p7

1. Experiments
Chris Law

2. The first thing I did for the
experiment was search on Google
for a detailed background and found
this chalked and scratched surface
image, I used this because it
reminded me of the divided album
used by Ed Sheeran. I looked on
multiple websites for the perfect
image. I found this one on this
website full of other creative art and
design works, along with a few
others. I decided on this because it
looked the best in Photoshop
compared to the others. I think this
was a good decision because it looks
really good and I have had good
feedback. This section of the project
didn’t take any time really, just
about 5 minutes to find it and input
into Photoshop. I also changed the
filter on the image to make it
brighter and stand out more.

3. The second stage in the
experiment was to create a
mannequin with a cut out of a
person.
This cutout was very interesting
to make, I watched a tutorial
giving the basics to making an
album cover and I used his
lesson and implemented it into
my experiment.
With the different tools of
blending and filtering I could
create this cutout I also used the
color ration tool to go through
the different filters and effects
like blending and masking.
I had to make two layers of the
mannequin in order for it to
have a strong enough opacity
and fill. I was able to make the
cut out by using the cutting and
blending tool.

4. After I did some adjustments to
the almost complete product I
added the name of the album and
the name of the artist. I would of
added the price and barcode and
some record company but I didn’t
want to spend any more time on
this section of the project.
I used a different font for the title
and artist name I used it to give
an engraved look, like someone
had a pin and and wrote on a
chalk board.
I used the color of the mannequin
in order to make it standout as
much as the mannequin
counterpart. I made up the
names for the album and artist
name just random. The album
name is meant to signify the
cover with a man looking out into
his own life.

5. Second experiment
For my second experiment I have created a T-
shirt design to help with my later
productions. This should help me understand
the method and way to create a mask on a
layer in Photoshop but also to learn better
about the tool. I have familiarized myself with
how to use this tool and how it can improve
my work in the future. The multiple features
makes this tool really handy but at first it is
slightly complicated to understand.
The design was just completely random so I
went with Pompeii because I saw the texture
layer and thought it looked like lava and it
went from their. I am impressed with how
long it took me tot create this. The steps are
basically the same as the first experiment but
I added extra detail of the sleeves being
folded at the ends. And the volcano itself at
the bottomed of the T-shirt representing
where the lava on the rest of the shirt has
come from. I was going to use the
authoritarian font used ironically for the
romans but I couldn’t find it.

6. Process
I loved creating this album for my experiment, the first thing I
did was create the background in centimetres this enabled a
lot of detail to be used. I started looking on search engines for
textured blue backgrounds, and I found the bright and
textured background on Bing search. I decided to use this
because it looks perfect and really cool. I then went on to find
a side profile of a mannequin, this was is the shape of a guy. I
took inspiration from the Sam smith album “stay with me” this
album uses the same method in Photoshop. I masked my
mannequin and made the background invisible so the
mannequin was left with the backgrounds colours filled in it.
Then I experimented with the different blending modes, I
could of turned the figure into a Mars like orange. Which
would of made it stand out more, but I think the faded black
with parts of blue in it. I chose to go with an engraved font as
it looked more suitable and compatible with the background. I
also included a fake name of the artist just for the sake of the
experiment. I wanted to include a barcode but it didn’t look
better it just looked tacky. I also tried to include a parental
advisory explicit content logo, but it didn’t look right.

7. Reflection
• What elements of your experiments will you include in your final product?
I will definitely be using the blending and masking tools again they are really useful and
helped me a lot and will help me in future projects. I will also be using blending modes
because they are amazing and really helpful when I was picking what looked good with the
background. These editing tool I will somehow reuse in my real projects. I will not include
these 2010s themes in my projects as I want to keep it related to the retro 80s. I might use the
idea of using two layers for a deeper visual effect maybe for the font or something in the
background. I really do like the previous album covers mine and the Sam smith’s they both
convey a unique design and an entirely creative method towards creating imagery. I should of
taken the image of a silhouette I will try to keep that in mind if I ever need to use this method
again. It wouldn’t take long either just 10 minutes max, this would include the editing and
smoothing to make it look as singular without anything in the background this would be easy
by using Photoshop and making the image black and white so I can manage it better. I love
the colours I was able to use, since my favourite colour is blue and it goes really well with the
darker silhouette, it just makes it vibrant and stand out to all the others. This eye catching
experiment has certainly helped me prepare for the future in creative media and has helped
my confidence in my abilities on Photoshop.
For my second product I think I did really well considering I spent about 10 mins on it, the
only problem was that I needed to be reminded how to mask on Photoshop. But once I did it
again I remembered and hopefully I will remember for any other time that I am required to
use that tool on Photoshop. But I really do like implementing real life things like volcanos into
my albums and T-shirt designs, I had to fiddle around with the hue saturation levels and I had
to cut out the rest of the image to leave me with just the volcano. I also inverted the colours
into black and white so it was easier to cut out the clouds and sky in the original image. By
using the key controls command + I, it will invert to black and white by doing this it is easier to
use the magic select tool to erase sections of an image I do not want.