Design a BTS Album Cover  In Photoshop

This tutorial will show you how to design a cover similar to the insanely popular K-Pop band BTS.

Let’s break this tutorial down: 

Step 1. Setting up Photoshop

Step 2. Getting the Photo

Step 3. Isolate the Flowers with a Layer Mask

Step 4. Add a Custom Background

Step 5. Add the Shapes

Step 6. Create the Overlapping Portions with the Flowers Layer

Step 7. Add a Shadow to the Overlapping Elements

Step 8. Adding Text

Place your image on top of the Background layer – we renamed this layer “Flowers”. It should look like this.

Step 3. Isolate the Flowers with a Layer Mask

Isolate the flowers so we can apply our custom background. Choose the tool and/or method for selecting that suits you better. 

Then, click the Select and Mask button on the top menu to isolate your selection. 

 

Clicking on Select and Mask will open the Properties panel. Make sure you set the Output To dropdown to Layer Mask before clicking OK.

 

Step 4. Add a Custom Background

You can either bring in an image or a Color or Gradient Fill layer as the background. Place it under the Flowers layer then resize it if needed. 

Step 5. Add the Shapes

Now, we are going to add the shapes using the rectangle tool to combine with the flowers. Use Ctrl+T to select the shape > Right Click > Select Perspective to distort the shapes using the anchor points.

 

Group the Shape Layers together by selecting them and clicking on the small folder icon at the bottom of the Layers panel or by using Command/Ctrl+G. We’ll name the group as “Shapes”.

 

Lower the Opacity of the group to about 90%-70%. This will help us have a better view when painting the floral parts on top of the shapes.

Step 6. Create the overlapping Portion with the flowers layer

We want to create an illusion that the shapes are interwoven with the flowers. Let’s duplicate the flower layer by pressing Command/Ctrl+J and place it at the very top of our Layers panel.

 

We want to work on the new flower layer and more specifically on the layer mask. Start by setting the Brush Tool (B) followed by Right-Click to a size of 30 px and Hardness of 100%. 

You can interchange between black and white colors to hide or reveal parts of the image. Pressing X will interchange between these two colors, making it easier to work on the details.

Zoom in and out (Command/Ctrl + or -) to better see which areas of the you want to erase. Then take your time and paint over these parts as precisely as possible.

You can crop out portions of the image to fill up the spaces. 

Keep going until you are satisfied with the overall look. Group the layers and name it Flowers.

 

Step 7. Add a Shadow to the Overlapping Elements

To make the overlapping elements more realistic, we will add a Drop Shadow layer style. Select the Flower layer on the Layers panel. Click on Effects > Drop Shadow.

 

A Layer Style window will pop up, and you will notice that, the image will have a shadow. We want a softer look, so let’s change to the values in the image below and click OK.

 

Step 7. Adding Text

Use the Horizontal Type Tool from the Toolbar to add text.

 

We hope you liked this tutorial.

 
You can Purchase the finished cover here – https://www.premadepixels.com/product/bts-boutique-album-cover-art