How I Made My Album Backing

It started with just this image:
I thought this would be a suitable back as it is full on glitter so it's fun and girly because the front is more serious and based on this music. This is bright and reminds the audience that this artist is the best of both worlds: a serious artist (the front) but also a fun person in general.
I then cropped this image into a square and used the purple-ish side for the main image because her name is 'Violet' so it is more personal and post modern.

 I then put bright pink stripes up to make the image look more abstract, also pink clashes with purple so creates an 'i don't care' attitude, like rebellious from social norms as these colours wouldn't usually be put together. I put a box on the side so I had a layout of space where I could put the track names, I did it slanted so nothing on the album is 'straight'. It has also been made half transparent so it doesn't block off the glitter completely.

At this point, I put the track names in. I put them with different colours so that it wasn't boring however, they're still easy to see and do not clash too much with the background due to the box around it. I used neon green and neon pink because they clash with each other which fits the theme of the backing.

I realised that on other album cover backings, they have their production company and a logo for it, so I quickly made a rough logo on Photoshop: 

And I downloaded a barcode and also a few music notes to remind the audience that although the artist is fun, she find her music very important and not just in it for the fame. This was the finished result:

How I Made My Album Cover

  This was the initial image. I then cropped it so that it was a square shape and took some of the colour out using the software: iPhoto.

This was the outcome. I then imported it to Photoshop to edit out the cupboard. I used the stamp tool to copy the wallpaper where the cupboard was. This was a very conventional pop album cover as it is just a close up image of the artists face.

I then did the album name and artist name using fonts from Dafont.com. I edited the colour of these by putting patterns in the artist name and embossing the album name.

To make the album more personal instead of too conventional, I searched online for an image of lips to resemble a kiss. I found this image to do the job: 

I then edited out the white bits to make it transparent so it looked like the kisses were from the artist straight on to the album cover and put the kisses on each side of the album name, I mirrored the image on one side to make it even, which I think is important in a successful album cover.

This was the final result after my editing: 

Album Artwork

My cover and back artwork.

Response To Album Covers

I printed a copy of each of the album covers and showed them to 30 pupils aged between 14-19 years old. I did a tally chart on the back as I asked each pupil which album cover they would be most attracted to buy if in a music shop such as HMV. 

This image got 16 votes. I also got feedback such as:
- 'I love the font'.
- 'The hair is cute and the bold colours really contrast well with the faded picture of the face'.
- 'The off-the-shoulder top really goes with the theme, as the other outfits on the other covers don't really'.

This image got 4 votes. I also got feedback such as:
- 'The glitter makes it really girly and Kesha-like' (The artist we are compared to)
- 'I don't think the hair has enough character to it to be honest'
- 'The title looks quite messy to me'.

This image got 6 votes with feedback such as:
- 'I like how this is different as it's self titled'.
- 'The 'V' is a good idea but it needs to be tidied up a bit to make it look more professional'.
- 'The colour is really good here, and the eyes look sharp'.











This image got 4 votes with feedback such as:
- 'The font is so cool here!'
- 'I like how she looks like a cartoon here'
- 'She does look like an out of control artist here'






From this, I concluded that I would use the first album cover. This won't be hard to edit the MySpace page as I have the template ready to easily change.

Images

Today, we wanted to film the beginning part of the video on the stairs, so we did this. Afterwards, I thought it would be a good idea to take some more images, which we could use for the album cover. Also, I was in different hair, clothes and make up than before so this would be suitable.


The images are on the group blog. 


We should be filming the next bit soon as we couldn't film the first scene as the boy we need was in an exam. Also, we need to film the rest in the drama rooms which are busy right now.

Album Cover Art Designs

I've made 4 different album covers so I can chose which one is most effective. I will give out a questionnaire asking students in my year group which album cover they would chose to pick up.

Website Update

The banner I created was a few pixels smaller than I needed for the banner of my MySpace page so I made it larger whilst changing the font and adding some leopard print. I added these because I decided that Violet Rowe's image needed to be more edgier. As I know consistency is vital in trying to establish an artist, I then had to edit the font of the album cover, this was fine because me and Natasha D had discussed that we thought a different font would be more appropriate for our target audience.

This is the new banner I designed:

So the new album cover looks like this:

The MySpace page now looks like this: 

Album Artwork

Today, me and Natasha went to the drama studios to take some images for our album cover. The typical conventions of an album cover for a pop artist is normally a close of the artists face, to show their importance without the need for props. We took a few images with props so that we had a selection (these will be on our main blog)
However, at home I uploaded the images and edited one to get a basic idea of how we wanted it to look. Below is the image I practised with which I will show Natasha D tomorrow and hopefully we will use it as inspiration for our final album artwork. 

Pop Album Covers

Because our artist is from the pop genre, I decided to look at album covers that were specifically from the pop genre. Here are a few of my favourites:

These album covers range from 1999 till present so it shows that most pop album covers use just their face at the front to establish themselves as artists. Instead of breaking this convention, I have decided I want to follow it as it is a debut album so it will be more likely to succeed.

Steps To Designing A Cover

The Commission 
You give the job to the artist and give details about it. 


