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Week1: 21/01/19 - 24/01/19
Contextual researchandproposal.Inpreparationfornextweek,Ibegantoresearchgraphicdesigners
and artiststhat relate tothe product I wantto produce.I foundseveral people whose workintrigued
me,and some whose workIhad not encounteredbefore.ByresearchingbothIbroadenedmyviewinto
the industryandwas able to achieve agreaterlevel of understandingintocreative choices.Istarted
withTappinGofton,a duoresponsible formanyof Coldplay’salbumcovers,alarge inspirationforme
startingthisproject.I soondiscoveredHipgnosiswhoworkedon TheDark Side of the Moon,analbum
witha coverregardedas one of the mostinfluential ever,asitstrayedawayfrom the genericprofileof
albumartwork.By researchinglaterallyanddiscoveringthe traitsandinspirationsof the artists
themselvesIsoonfoundthatanotherof Coldplay’sartdirectorswasinspireddirectlybyone of
Hipgnosis.
I believethatIhave lookedatenoughof a variedsetof artistsand graphicdesignerstoproceedintothe
nextstage of researchbut lookingatmore will nothurtmy production.The designersIhave researched
have givenme plentyof inspirationalreadyandsome eventhe knowledgeintothe meansof producing
worklike theirs.
Week2: 28/01/19 - 31/01/19
Research.Buildinguponthe previousweek’sworkIstartedto lookat existingproductsinordertogaina
greaterunderstandingof albumartwork:theirmeaning,theirthemesandthe productiontechniques
used.Ifirstlookedat Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto,which,beingaconceptalbum, hasa verystrong theme
and art style whichrunsthroughout.Iusedphotographsof myown copyto dissectcertaincreative
decisionsusedinthe production,suchasthe use of differentsectionsof aspray-paintedwall forthe art
and variationsinmediumandpalette tocreate contrast.Ilookedatthe art direction,the albumcovers
and itsvariants,the editionsof the albumandthe live performances.Havingpreviouslyresearchedthe
artistsbehindthisalbum,TappinGofton,I couldunderstandsome of theircreative choicesforthisart.
Coldplaystatedthattheywere adoptingthemesthatcompare tothe White Rose movement,whoused
leafletsandstreetartto defythe Nazis.Theywere alsoinspiredbyAmericangraffiti,whichis what
inspiredthe wall artwhichbecame the albumcover.
By lookingatthe cover art inthisway itis clearthat it isthoroughlythoughtout.Notjusta pretty
picture,the covercarriessymbolismof the whole album.Havinglookedatpiecessuchas Head Cape
whichwaschosenbecause of itsabstract appearance,albumcoversstruckme as beingimagesthatgave
a summaryof the work.I didnot expectadeepmeaningbehindthe workthatinterlinkedsoheavily
withthe musicand theme.Thisissomethingthat Iwill includeinmyownwork,howeverasIwill not
have any musicto base itupon,I may finditharder.I couldinsteaduse the songnames.
Week3: 04/02/19 - 07/02/19
Research.Havinglookedatmore of the productionside of researchthe previousweek Idecidedto
delve intothe audience andmarketresearch.Ibegantolookat the salesfiguresof musicregardingthe
differentformatsandfoundthatalthoughvinyl musichasbeenpopularinrecentyears,streamingis
secondto none.Maybe forthisreasonthere isa more noticeable inclineinretail of albumbox sets
whichgivesthe consumerthe feelingof ownership,whatwithatangible product.There hasbeen
somewhatof a surge to create editionsof albumswhichinclude additional itemswhichappeal to
affectionate anddedicatedfans.
I wantto be able tophotographthe set altogether,asmyexistingproductsresearchhasshownme.To
accomplishthis,Iwill needtobe able toprintthe work and assemble itsothatit can fita vinyl record.
Notonlywill Ihave to factor thisintoproduction,butI will needtoensure Ihave the meanstodo so:
printingoncard and on sizesabove A4. Thiscomesfrommy researchwhichhas revealedthatmostbox
setsare presentedinthis,astomaximise the appeal tothose lookingtocollecttangibleitems.
Week4: 11/02/19 - 14/02/19
Problemsolving.Tocreate myalbumcoversI needto use paintingtechniquesthatIdonot have access
to. By thisI meangraffiti.SpraypaintingstreetartissomethingthatI will notbe able todo physically
but issomethingthat,withsome development,Icouldpull off digitally.
I startedby lookingatthe resourcesthatI had aroundme.The biggestaidIcouldsee was Photoshop,so
I beganto recreate a small portionof the Mylo Xyloto artworkusingthe brush tools.Findingabrushthat
wouldreplicate the texture of the paintwouldbe difficultbutafterreconfiguringexistingbrushesI
adapteditto somethingsimilar.Thisdidnotworkas I had intendedatfirst,whichIexpected.
To helpme furtherI watcheda shortvideoonline.Thiswasnota tutorial as such butvideoshowing
actual streetart beingpainted.Lookingatthe movementsmade bythe artistswiththe canistersand
notinghowthe solid,brightpaintstuckto the surface gave me an ideaof how it couldbe painted
digitally.
