Topic: My Album Artwork (Read 7805 times)

Zingoleb · « **on:** 24 Jun 2009, 03:39 »

Disregard the other thread, if you would - I think I got my problem sorted out (and thank you to those who offered help).

I would like to ask people's thoughts and evaluations on this album cover that I have been working on all night:

The album itself is still in the works...that is, most of the songs are written but have yet to have been recorded.

Edit: I just noticed something wrong with the art so I'm going to go work on this now, damn.

Edit2: Fixed.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #1 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 05:59 »

There was something wrong with the original file itself, not just the image itself, so I had to go through and remake it instead of just edit it out. Oh, well. Judge away.

De_El · « **Reply #2 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 10:46 »

The image is pretty cool, I guess. It pegs your album as a very specific sort of thing, but if it's accurately descriptive that can work. The title is pretty cheesy, but that's not what you asked about so whatever. It looks pretty solid, actually. If I just sort of saw this cover among many it wouldn't really make me want to buy it, but I don't know that I'd like your music either. However, I am pretty sure that there is a certain sort of person to whom this would look like an awesome album cover, and who would probably love to bits music that is accurately described by this image.

pat101 · « **Reply #3 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 11:13 »

never

Melodic · « **Reply #4 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 11:44 »

That font is really not the font you want to use. Perhaps it is too big! I think I'd rather you have all of the text, and the block, on one side: this would allow you to shrink the font and keep a minimalistic approach without sacrificing the dimensions of the image. And the drop-shadow/fuzzy fade between the black and the photo shouldn't exist. Make it solid, purposefully contrasting.

Jimor · « **Reply #5 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 11:51 »

The font works ok for me, but the sidebars just seem too "clean" for the overall look. Perhaps textured like that black and red album cover from the other thread? Is there a way to add "noise" to that area (background and text) with your software? Just a small touch might do it.

scarred · « **Reply #6 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 12:53 »

Quote from: Jimor on 24 Jun 2009, 11:51

The font works ok for me, but the sidebars just seem too "clean" for the overall look. Perhaps textured like that black and red album cover from the other thread? Is there a way to add "noise" to that area (background and text) with your software? Just a small touch might do it.

I support this.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #7 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 13:35 »

Quote from: De_El on 24 Jun 2009, 10:46

The image is pretty cool, I guess. It pegs your album as a very specific sort of thing, but if it's accurately descriptive that can work. The title is pretty cheesy, but that's not what you asked about so whatever. It looks pretty solid, actually. If I just sort of saw this cover among many it wouldn't really make me want to buy it, but I don't know that I'd like your music either. However, I am pretty sure that there is a certain sort of person to whom this would look like an awesome album cover, and who would probably love to bits music that is accurately described by this image.

Most of the music written for it has been slower, more downbeat acoustic work. The title...yeah, I probably should change it - it just worked for the moment as that is what the actual photograph is called. I'll probably change it later on.

Quote from: Jimor on 24 Jun 2009, 11:51

The font works ok for me, but the sidebars just seem too "clean" for the overall look. Perhaps textured like that black and red album cover from the other thread? Is there a way to add "noise" to that area (background and text) with your software? Just a small touch might do it.

Yeah, I'll consider that.

Quote from: Melodic on 24 Jun 2009, 11:44

That font is really not the font you want to use. Perhaps it is too big! I think I'd rather you have all of the text, and the block, on one side: this would allow you to shrink the font and keep a minimalistic approach without sacrificing the dimensions of the image. And the drop-shadow/fuzzy fade between the black and the photo shouldn't exist. Make it solid, purposefully contrasting.

No it is not the font I want and I am having troubles finding one to sate my desires. And I'll keep your suggestion in mind.

Bloody hell, back to the drawing board.

Jimor · « **Reply #8 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 13:48 »

Quote from: Zingoleb on 24 Jun 2009, 13:35

Bloody hell, back to the drawing board.

