they have templates to use? On the site I use they offer their printing templates - then you can be sure that they won't cut anything you don't want to be cut.

That's how it looks then:

on intheclouds when you upload your images it shows examples of how they'll look but it shows it on kunaki too but kunaki warns that texts too close to the edges could get cut off but it doesn't show that when you upload it. but then on vinylify when you upload images, it drastically cuts the edges off so i've been testing them there now just to be safe but i tried uploading the images from the 3 i already ordered to see and all of them had text cut off badly which worries me even tho you'd think intheclouds would mention or show that images get cut off if they do. i guess i'll find out when i get my records which will probably be in june or july (if i order my next few thru kunaki thwy'll probably come first bc they get them done faster than intheclouds lol). i guess worst case scernario i can order new sleeves for them.

whitelines · May 9, 2023

SO GOOD

Veinsineon · May 9, 2023

Was gonna ask how people / where people acquire custom sleeves. I know about Kunaki for records but honestly the sleeve quality is questionable. I’d love to be able to make one!

Olympia · May 9, 2023

4 hours ago, Veinsineon said:

Was gonna ask how people / where people acquire custom sleeves. I know about Kunaki for records but honestly the sleeve quality is questionable. I’d love to be able to make one!

I read very good reviews on the pressings by cutsonwax (Greek company) and the photos of sleeves people posted in their feedback to their site look amazing. Can't wait to get mine to see how they look in real. If the 2 sleeves are good, I can finish my 19/20 vinyl project with them.

4 hours ago, whitelines said:

SO GOOD

Thank you 😊 I really enjoy creating them, but it's so time consuming. It gets better though with each one due to experience.

Alunadelrey · May 10, 2023

These are amazing and beautiful. I love your work.

I've been really wanting to do this and make my own unreleased vinyl collection. Please do tell us how these come out when you get. I was thinking of using Kunaki but I'm not sure.

Also do you have any templates for making these?

Olympia · May 10, 2023

4 hours ago, Alunadelrey said:

These are amazing and beautiful. I love your work.

I've been really wanting to do this and make my own unreleased vinyl collection. Please do tell us how these come out when you get. I was thinking of using Kunaki but I'm not sure.

Also do you have any templates for making these?

Thank you 😊. I will post photos when I get them, but might take 6 weeks. The company I use is a Greek one, don't know what shipping outside EU will cost however. I have their templates indeed, but if you use another company, you might need another template as I guess this always depends on their printing equipment - I would ask them for it. (Maybe ordering only sleeves from them costs less shipping however, I don't know.)

https://www.cutsonwax.com/templates

It's important, if you use them, to import them to photoshop with the option "crop to... Media Box". Needed a while to find out.

Regarding the gatefold template, the upper part is the inside and has to placed head-down, the bottom part saying front/back is the outside.

The Siren · May 10, 2023

On 5/9/2023 at 1:35 PM, Veinsineon said:

Was gonna ask how people / where people acquire custom sleeves. I know about Kunaki for records but honestly the sleeve quality is questionable. I’d love to be able to make one!

I like them! They're sorta thick and all glossy!

But the LP wax they use doesn't make the songs sound the best :/