HeadingbackintoPhotoshopIuseda verysoft brushwithhighlyfeatherededgestolaya base coat of
blackin a non-discriminatoryshape.Ithenaddedablue colourabove,roughlyfollowingthe artstill.
Selectingasimilarpink,Idottedthisaroundthe shape.AsIwas usinga graphicstablet,Icouldapply
pressure asI wouldwithanactual pen.ThismeantI couldmanuallyfeatherthe edgesslightly,asthough
the paintcanisterhad blendedthe twocolours.The effectgave ita slightlydottededge,butIenjoyed
this.I addedthe othercolours,the lighterblues,the yellowsandfinishingwithwhite.
The effectwassuccessful.Iwaslookingfora collage of bold,slightlypsychedeliccolours,whichI had
achieved.However,the overall image lookedblurry.Thiswasbecause of the featherededgeswhich
gave thisedge.
To reverse this,Ichose the ColourMixerBrush,but I chose a much harderbrushtip.I workedoverthe
edgesof the colours,bridgingbetweenthe tonessothattheyflowedmuchbetter.Thisnotonlybrought
the work intothe foregroundagain,butitalsoaddedtexture tothe painting.
I had originallytriedtoreplicate asimplergraffiti designaftershortlygivinguponthe MX artwork. I
foundan image of graffiti onlineandbroughtitintoPhotoshop.Icopiedthe roughoutline of the letters,
usingthe Pencil tool.Iwasusingthe tabletat thispoint,soI was able to gainan accurate althoughnot
perfectdefinition.Still unsure of the tool,manyof mylinesendedupsharpandjagged.Iuseda
featherededge brushtolaythe base coloursdownandI roughlymixedthe tonal differences.Thiswas
because Iwas focusingmore onthe outline duringthisexperiment.
I thenusedthe same brush to outline the textinblack.Thisworkedwell butdue tomyuncertaintywith
the graphicstabletthe lineswere shakyanduncoordinated.ThismeantIneededanew technique.
A solutionwasfoundwithAdobe Illustrator.Thishada verysimilarbrushtool howeverall linesdrawn
were corrected.Thisgave me much more scope foroutliningtextasitwas difficulttogowrong.
Illustratoralsousedadifferentmappingsystem, meaningthatinsteadof pixels,the drawingswere
storedinequationandratios;I couldeasilyresize anydrawingsinawaythat isnot possible in
Photoshop.
I beganto draw letterswiththe software.Itwasat firstrelievingtohave essentiallyanauto-correct
feature howeverthe software wasunfamiliarandto utilise itproperlyIwill needtolearnmore.Ibegan
to fill andshade myletters,butthiswasa difficulttask.Idonot thinkI usedthe correct toolsandI could
not blendthe coloursinthe same wayas I had before.
UsingIllustratorisnot outof the question.BeinganAdobe program, Ican transferfilesbetweenitself
and Photoshop,meaningthatanycalligraphycanbe done there and movedtoPS.
My creative problemsare currentlybeingsolvedsuccessfully,andmypractical problemsare being
attendedto.The mainconcern isthat of printing.Forthe bestproduct I will needtofindanexternal
source to carry outthe printingof the LP covers.
Week5: 18/02/19 - 21/02/19
Problemsolving.Followingthe previousweek’sexperiments,Idecidedtotryonce more withthe graffiti
art style.Icarried overthe patternI had createdlastweekinanattemptto rescue the design.Byusinga
photographof a concrete wall,I wasable to somewhatsimulatespraypainting,usingthe graphicstablet
to draw.AfterI had pastedthe colourful designintothe centre of the page,Ipaintedarounditin a base
orange colour.Thisbroughta brightnesstothe whole image andwasa colourthat wasnot seen
elsewhere atthe time.
I thenbeganto doodle acrossthe page whichwas the mosteffective way of creatingoriginalartwork;
withoutthinkingaboutit.UsingimagesthatsprungtomindI was able to buildupthe layers.The first
thingsI createdwere the large charactersthat spelledoutthe word‘paint.’Istartedwiththe base of
yellowinthe vague shape of the lettersbeforeIoutlinedthe wordsina thickblack.To fitthe graffiti
aesthetic,whichInoticedimplementedmanycartoonelements,Iaddedshadowsandhighlightsonto
the characters. Thoughmultiple colourswere usedItriedtokeep the variationlow andslightly
disconnectedasItriedto replicate the poorlogisticsof aspray-paintartistthatwouldneedtolug
aroundmultiple shadesforaperfectpicture.Next,Ipaintedthe greenaroundthe yellow whichthen
snakeditswaytowardsthe topof the screen.ThiswashighlightedandIbegantoencase it ina black
outline.Ilostheartduringthisparticularpartof the artwork whichiswhyit remainsseemingly
uncompleted.However,Ifoundthatdrawingovermistakesleadtoafar bettercreative processthan
usingthe eraser.Thismeantthat I coulddoodle anythingwithoutworryoveritsqualityoranything
looking‘wrong.’