The Brief 
- Collaboration between the album artist 
- Talks with the music artist/band 
- Name of the album
- Lyrics/Song names
- Concept album
- Manager
- How best to promote the album/band


The Roughs 
Initial ideas based on the brief and the artists reaction to the music itself. There will usually be several 'roughs' to show the artist/manager who will often make the decision.


The Presentation
Where the artist presents the ideas either on large viewing boards or an actual CD case.


The Shoot
- Takes images for album artwork
- Make two different ideas
- Creating the concept


The Artwork
- Editing
- Cropping
- Create cover from this concept
- Combining everything to make finished article


The Printing 
- Separation
- Printing
- Production
- Distribution
- Images work as proofs


The Aftermath
Finished printed copy

Good Charlotte; The Young And The Hopeless

- This album cover shows the conventional album name and artist name.
- The artist name is the same colour as the album name which is a dark green 'grungy' colour to go with the genre of the music.
- The font of the artist name is medieval like however, the album name's font is more neat, showing a juxtaposition within the fonts.
- However, the album is unconventional as it doesn't have an image of the artist, it is purely showing a message that they want to portray to their audience.
- The album has a black circle around it, as if it is from a persons point of view, like someone is spying on the family. Good Charlotte show here that they feel that someone is always watching.
- The colours used are dark, as if to push the 'Hopelessness'.
- Shows children looking at the screen, to prove that they are young, and showing what our world is becoming on the screen.
- The cartoon like image shows the average family.

Mika; Life In Cartoon Motion

- This is Mika's debut album so it's used to establish his style
- Colorful cover is code for vibrant, bright personality
- The hand drawn images are code for a laid back life, not serious
- Although everything is in cartoon, there is a real image of Mika so that he is publicizing himself as a person
- The cover is in cartoons because of the album name 'Life in Cartoon Motion'
- The images are referring to the separate songs in the album such as a woman in the corner which is with the 'Big Girls You Are Beautiful' song.
- The piano in the corner shows that the artist is musically talented as he can play piano and not just sing
- Flowers are code for peace and love, hippy
- The mechanic's show all the hard work that has gone into making this album
- The sofas on the corner are referring to the single 'Relax, Take It Easy', this means it is a relaxing album.
- The clouds and blue sky are code for heavenly, dreamy
- It has the conventional artist name. It is 3D, bold and all in capital letters. Capital letters are code for 'the next big thing', not a quiet or shy man. It looks like it has been stenciled in which fits in with the hand drawn theme
- It has a conventional album name. It looks hand written which is code for down to earth and shows that he does everything himself; all the music. It is blue to be colorful and lively
- There is also an image of the artist himself which is a typical convention of an album cover, however, the images have more priority over the artwork suggesting that the music means more to him than the fame.
- The girl in the pink with a lollipop is a code for the song 'Lollipop'
- There are mini arrows everywhere showing that there are different directions to his music, not just one style. He as an artist wants to move in different directions to get newer audiences and make a revolution.

Kesha; Animal

- This was Kesha's first album so it was used to establish her style
- The album cover has the conventional album name and artist name
- The photo is black and white and looks like a vintage photo copy
- Her eyes and lips are defined as they are compared to her black and white face, hair and background
- The glittery font is a juxtaposition to the dark image
- The font for her name is in capital letters to emphasise her importance and show she isn't a quiet person
- The S in her name is a dollar sign, which is code for money to show she is rich and successful, this will hopefully become iconic for her
- The font is gold which is code for rich. Glitter is code for glamorous, young, careless
- The font for the album name is a purple/blue colour which is more of an 'animal' colour as it is dark
- The facial expression shows her confidence and squinting eyes make the audience not able to look into her eyes well. Keeping herself private

Nirvana; Nevermind

- The importance of money
- Baby is code for purity and innocence
- Society is corrupt by money
- Juxtaposition of money and innocence
- The fact that the note is on a fishing rod shows that it is bait for humans, this is what they're driven by
- There is nothing else in the water apart from the money, which is code for this is the only thing the world has to offer to a new life
- Restricted in water
- Dollar bill; American code
- Ideological album cover - American society is corrupt; money driven
- Seriousness of band is highlighted by showing a political issue
- External blue colour is code for freedom and heavenly
- Bold and serious font; simple and pure
- A lot more to it than just an image, showing sophistication.
- Tall and thin font, code for proud

The Beatles; ST Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band

- Peter Blake is an established pop artist
- This album cover was revolutionary, it wanted to be more than just an album cover, it is a piece of art
- Flowers are code for hippy, flower power, beauty, nature and peace and love
- Drum is a code for music; performance; entertainment; fun
- Font is circus like
- Artist costume is circus like and vibrant military colours
- Juxtaposition of the colours within costumes of artist and other iconic people
- Establishing their fame by positioning themselves in front of all the other famous, iconic people.
- Claiming they're the most legendary out of the crowd
- Most important
- Blue sky is code for happiness, 'summer of love' and heavenly.

Album Cover Art

- The album cover design establishes the genre of the music

- It establishes the identity of the artist

- It establishes the credibility of the artist and the album itself

- It seeks to attract audience attention through striking imagery

- It acts as a persuasive device drawing audience in

- The cover can be original/inventive/innovative/unique or conventional depending on what is sought

- Album covers use codes and conventions to communicate with the audience

A conventional album cover usually consists of:

- Artist name

- Album name

- Striking image

- Image of artist