Lost Prophets' Ian Watkins, who studied graphic design and creates the bands artwork and merch, talks to DiS about his ten favourite album cover art... Just scroll through the gallery above.

"I used to just look through records not knowing what I wanted. I just liked to peruse the album section and whatever album artwork grabbed me I used to get. If the band photos weren’t cool I wouldn’t buy it either, haha. I might love the artwork and then turn it around to check out the band and if they looked a bit shit it would put me off. It’s weird to think like that and it makes me feel shallow but it’s not, when you’re a kid you want to look up to a band.

Every Saturday I would go to Cardiff and do that. It’s a shame now that everything’s saturated and there's no mystique left to artists. These days they wanna put cameras in your bathroom and watch you take a piss, there’s no mystery left.

It's happening already that people don’t care about artwork but to me, it was just as important as the music. I remember doing the ‘Start Something’ record and compiling the inlay which is a collage of two years of our lives. It was so much fun. I’d sit there for hours looking at the booklet and all the little pictures. I did that to all the albums I bought… I’d come home with a record I’d bought, play the music and look through the booklet whilst I listened. When bands spend time on it it's such an awesome thing and I feel sad that the new generation don’t have that.

I'd like to say artwork will become precious. People who care enough will always find ways to make sure the aesthetics and music go hand in hand. For all our future releases we are going to make it so that the art is a counterpart to the music and to understand a record fully you need both parts.

You look at some album covers and they’re just so lazy… and blatant in the audience they want to target. A lot of covers try and promote a lifestyle and it feels empty.. it’s a cop-out."

Ian's also a DJ and remixer under the guise of L'amour La Morgue