To breakup the blankspace nextto thisI drew bubble-like circles,the largestof whichIoutlinedand
shaded. Owingtomyinexperiencewiththe graphicstablettheseappearjaggedandrough,butI thinka
similarresultwouldcome fromaninexperiencedsprayartist.
I movedtothe tentacle.Ipaintedthispinktomatcha cartooninterpretationof asquidoroctopusand I
chose colourswhichdidnot quite matchas the shadesor highlights.Again,thiswastogive the
impressionof alimitedpalette.Iwantedtomake the outline muchsmallerthanthe PAINTtext,more
the size of the bubbles.Thiswastogive the correctscale to the wall.
I nexttestedabubble fontwhichIdrewto spell the words‘test’and‘sample.’Aroundthe latterIadded
a pool of waterinwhichI experimentedwithripplesandsplashes.Thisagainhada cartoonelementtoit
whichisso prevalentingraffiti art.
I thenaddedstreaksof paintwhichI thendrew dripsonto.Thissimulatedabuild-upof paintthatwould
normallybe due toa liberal application.
The rest of the image consistsof doodleswhichslowlybuilduptogive the artworka collage
appearance,somethingthatIintendedtomake.Iam pleasedwiththe results;however,Iwoulddo
thingsslightlydifferently.The firstwouldbe touse multiplecoloursasa backgroundinsteadof just
orange.For thisreason,itgivesita verywarm glow to the artworkthat is nota drawbackbut doesgive
it a particulartheme.Iwouldrathera collectionof colours.
To gain a much betterunderstandingof how myalbumswouldturnoutI wentto a nearbyshopand
boughtseveral albums.One agatefoldLP,one astandard sleeve LPanda smallersinglevinyl.Ithencut
the hingesandmeasuredthe spreadoutnets.Thisgave me accurate measurementswhichIcoulduse
to visualise the printingmethods.
Week6: 04/03/19 - 07/03/19
Planning.WithproductioncommencingintwoweeksIstartedplanningmyfinal products.Ibeganby
layingoutsimple plansforthe individual productsIamgoingto produce,thiswasdone inPowerPoint.It
gave me a reference pointtofurtherplanfrom.Ithenbeganto sketchideas formyalbumartworks.
These drawingshadbegunalongwiththe project,butI chose certainimagesandrefinedthemtotwo
firmideas.
I thentookartwork frommy experimentingprocessandcreatedamock-upof one of the albumcovers,
thiswas the graffiti workwhichIusedto create artworkof an island.Byusingthe centrepiece of the
graffiti,the blendedcolours,Iwasable tocreate representationsof the skyandthe sea as theywould
appearin the final product.Ipastedthe experimentintoaPhotoshopfileandtransferredonlythe
bright,blendedcoloursontoanew,12.5-inchby12.5-inch file.Ithencopieditagainso that I had two
separate images,aseaand a sky.I thenusedmasksand the ColourBalance tool to transformthe
coloursto a scheme thatI woulduse inproduction.AlthoughIlike the multicolouredcollage Iwantthe
image to representreal life insome way,soa warm, duskyskyit wasI created.I didthisby increasing
the red anddecreasingthe blue.Irepeatedthe processforthe seabutmovingthe slidersinorderto
create a blue colour.
Next,Itooka photographof an island,the same one thatmy sketchisbasedfrom.I traced aroundthis
withthe Brush Tool whichproducedanoutlinedsilhouettedappearance.
Week7:
I was ill forthisentire week,sonoprogresswasmade.I was happywiththe workdone the previous
weekandfeltthatthe planningwassufficient.
Week8: 18/03/19 - 21/03/19
Production.Ibeganimmediatelywiththe productionof the firstalbumcover.Creatingthe artworkwas
goingto take the largestportionof time and soneededtobe tackledfirst.Idecideduponthe album
currentlynamed‘Lunar’whichappropriatelyfeaturesanastronaut.Ichose to thisas my firsttask as this
coverwouldfeature artworkmore predominantlythanthe otherandtherefore,Ineededtoperformthe
mosttime-consumingtaskfirst.The artworkisa recreationof the famousphotographof the 1969 moon
landing,the astronautstandinguponthe surface of the moon,the flagand landingcraftreflectedinhis
visor.It isa historicmoment,muchlike the contextof Delacroix’s‘LibertyLeadingthe People.’
I startedby drawingthe astronautusinga graphicstablet.AlthoughIhadnot muchexperience withthis
before Ifeltthatit wasappropriate touse itgiventhe taskat hand.Thisimmediatelyfeltuncomfortable
as I was notpractisedwithit. Thisgave me unevenlineswhichoftensplayedoutinrandomdirections.
