Upcoming CD cover photo

[deeaa*]

Here



Any comments welcome...not sure if it fits the music style, but I guess I like to mess things up that way.

[Photomike666]

I like the design, but I find the orange guy is slightly out of focus & distracting. I'd also want to lose a bit of the shadow too.

[R_of_G]

I like the concept.

One design note, the font for the band name is very difficult to read. I know the name of your band from previous posts so that helped.

[deeaa*]

Thanks! I hate the camera I have to use. I took something like a hundred shots, stopping for a while in between and checking it out on the computer, and then picked the one I liked best for this...I hear you on the shadow, but you know, at first I didn\t have any there, and it looked all too flat and lifeless...so I created the shadow with an extra light set on the side.

I suppose it\s because the camera is just a crappy old pocket digicam that it\s very hard to get any 3D feel to it. Without the shadow it looks downright weird. One option I still have though is to leave the shadow and then over/expose and saturate the hell out of it, making it look much like a cartoon, that also works pretty well.

BTW sorry seems I\m stuck in US keyboard mode for some reason, all wrong keys...

Same reason for the focusing...I\ve found that with this camera you get a little sense of depth if you first focus it, there is only auto focus no manual, and then hold it, and then move the camera closer or farther depending what kind of image you want. The picture becomes much more lively, but the focus may suffer some of course.

I used to have an old 2 megapix Canon PowerShot, which was actually wayyyy better for getting proper pictures, it at least had some aperture and focus adjustments...this Ixus cam is total crap for getting anything but really flat pics...good for scenery pics etc. but useless for taking good photos, really. The next time I will want to buy a good camera again.

Yep the font is hard to read...I just drew it with free hand a few years back...it\s cleaner if I don\t use the white border, but then again, I like the kind of 60\s horror film blobby messy feel of it too. Maybe I should try it with narrower borders too, that should help. Also thought of just using the OO\s which form the face in the middle, that\s what we put on our T/shirt...

[deeaa*]

Another version...which do you prefer?

[guitartango]

Hi Deeaa

Take a look at this website, full of old horror movie posters...... just thinking replace the knife with your axe

http://www.hammerfilms.com/productio...id/149/fanatic

[syo***]

Another version...which do you prefer?

Version 2 is getting closer. The figure in the right foreground is rather unfortunately out of focus though and it's difficult to separate/distinguish the 2 rightmost figures from each other. But the compositon is much more direct (which is good!) rather than the top down shot.
Here's another approach:





I gave myself 25 minutes to play with what you put up. Since the images are not terribly sharp and I assume you that you will be printing CD cover (yes?) I opted for something that would more compliment the the flaws rather than pooint them out. This design was not obviously thought out. It's just to illustrate another possible approach with what you've got. I used to be an Art Director in the recording industry and in my time designed quite a few packages. If you'd like, send me some original files and I'll play around a little more.
Umm...after the Hell Guitars store is launched...!

[deeaa*]

Version 2 is getting closer. The figure in the right foreground is rather unfortunately out of focus though and it's difficult to separate/distinguish the 2 rightmost figures from each other. But the compositon is much more direct (which is good!) rather than the top down shot.
Here's another approach:

I LOVE this one. Maybe the crease in the middle is a touch strong, but it's an AWESOME cover like that! Can we use it??? I'll credit you of course and be eternally grateful :-)'

Yep the photo leaves something to be desired...the crappy pocket cam is mostly to blame here, albeit I admit I'm no photographer either :-)

The covers we're printing are done in a small press, and while it's OK quality, it's not quite big corporation cover print quality, you know, we'll just do a few hundred copies with silkscreened CD-R discs used. A small press that does all that and it comes much cheaper than pressing a full real CD with glass masters and all, and the quality is quite comparable, but you do notice some graininess if you really look at the covers etc. so it's best not to have too small details which may just become too clear when the lines aren't as delicate as they are on screen possibly.

But it doesn't have to be ultimate quality for originals either; 300dpi is way overkill for it. HI think I could likely just use that screen res one, scale it in PS and it'd work at least rather Ok too.

The original in .psd and layers intact is here; I assume you can open Photoshop and RAR packed files?

http://deeaa.pp.fi/images/ETUKUVA2.rar

[syo***]

I think I could likely just use that screen res one, scale it in PS and it'd work at least rather Ok too.

Yoiks!! No please don't do that! Let's start out as sharp as we can as it only gets worse from there.

Alright Dee, it's yours! I wish all my clients were this easy...
Actually I'm sorry I don't have more time right now. It would be fun to play around a bit more with it.

I've opened the .rar and all is fine. Unfortunately the paths I cut for the original disappeared when my Photoshop session crashed. But I can throw it all together for you tonight easily enough. If you PM me your email I'll send you a link to download the final off of my server.

[syo***]

By the way, could you use a vector version of your logotype? If so, I'll send you that too.

[deeaa*]

Sure, won't hurt to have that I'm sure! Thanks a million! My email is aepheikki (at) gmail.com...excellent!

[Eric***]

I like all of them. I guess I'm not very discriminating when it comes to photos.

[syo***]

Here's a little variation Dee. I'll put it in a layered .psd so you can keep it or no. You do have Photoshop, yes?

[R_of_G]

Nice work syo. I particularly like the final installement, with the plain text at the bottom as it addresses the issue I had with the typeface. I didn't know there was another graphic designer here at the Fret. Very cool.

[syo***]

Nice work syo. I particularly like the final installement, with the plain text at the bottom as it addresses the issue I had with the typeface. I didn't know there was another graphic designer here at the Fret. Very cool.

Thanks.
After many years designing/directing, I must say that I'm most happy doing it for my own projects or for free for others. I really don't miss having to please clients and producers for a living. Rather glad to have that behind me. As a fellow designer, I imagine you understand.

[R_of_G]

Thanks.
After many years designing/directing, I must say that I'm most happy doing it for my own projects or for free for others. I really don't miss having to please clients and producers for a living. Rather glad to have that behind me. As a fellow designer, I imagine you understand.

Oh I definitely understand. If one more person told me they didn't know what they wanted but they wanted it to "pop," I was in danger of popping one of them in the face. The most joy I get from using my design skills is always for my own stuff or things for friends. The rest is just work; I'll do it, and I'll do it well, I just won't enjoy the process nearly as much.

[deeaa*]

Yep just emailed; got it fine, and yeah, I have Photoshop. It's gonna look SO good in the jewel box, the guys in the band will definitely have a whoa moment once they see it :-)

[sunvalleylaw]

Late to the party, but I like either the last one Syo did, or the second on that is maybe more "distressed" but add the spook box on the bottom as in the last one.

Your (Deaa) first ones reminded me of Huey Lewis and News debut album cover, but mutated!