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CD Cover

MertzyMertzy Registered User regular
edited May 2007 in Artist's Corner
This was a whole CD cover design I had for a friend the first one was the original RD, unfinished. The second is a revised version (poorly scanned, sorry), and the final was just a penciled in modification of the revision for fun. We ended up deciding on using the spear from the first one. He really liked it for some reason.

Original RD :
drawkf2.jpg
Revised RD :
awesome0001hm2.jpg
Penciled:
mertz12uk4.jpg
Spear:
mertz2wn4.jpg

Spear is giving me some symmetry issues. I don't really have a whole lot of art class experience, so there's not a whole lot of techniques I know, but I think I'm doing pretty decent so far. I'm working on an Illustrator trace of the Spear at the moment. Time constraints have delayed this stage very much so, unfortunately...

THE END.
Mertzy on

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    NakedZerglingNakedZergling A more apocalyptic post apocalypse Portland OregonRegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    here's one i did for my old band.
    cover1cpk4.jpg

    NakedZergling on
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    GrifterGrifter BermudaModerator mod
    edited April 2007
    I'm having terrible flashbacks from my first month of design school.

    Grifter on
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    MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Where is the title?

    MagicToaster on
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    bread of wonderbread of wonder Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    Mind explaining your design? I don't get it. Doesn't really seem to be a coherent flow or connection between anything. Spears and sailboats? Happy suns and mandolins?

    bread of wonder on
    Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?
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    MertzyMertzy Registered User regular
    edited April 2007
    90% of my art is on worksheets and note paper. My friend had always enoyed the doodles, so he told me he simply wanted a collage of random images. I never worked in a title, as they were rough drafts. "Fidge" is the nickname he goes by, so we're working on a font to set behind the spear once I have it assembled and illustrated.

    Mertzy on
    THE END.
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    MertzyMertzy Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    speariw1by3.jpg
    Updated rought draft from Illustrator.

    I'm currently searching for some interesting swatches and brushes. Can anyone point me in the direction of a nice download site? Or tutorials on painting, I'm not very affluent.

    Mertzy on
    THE END.
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    Forbe!Forbe! Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Painting isn't something that you can really just pick up quickly with an internet tutorial. :/

    Forbe! on
    bv2ylq8pac8s.png
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    MagicToasterMagicToaster JapanRegistered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Thats a really bland, flimsy looking spear. Throwing those gradients there isnt really helping it look like metal (or sturdy for that matter). Look up some blades on the net and see what they're supposed to look like.

    MagicToaster on
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    JohannenJohannen Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Horrible colours have been used for that spear.

    Johannen on
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    Aaron LeeAaron Lee Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    I understand the need to be "artistic" and express creative freedom, but you're forgetting one important detail when it comes to album art, and that's marketability. You're ideas are a non-coherent mess, and I would not be interested in the album your art represents. In fact, it would deter me a great deal. Of course, if your friend has no interest in aesthetic values and positively promoting his music, then there's nothing wrong with what you're doing.

    Basically, the first image gives no understanding whatsoever to anything it might be related to. The spear is bland and the vector gradients are awful and amateurish. The finished album piece you posted actually isn't that bad, except for the novice use of bevel for the text (computerized bevel is generally too bad to take serious).

    With some work, your ideas could work, but as they are there is just nothing to entice someone to believe that the music it's associated with is any better than the artwork.

    Aaron Lee on
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    MertzyMertzy Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    The updated spear is not, by any means, a final copy. I had just penned over it on Illustrator and put a few primitive gradients and colors to see how it would look, not as a final product. The idea was never really meant to appeal to an audience, it was more of the fact that my friend told me he wanted only the spear after showing him a few ideas.

    If anyone has any suggestions on improving the appearance of the spear, that would be great. I'm not a pro at Illustrator, so I'm going to be experiementing when I have the time.

    Mertzy on
    THE END.
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    MertzyMertzy Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Aaron Lee wrote: »
    The finished album piece you posted actually isn't that bad, except for the novice use of bevel for the text (computerized bevel is generally too bad to take serious). .

    That wasn't my post, by the way.

    Mertzy on
    THE END.
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    Aaron LeeAaron Lee Registered User regular
    edited May 2007
    Mertzy wrote: »
    Aaron Lee wrote: »
    The finished album piece you posted actually isn't that bad, except for the novice use of bevel for the text (computerized bevel is generally too bad to take serious). .

    That wasn't my post, by the way.

    You're right, my bad.

    As for just going with the spear, I understand it's just an early step now. I wasn't trying to deride your work, just that aesthetically as album art it wasn't working for me in the states you provided. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of experience in illustrator, so I can't help much there. My advice though, would be to get a nice solid outline for the spear, then do the coloring and such in Photoshop (or equivalent). To get really interesting colors and effects purely in illustrator takes a good deal of expertise. Photoshop just might be a simpler alternative for the final effects.

    Aaron Lee on
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