To stop this,Ifoundthe Brush Settingsbarand adjustedthe wayinwhichthe brushrespondedtoinput
and I wasable to correlate the brushsize withpenpressure.Thisallowedme togive small sketchmarks
as I wouldwithpenandpaper.Thisgave a more natural feel tothe penand solvedthe discomfortIhad
felt.
In orderto gainaccurate proportionsof the photowithouttracingthe astronautdirectlyorbeginninga
newsketch,Idecidedtouse a drawingI had made of the photoduringmyplanning.AsIwas more
fluentwithaphysical pencil,IknewIhada betterchance of the astronautbeinginproportionthanwith
the graphicstablet.I tracedaround the sketchwhichIfoundjust,as it wasan impressionof the photo
but ina differentformat.Thisgave the basicoutline of the bodywhichthenallowedme tocreate the
restof the art unaided.
I beganthe ‘painting’process.Ihadoriginallyintendedtofollowthe photoprecisely,paintingabove it
on a separate layerasI had done inotherprojects.Thoughon the day I feltthatthiswas,like the way
the outline wouldhave been,disingenuous.Iwantedthe artto be solelymyownimpression:not
influencedbythe constructionof the image butbythe way that I saw it.
So far,I have onlyusedtwotools:the Brush Tool and the MixerBrush. The latterallowsme toblend
colourstogethersina waythat it notpossible withthe BrushTool.Itgivesasmoothtransitionbetween
shadeswhichallowsme tocreate shadowsandhighlightswithmuchgreaterease.Italsoallowedme to
create a smootheredge whichhelpedwiththe circularshape of the helmet.ThisisamethodthatI have
usedsince the fanzine projectthoughIwouldlike toexperimentfurtherwithit,orat the leasttry to
newmethod.
Upon creatingthe visor,I drewa sketchedversionof the reflection.Thiswould notnormallybe howI
woulddrawinpreparationforthe MixerBrush; however,the flowinglineswere somethingIwastrying
withthe pen.I onlysketchedthispartas I wasunsure of what wasto replace thisas one designshowsa
globe where the visorshouldbe,soatthismomentI am notcommittedtoeitherdesign.The effectof
the sketchis somethingthatIfoundveryappealingandbegunanew trainof thought:thissectioncould
be usedas artwork itself.The artstyle issimilartothe actionpainting of JacksonPollock.
Week9: 25/03/19 - 28/03/19
Production.AsIenteredthe secondweekof production,Icontinuedwiththe artworkof the astronaut.
Havingdone the upperportionof the bodythe previousweekIbeganto work onthe body.This
involveddrawingthe complicatedpartsof the suitwhichhasslowedproductiontothe pointwhere Ido
not believe Iwill finishthe entire piece bythe endof the week.
I have not differedmymethodsfromthe previousweekandIstill usedthe BrushandMixerTools.
The way that I draw the astronautisby usingthe image nexttomy drawing.The masktool enablesme
to isolate the single portionIamdrawingand to move itcloser.I will thenchoose asimilarshade or
colourand roughlysketchandfill blockareas.Iwill thenaddthe shadowsor highlightsandblendthem
so that itreproducesa realisticlookingreplicaof thatparticularsection.Althoughthisisaslow process,
I have identifieditasthe fastestwayof producingthe work.Withthe additionof the graphicstabletitis
much quickerthanitwas duringmyfanzine projectearlierinthe year.I believe thatthisdetail will pay
off inthe endandI hope that it will produce ahigh-qualityimage.
Week10: 01/04/19 - 04/04/19
Thisweekwasspentfinishingthe LunarSeaalbumwork.At the beginningof the weekIwasconfident
that thiswas goingtobe finished.The processwasthe same as I wentthroughthe remaining pieces
methodically.
The focus wasthe backgroundthat the astronaut neededtositupon.Ioriginallyneverintendedtoplace
himin a seahoweverthe ideamade muchmore sense.Istartedbycreatinga rocky landscape behind
the astronaut,but I didnot have enoughrelevantreference imagestoworkwith.Ifoundthat using
themgreatlyhelpedthe qualityof illustrationasitgave me a directimage to copyfrom.I decided
insteadtohave the waterstretch to the equator.Thisthengave me the challenge of keepingthe correct
perspective.AfterattemptswithwavesIkeptthe waterstill,thiswasmucheasiertodraw and
theoreticallyspeakingitisthe Moonwhichpullsourwaves.Iexperimentedwithwaterrippleswhich
had varyingdegreesof success,butIsettledona subtlerdesign.Icopiedthe astronaut,flippedhimand
loweredthe opacitytocreate the reflectioninthe water.
I attemptedanalbumtitle inthe style of Viva La Vida:the white,jaggedstrokesof paint.Thisdidnot
lookbad,the opposite butIdidn’tthinkitfitwiththe overall album.
