Let's say I use a public domain picture as coverart for an album. If the album makes any sales (legit), would I violate any type of copyright? I know this sounds stupid, but you can never be too sure.

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Public domain means it doesn't have a copyright. Just be sure the art is public domain.

You need to understand what "public domain" means, and clearly you don't. When something is posted on the internet, that is "public access" and not "public domain". It may be copyrighted according to the pertinent laws when and where it was published. For instance, anything created in the USA since 1989 is copyrighted for 95 years, regardless of whether copies are posted in public or otherwise given away freely (if created by an individual, not a company, it would last 70 years after the year of his or her death). So, to address your question: A "public domain" picture means that the picture was either published prior to 1923 or published between 1923 and 1989 without the necessary copyright notice or copyright renewal or registration, or was created by an employee of the US government (none of which can be copyrighted). Everything else is copyrighted under US law, meaning it is NOT public domain. If you make copies, distribute, publish (upload) copies or make a "derivative work" of the copyrighted work, without a license or statutory exemption that you can prove in federal court, you have a copyright infringement. You could be sued for all the money you ever make, or $150,000 in statutory damages, whichever is more. If you ALSO use the image for cover art on something that you sell for "commercial advantage or private financial gain", then that is ALSO a federal crime, in addition to risking being sued, as above. What you want is a "royalty-free" license from the copyright owners, that includes the right to use if for your own commercial advantage (good luck with that), or to find a truly "public domain" picture to use.