I have a couple of friends who are graphic designers, and I've done enough of it for some of my own projects to appreciate that even a "simple" job is a lot more work than most people realize. You're definitely on the right track, and when you find the combo that works for you, I think you'll feel very satisfied with the result.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #9 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 14:05 »

Well, I've nixed on cropping the image, have put the black text to one side, added a small bit of noise to the background...right now it's mostly trying to find a font and text arrangement that is suitable.

A Shoggoth on the Roof · « **Reply #10 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 15:03 »

maybe try overlaying some of the colors and values from the picture onto the text? I mean, I don't know what your revisions looks like, but it might work? I dunno, experiment.

Also I would be careful adding noise to the background, the picture already looks pretty grainy, and adding noise on pure black has a high probability of looking bad, or like a cheap photoshop edit. But you seem to be obsessing over details (or at least being picky with the font), so you've probably got it under control.

fish across face · « **Reply #11 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 17:00 »

Yeah, assuming you're using Photoshop or GIMP, maybe clone bits of the picture, overlay that on top of the black bits, drop the opacity and/or mess with the brightness / contrast to see if you can get some graininess that's consistent with the grain of the picture itself.

A Shoggoth on the Roof · « **Reply #12 on:** 24 Jun 2009, 18:47 »

I dunno about photoshop but I know GIMP has some really useful options in the layers menu, you can change what the layer does- like make it so it just affects the color of the image or something like that.

Phaedra · « **Reply #13 on:** 25 Jun 2009, 17:25 »

Man, noise is so 1999.
Go here: http://mayang.com/textures/
Download some nice old papery textures. Use those, setting the layer they're on to multiply or dodge or whatever looks good, adjust the opacity and you're done.

Jimor · « **Reply #14 on:** 25 Jun 2009, 20:19 »

Yes, something like that is more what I meant. If it was actually printed on paper, that would have been enough right there, but on a computer screen, the completely clean background and font is just too much of a jarring contrast to the wonderfully textured photo.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #15 on:** 25 Jun 2009, 20:52 »

Quote from: Phaedra on 25 Jun 2009, 17:25

Man, noise is so 1999.
Go here: http://mayang.com/textures/
Download some nice old papery textures. Use those, setting the layer they're on to multiply or dodge or whatever looks good, adjust the opacity and you're done.

!!!!

<3

Zingoleb · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 16:09 »

Tried something new. Go ahead, bash it, tear it to pieces, tell me how terrible it is, just let me know what I did wrong.

theoryC · « **Reply #17 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 17:10 »

The image is fine, but man, that font has got to go.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 17:16 »

This seems to be the overwhelming opinion of pretty much everyone. I haven't found a single damn font that I'm satisfied with. I

theoryC · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 17:31 »

Write your own font, homie

Zingoleb · « **Reply #20 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 17:33 »

I have tried this and it looked terrible. Like, Comic Sans terrible.

Harun · « **Reply #21 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 18:06 »

open that font in illustrator and mess with it, make it more script-y or something

Melodic · « **Reply #22 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 18:54 »

There is no place for serif fonts on any album cover. I'd go with something clean and maybe slightly retro, like Another Typewriter or Contemporary, or even Jellyka - Estrya's Handwriting. If you wanted something plain, without being MS Paint-worthy, try Orator Std (comes with Photoshop CS4).

Zingoleb · « **Reply #23 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 19:08 »

Quote from: Melodic on 30 Jun 2009, 18:54

There is no place for serif fonts on any album cover.

I do agree. Thanks for the suggestions, I'll try them.

Sadly, I don't have Orator Std.

I don't know about the handwriting one because I am looking for something that is very, very simple and that is not what I want.

Yayniall · « **Reply #24 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 20:19 »

With an image like that I'm not sure having your name and album title on the cover is really the right way to go.

celticgeek · « **Reply #25 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 20:52 »

I'm with Yayniall on this.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #26 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 22:28 »

Quote from: Yayniall on 30 Jun 2009, 20:19

With an image like that I'm not sure having your name and album title on the cover is really the right way to go.