I finishedthe legsandthe backpackof the astronautand movedontothe rear cover.AsI statedbefore,I
reallylike the action-paintingstyleof the visor,soIusedthis.I copiedontoa blackbackgroundso it
wouldblendinseamlessly.ItlookedveryaestheticallypleasinghoweverIhad a few reservations.Ifirst
thoughtthat the image wasa little tooon-the-nose.Manyrearcoversare relatedbutIbelieve the best
didnot have toomany connectionsto the frontcover,keepingthe artworkoverall verysparse and
diverse.Ialsothoughtthatthe printingcostswouldbe veryhighif I were to printan almostentirely
blackimage.SoI came up withthe ideato reverse the coloursof the image.The blackbecame white
and the orange became blue.Thistransformedthe artworkbytenfold.Iwasextremelypleasedwiththe
results.The artworkwasnow a related,yetnotentirelydistinguishable patternandthe lighter
backgroundliftedthe wholetone of the album. Nolongerwasita dark and seriousalbum, itwasa light
yetmore ambiguousproductwhichI believe wouldbe uptostandardwithexistingwork.
I thenaddedthe songnamesin a fitting‘Courier’fontwhichIthoughtrelatedtothe science and
professionalismof the Apollomissions.
Each of the songshas a specificmeaningorreference tosomethingelse.The songsIhave chosenare:
Air Normal– The firstand secondsongcombined:‘AirNormal Yes’isananagram of the bands’name ‘Or
AnyRealism.’
Yes – Part of the anagram,but ‘Yes’isalsoa songby Coldplayfrom Viva La Vida or Death and All His
Friends.
P.T.O - aka Please TurnOverisa reference tothe song‘Turn The Page’by The Streets.Theirdebut
albumOriginal PirateMaterial isan albumthat I researchedaspart of myalbumcover analysis.
TwentySeven – isa reference tothe date.
Apollo – referstothe Apollomissions,butmore specificallyJ.F.K’sspeechaboutthem.Inithe says,“We
chooseto go to themoon in this decadeand do the other things,notbecausethey are easy butbecause
they are hard...’
The Plan Changes – referstothe term adaptability.
Green Berries – is a reference tothe song‘GreenOnions’.
Lunacy – Lunar Sea isa playonthe word‘Lunacy’as I wantedthe albumname to have a double
meaning.
LGM1 – Little GreenMan 1 isthe name of a radiowave that wasdiscoveredfromouterspace.Itis
believedtobe anextra-terrestrial frequencyandisthe albumcoverof ‘UnknownPleasures’byJoy
Divison.
Week11: 08/04/19 - 11/04/19
Production.StartedArchipelago.AsIhadalreadybeguna piece of art at home forthe album, Istarted
an entirelynewidea.Thiswasa mapof islands.Istartedbytakinga reference imagefromthe internet.I
basedthe colourscheme fromthisand tookinspirationfromthe varied,gradient-liketransitionof
coloursacross the page.I addedtexture bycreatinga new layerandselectingRenderCloudsunderthe
Filtertab.I loweredthe opacityandblurreditslightlysothatthe texture wasdiluted.Inadditiontothis
a chose several greytonesandbrushedthemacross.I thenchose the Multiplyoptiononthe layerso
that theytranslatedontothe tan tonesof the agedmap. Thiscreateddarkerand lighterspots.
Roughly,Isketchedoutlinesof severalislandsusingthe BrushTool inconjunctionwithagraphicstablet,
whichallowedtovarythe pensize withpressure frommyhand.Thismade for muchmore accurate
lines.Ithen‘inkedin’the outline withathicker stroke.Iwaspleasedwiththe layout,soIbegantoadd
the hatchedlinesthatwere presentonthe reference image.Ididthisbyusingthe penand holdingShift
to create a perfectlystraightline.Due tothe pressure featurethiswouldcreate bulgesalongthe
strokes.Ihad to be careful forthis notto happen.Iquicklyfoundamuch more efficientwayof tackling
this.By usingthe mouse thisgave me evenlines.Ifilledthe entire screenwiththe linesandapplieda
mask,drawingaroundthe islandsto leave a border.Thisdidnotwork as well asI hadhoped:the look
was toouniformed.A more natural feel wasneededtoIresortedbackto original idea.Thisgave me
preciselythe lookIwasafteronce I had founda technique toensure evennessbetweenthe strokes.
I thenuseda thickerbrushto highlightthe leftsidesof the islands,asthoughtheywere slightlyin
shadow.Thisdidnot addrealism,butitinsteadaddeddetail whichitgreatlyneeded.The maplooked
fine howeveritlackedcertainfinishingaspects,thiswasone of them.
As a reference tothe workthatinspiredme duringmyresearch,Iincludedalittle tornedge onthe top
leftcorner.Thougha small detail thiswasinspiredbythe burntedge of the photofromHypgnosis’
designforWish You Were Here by PinkFloyd.
[Easter]
Week12: 29/04/19 - 02/05/19
Production.Experimentingwiththe BrushTool andthe Free TransformoptionsIdiscoveredasimple
methodof makingcomplex images.Muchlike paintingonone side of paperandfoldingitinhalf,Icould
draw randomlyandduplicate andreverse this.Thisgave me veryintricate designswhichIhadto use for
albumartwork.Movingthe duplicatedimage evenproduceddifferentresults.
