How To Create a Vinyl Record and 80's Album Cover

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to make a realistic vinyl record. Then we'll create an album cover to go with it, in the style of Patrick Nagel.

Nagel's cool, seductive portraits are icons of 1980s design and illustration. He famously illustrated the cover of one of the biggest pop records of the era, Duran Duran's "Rio." Let's get started!

What You'll Learn

How to create a vinyl record illustration
How to design the grooves and tracks of your vector illustration
How to add a label design to your vinyl record illustration
How to make an album cover in Illustrator
How to use a photo reference for your album cover illustration
How to play with the background of your album cover in Adobe Illustrator

1. How to Create a Vinyl Record Illustration

Let's get started by learning how to create a record vector illustration in Adobe Illustrator.

Step 1

Draw a circle and fill it with a simple white-to-black radial gradient.

Step 2

Go to Object > Expand and choose Gradient Mesh.

Step 3

Expanding the gradient this way puts a Clipping Mask on it, which needs to be removed. Go to Object > Clipping Mask > Release. With everything still selected, ungroup.

Step 4

You may be wondering why you can't just start with the gradient-filled circle and create a Gradient Mesh from there. If you do that, you get something that looks like a sphere, and what we're going for here is a true radial mesh.

Step 5

After you've ungrouped the objects, the clipping mask path is no longer needed. The easiest way to get rid of it is to view the document in Outline mode, move the mesh object out of the way, and then select and delete the path.

Step 6

Your illustration thus far should look like the image below.

Step 7

Take the Mesh tool (U) and click on the outer path two or three times, above and below the horizontal center path.

Step 8

The mesh lines you just created will be a little curvy and will need to be straightened out. To do this, retract the handles by dragging them as close to their respective points as possible. Turn the handles so they line up with the diagonal paths.

Step 9

Repeat Step 8 for each diagonal mesh line. When you're finished, the object should look like the image below (in Outline mode).

Step 10

Now, to color the individual mesh points, select them with either the Direct Selection tool (A) or the Lasso tool (Q), and then "fill" them with tints of black. We usually don't think of a point having a fill color, but that's the way it works with Gradient Mesh. Use the percentages below as a guide. You don't have to worry about the center point as it will be covered by the label.

Step 11

When you've finished coloring the sets of points, the object should look like the image below.

Step 12

Now to make the grooves and tracks. If you like, create a new layer above the base layer. Vinyl records have a set of inner grooves, going from the label outward. Draw a perfect circle that's about one-third the diameter of the main record shape. It should be 100% black and 0.25 points thick.

Keep this circle selected and go to Effects > Distort & Transform > Transform. Set both the horizontal and vertical scale to about 103%, and make 8 copies. Now go to Object > Expand Appearance, which will expand the effect into separate paths. Now Ungroup.

Step 13

For the grooves, select the outermost circle from the previous step (make sure you ungrouped), and enter the values below. You will probably have to adjust the number of copies. You can center the circle on the base shape, and with the Transform window open and the Preview box checked, increase or decrease the number of copies using the up or down arrow keys. The grooves should extend to the edge of the base circle.

Step 14

To create the spaces between the individual tracks, expand the Transform effect from the previous step. Select a few paths and increase the width of the stroke to 2 points. With the grooves and tracks in place, your illustration should look something like the image below.

Step 15

Create a new layer for the label, and draw a circle slightly smaller than the innermost "groove." Fill it with a solid color. We can't actually make a hole in the record, because you can't create a compound path with a mesh object. But we can fake the look by drawing two small circles in the center of the label, one white and one black, and positioning them as shown.

Step 16

There is a slightly thicker part in the center of the record. To create this illusion, draw a smaller circle outside the "hole," expand the stroke, and then fill it with a gradient as shown.

Step 17

The label design can be as complicated as you like, but I'm keeping it simple for now, adding another stroke just inside the shape. The finished label is below.

Step 18

Group the label elements and center-align the group with the record. One last finishing touch, and the record is done: Draw a circle about a quarter-inch larger than the main record shape. Fill it with 100% black and send it to the back. This will serve as the "lip" of the record.

Now, let's see how to make an album cover in Illustrator.

2. How to Design an Album Cover in Adobe Illustrator

Duran Duran's "Rio" album cover serves as retro inspiration for this design, which is illustrated by Patrick Nagel. It's a great example of iconic 80s vinyl records.

Patrick Nagel's crisp, clean style was achieved by starting with a photo reference, making a pencil sketch, and then further reducing the final painting to its essential elements. Illustrator lends itself well to this style, but you will be surprised at how hard it is to create such a simple vector illustration. Let's get started on our album cover Illustrator template!