Not a bad idea, but what would you recommend, since the image doesn't fit the generic album cover size? I'm willing to crop the top but there's so many thing in the image (the window, her dress, the rubble, the wall) that I want to include that cropping it entirely is hard to do.

celticgeek · « **Reply #27 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 22:44 »

Just remove the lettering, all of it. Don't change the image at all, not the size or anything.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 22:52 »

See, I like the idea, but not my execution of it. It just seemed heavily off-balance now.

Hm, I'm going to tinker with this and post a different picture.

I'm really thankful for everyone's help, truly. Also: I'm glad people are being helpfully critical instead of "It sucks, go away." because I get that attitude directed at me for too much.

Edit: Does anyone know what rasterizing a layer does in Photoshop? I keep assuming it will make my project grow dreadlocks and listen to reggae.

And here we go, how is this?

A Shoggoth on the Roof · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 Jun 2009, 23:18 »

oh I just noticed the grey shadow/reflection girl thing you added has a pretty awkward transition, I can tell you just mirrored it over the y axis then cropped it. At the least make the bottom of the (shadow/reflection) dress look less opaque, to make it look like one solid image, instead of two put side by side.

theoryC · « **Reply #30 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 04:30 »

You can only rasterize a layer if it's a text or shape layer, or something like that. Basically it flattens everything on that layer into pixels, so if you have a text layer for example you won't be able to interact with the text anymore, but you can use filters or selections or whatever on it instead.

A Shoggoth on the Roof · « **Reply #31 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 13:43 »

to clarify what he said it's taking a vector image and giving it definite dimensions (a length, width). Basically it's taking a line, text, or whatever, that could be any size (right now it's just defined as a line), and turning it into a bunch of pixels that form a line.

Luke C · « **Reply #32 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 16:07 »

I really like the second version but yeah the font HAS to go.

Johnny C · « **Reply #33 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 16:28 »

dude just do the version without the font as the cover and put the font on the side, anywhere you put a font like that on the cover is gonna look like a local band. take out the second girl, put some grain over the sidebars and you're golden.

theoryC · « **Reply #34 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 16:52 »

Just do it like the Hail to the Thief cover and put a simple font behind that narrow part of the cd case.

Zingoleb · « **Reply #35 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 21:57 »

Thanks LukeC, theoryC, Johnny C. (Where's Alex C?)

It's been a steady improvement since my first weak attempts. I think I'm just going to put this on a back burner for now since I am starting to get the chance to record, for once. I'll just let this fall to the bottom fo the page and won't bring it up again without some music to back it up.

Jimor · « **Reply #36 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 22:44 »

Yeah, the raw material is there, and it looks like you've seen what the issues are surrounding making this what you want it to be. Time now to let the brain percolate on the matter while you do the music. Good luck with the recording!

Melodic · « **Reply #37 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 22:59 »

Quote from: Jeans on 30 Jun 2009, 19:04

Quote from: Melodic on 30 Jun 2009, 18:54
There is no place for serif fonts on any album cover

Quote from: Melodic on 30 Jun 2009, 18:54
Another Typewriter

How about "regular serif fonts". Serifs can be fine if they're exaggerated, off-center, or add to the style of the font. Standard, clean serif fonts almost always look tacky when used on something for design.

Johnny C · « **Reply #38 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 23:14 »

i dunno about that as a hard and fast rule but i think a serif like that one with italics applied to it like that is a recipe for getting your cd sold under the case at the guitar store and nowhere else

Zingoleb · « **Reply #39 on:** 01 Jul 2009, 23:17 »

Ow.

You're right.

(I am glad I asked for opinions, despite the lack of any purely positive ones)

Johnny C · « **Reply #40 on:** 02 Jul 2009, 01:15 »

i actually quite like the image

Patrick · « **Reply #41 on:** 03 Jul 2009, 07:21 »

I'm gonna go with the folks who suggested you just leave it without any writing on the cover. Led Zeppelin's untitled album, anybody?

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Author Topic: My Album Artwork (Read 7805 times)

Zingoleb

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