I createdan entirelynewalbumbasedopenthese images.Theyare veryreminiscentof Rorschach
image whichare usedto identifythoughtprocessesbasedonwhatthe subjectsees.These are left
blank,butI decidedtocolourmine in,negatingthe purpose of the test.The artworkshowswhatI see
fromthe image.Ileftthe art style basicwhichIbelieve bestfitsthe style of album.Italsocontrastswith
the level of detail insome of myotherworks.
The piece istransformedbythe coloursand becomesatapestry-like surrealistworkof imagination.The
tonesof the differentsectionscomplimentthe Rorschachideawhichhasconstructeda completely
randomcollectionof images.
I leftsome errorsonthe art. Some coloursgoover the blackoutlines,butIleftthese andinone case
transformedittofit withthe art. I transformedthemintosplashesfromawave.The mainsectionof the
image appearsto be the headof a jackal-likecreature,hence the browncolouringbutthe dome of the
foreheadalsogave me inspirationtopaintitas a shark.I thinkthe choice wasright as itbringsmore
surrealismintoanotherwise normal partof the art. Italso appearsto me as war-paintsimilartothatof
Native AmericansandevenBraveheart.
Above thisstandto wingedfigureswhichtome resembledangels,thereforeIgave themhalos.This
thensparkedme to travel aroundthe image and addthese drawingstoprotrudingpieces.Furtherdown
the outline resembledadeadtree,withanoldbranch reachingoutwards.Itherefore drew atinycrow
and vulture andplacedthemoneach side.Ilove thismostoutof the whole image because atfirst
glance the birdsare seenbutthe two differentbodyshapesare notnoticed.Once itbecomesapparent
the whole image unravelsasanasymmetrical yetnotquite asymmetrical work.
I thenplaceditupona yellowbackgroundwhichmakesthe coloursstandbold.Whatwiththe orange
glowaroundthe edge of the outline the piece becomesawarmandbrightmosaic of the mind.
The font neededtomatchthe colours,soI chose inviting,roundedcharacters.The stylisticoptionto
allowthe centre of the lettersbecome transparentalsohelpedtokeepthe image flowingthroughthe
text.Itdid notbreakit up as much.I verymuch like the waythe textfadesinandout of the image.As
thoughonlyvisible inthatreality,whichfitsnicelywiththe titleof the album.
Takinginspirationfrombandssuchas the Stone Roses,the debutalbumof myownband wasnamed
afterthemselves.
The Rorschach usedon the frontcover wasone of manyas the imagesthemselvesweresimple tomake
and the designswere sofruitful.Therefore,Ihadmany spare imagesleftover.Ihadchosenthe bestfor
the front cover,butI had several leftwithoutuse.Ithereforecompiledthemintoone collage forthe
reverse cover.Iwasworriedthatthis wouldbe asintense andtherefore detractfromthe front.Icame
to the decisiontoleave itblackandwhite,asa Rorschach image wouldnormallybe.Thisgave it
individualityaswell asleavingthe frontcoverthe limelight.Iaddedtemporarysongsnamesinthe same
font(thoughthistime withoutthe gapinthe centre of the characters) and gave thema matchingblack
and white theme.Usingablackstroke aroundthe lettersseparatedthemfromthe backgroundand
lookedfitting.Ileftthiswhile Ipondereduponthe restof the images.
As an additional piece of artwork,I chose one of the bestresultsandcolouredthis.Ichose a darker
theme,adeepred.Inthe centre featuredademonicfigure.Iaddedablendof orange,yellow andwhite
to create a fieryglowtothe centre of the body.Aroundthe edgesof the outline and of the page I added
a darker red.The image wascomplete.The workwassimplistic,muchlike the designtechnique however
the resultswere perfect.The artworkbecame aposterthat wouldaccompanythe albuminthe box set.
Duringthe weekIalso revisited apiece of albumart I startedmanyweeksago.Thiswas createdoutside
of lessontime andwasa veryon-the-side project.Icreatedacircular patternthat resembledaclassic
jukebox fromacertainangle.However,Ididnothave faithinthe work soleftit.I broughtit back this
weektocorrect the designflawsandpotentiallymake itintoanotheralbum.
Originallybeingwhitewithorange highlightsthe albumlookedsleekbutitdidnotseemappropriate for
the indie rockgenre,more technomusicor hiphop.I startedby messingwiththe coloursandbecame
attractedto a colourspectruminsteadof the basicorange.One of the poorestdesignswasthe border
aroundthe albumsothiswas removed.Ithenusedthe Free Transformtool torotate it,by holding shift
I was able todo thisin90-degree sections.Insteadof the patternprotrudingfromthe side itnow came
fromthe topwhichlookedmore traditionallybutultimatelybetterasitmade more sense.
An effectIhadusedinthe pastwas the blurtool,specificallythe motionblur.Thiscouldbe usedto
create a radial blurto give the illusionof aspinningobject.Aspartof the designwascircularthiswould
give the coveran interestingfeature.The roundel wouldstay‘stationary’whereasthe restwouldspin
givinga mixedeffectof motion.Iadjustedthe level of the blursothatthe image couldstill be
discernibleandaddedthe text.Ichose the word‘Coincidence’fromarandomword generatorbutthe
worddoeshave meaningtomyself.
The characters lookedoddnotblurredalongwiththe restof the image butadjustingthe level of blurto
the textso that itwas still legible wasanissue.The firstfew attemptsmade the textablurredmassand
as I reducedthe levelsIrealisedthatitwasstill too high.The textalsogave me a sense of motion
sickness.Ithenreducedthe blurdrasticallysothatitcounteredbothof these issues.Ibelieve thatmy
currentoptionwasthe bestas itnow showsthe textslightlyblurredbythe spinningof the objectas well
still beingeasilyreadable.The combinationof the coloursandthe latestadditionof the light-gradient
backgroundgivesalikenesstoMyloXyloto.If acloserinspectionistakenthe spectrumstretchingacross
the image transitionstoblack.Thisisa subtle reference tothe albumartworkof CoexistbyThe xx which
has a similarfeature.
At home I beganworkon a newpiece of art for the nextalbum.Usinga 24x24 inchcanvas I began
paintingwithacrylicpaints.Thiswastwice the size of a 12inch vinyl sowouldgive me give me ahigh
level of resolutiononce Icanto photographingit.Iuseda large brush to layon thicklayersof green
paint.The resultswere good,some areasstill seemedthinlyspreadbutIknew thiswouldnotbe
noticeable afterthe nextstage.TakinginspirationfromJacksonPollock’sactionpainting,andJohn
Squire’s‘Bye Bye Barman’createda similarpiece.OutsideIlaidcardboardto protectthe groundand
squirtedagenerousportionof white paintontomypalette.Ithenperformedthe delicate artof flicking
paintat the canvas.Afterseveral separate coatsIhad the finishedpiece.Thiswouldthenbe editedin
Photoshop.
Week13: 06/05/19 - 09/05/19
Beinga bankholidayweekend,the lessontimewashalvedbutIbeganthe remainderof the weekby
creatingthe barcode and legal nonsense foundonthe coversof the albums.Icouldpresentthe
artworkswithoutthese,butIfelta more realisticlookwould dothemjustice.Tocreate the barcode,I
simplyrasterisedablackrectangle andusedthe Eraser while holdingshifttocreate irregularstripes.I
thenmaskedanarea for the numberstogo and I copiedthe whole image ontothe rearcoverof Lunar
Sea.
In the same fontas the one usedonLunar Sea,Courier,Itypeddetailsrelatingtothe copyrightof the
workand the year itwas published.Thiswasgoingtobe 2013 and wouldfitintoa timelinethatwould
give the banda twenty-yearhistory.Thiswouldmeanthatthe collectoreditionbox setcouldbe in
celebrationof the anniversaryof this.Ialsochangedthe last track on the albumas I wasnot happywith
‘LGM1’ as it wastoo on the nose and alsodidnot fitthe restof the track titles.Ichangeditto
‘Lightspeed’whichisareference to‘Speedof Sound’byColdplay,asIwas originallygoingtocall it
‘Speedof light’butitsoundedtoocheesy.
I nextfinishedthe rearcoverof the debutalbum, OrAnyRealism.Iaddedthe songnameswhichwasa
mixture of randomlygeneratedwordsandcrypticmessagesandreferences.Forexample,mysong
‘Immortal’isa reference toOasis’‘Live Forever’and‘Intro’isanod to the songof the same name by The
xx.For the textI chose the same shadesof yellow andorange ason the front cover,thisconnectedthe
twoimagesfurtheras well ascontrastingwell withthe blackandwhite image.Iusedagradienttomake
coordinate colourssothat theywere darkerinthe centre and returnedtothe lightercolourat the
edges. Thisbroke upany monotonyonthe page.InadditiontothisI addedan orange innershadow
whichhelpedtoincrease the contrastbetweenthe textandbackground,therefore makingiteasierto
read.I thenaddedthe barcode and my ownloremipsumtothe top rightcorner. I usedthe Brushto add
a dark patch so that the white textwouldbe highlighted.Itmeantthe image didnotexactlymatchbutit
was unavoidable.
WiththisalbumfinishedImovedbackontoCoincidence tocreate the rearcover.I beganbytakingthe
shape on the coverand pastingittwice.Withthese twopiecesIformedanoval or pill-like shapethatlay
horizontal.Insteadof beingcolouredlike the front,Imade ittwotone,blackand white whichfitthe
aestheticmuchbetter.Aninspectionof the frontcoverwill show the gradientdropsintodarknesswhich
I believeitsuitablytiesintothe theme of the rearcover.A large portionof the page was still leftblank,
so I decidedtofill thiswitharepeatingpatternof the pill shape.These were smallerandstretched
across the entire image.Torowscouldfitwiththe thirddisappearingintothe darkness.Iwasvery
pleasedwiththe designatthisstage,butIdecidedtotake it furtheranda blackgradientsothat when
applieditmade the pillsgraduallyfade intothe dark.The image wasnow completed.Ididnotadd the
songsbut insteadleftitsoI couldre-evaluateonadifferentdaywhichhelpsme tojudge myworkina
differentlight.The artwork,tome,lookedlikeadata streamthrougha cable and the largerpill wasa
single particle beinginspectedbefore allowedbackintothe flow.
Archipelagowasnextonthe menu.The backcover wasprovingdifficulttoproduce asI had not yet
workedouthowit wasto tie intothe conceptalbum’s theme.Iknew thatitwouldinvolvethe colourful
artworkthat I usedfor the frontcover.This wasusedto colourthe islandssoI thoughtthat itshouldbe
repeatedasa call-back.Istartedby takingthe art and on anotherlayerroughlyapplyingablacksplodge
usingthe Brush tool andgraphics tablet.Ithenusedthe GaussianBluron a veryhighsettingtocreate
an undistinguishabledarkshape.IselectedMultiplysothatitblendedontothe artworkmuchmore
smoothly.Thiswouldbe where the songswouldbe listed.ImmediatelyIrealisedthatthisdesignwas
not goodenough,visuallyitlookedchildishandbasicandabove all it didnotfitwiththe theme.I
disbandedthe ideaaltogether:Iwouldreattemptthisanotherweekwithadifferentmindsetand idea.
While Iponderedovermultiple ideas,Ibeganworkonthe fifthalbum.Ididnot originallyintendto
make this,butI feltthat itwouldmake the box setmore thorough.I had alsowantedtocreate an album
coverfrom photographywhichIhadnot yet done.I selectedmyPollockworkwhichhadalreadybeen
nicelyframedwhenphotographed.InadditiontothisIalsoselectedaphotofrommy albumtaken
several weeksprior.Thiswasof the bayat SouthShieldsanddepictedthe pinksunshiningontothe
calm waters.Itfeaturedanangledpromenade inthe foregroundwhichIcouldutilise.
Firstly,Iwentback to the Pollockandusedthe ColourBalance maskto alterthe coloursfroma deep
greento a purple.The change enhancedthe photograph,itlookedfar betterasit thenmatchedwith
coloursof the secondphotograph.Ileftitblank,withoutatitle forthe momentasI decidedwhatthe
albumname shouldbe.
I movedontothe rear cover.First,I tookthe photographand alteredthe angle sothatthe once sloping
walkwaywasnowperfectlyhorizontal.Thisthrew the restof the image intoaslope whichlooked
visuallyinteresting.Ithenusedthe Lassotool toselectonlythe background,everythingbutthe
promenade,andusedthe GaussianBlur.Thisblurredthe image slightlyandmade the foregroundstand
out further.Next,Itookthe Pollockartworkandpasteda sectiononthe surface of the concrete and
altereditsstate fromNormal to Screensothat onlythe white streaksshowedacrossthe surface.Iused
the Perspective toolsduringthe Free Transformstate toalterthe angles,makingitlookmore realistic.
Afterhavinga shortbreak,I came backto the albumanddecidedagainstthislastchoice.The paintupon
surface didnot lookwell enougheditedtobe kept.InadditiontothisI enjoyedthe randomnessof the
twoimagesand withthe correlationbeingthe loosecolourscheme sharedbetweenthe two.The overall
effectof the twoimagesremindedgreatlyof the Coldplay’sdebutalbum, Parachutes,whatwiththe
simplisticnature of bothpiecesof art andthe vague sea-side theme onbothrearcovers.
Comingback tothis albumalsomade me realise thatthe albumcoverdidnot needatitle onit. Asthis
was to be the most recentalbumfrommyband,I referredto my peerfeedbackandnotedhow aband
wouldusuallyuse analbumname formarketingpurposes.Thisbandwassupposedtobe twentyyears
oldand therefore wouldnotneedtoinclude atitle onitswork.
I alsousedtime duringthe weektophotographmyreference albumsinthe studio.Inmyfree time I
produceda spreadsheetof printingcostsinrelationtothree albums.Due tothe highcost of printingit
meantthat itwas not an optionsoI insteadIplannedtransfermyalbumcoversontoexistingalbums
photographedasI wouldhave done.Itookthe albumsusedduringmyplanningphase andstoodthem
invariouswaysthat I had analysedduringmyresearch.Iuseda blankwhite backgroundasseeninthe
photosfrommy research.
I thentookthe photosintoPhotoshopwhere Iimmediatelyrealisedthatthe photoswere muchdarker
than shownonthe DSLR’s screen.Thisdidnotset me back badlyas I wasable to adjustthe lightlevels
usingthe Levelsmask.The brightnesswasreturnedtoahighersettingandthe imperfectionsinthe
studio’ssurface were removed.Ithenimportedall the albumcoversandusedthe Free Transform
optiontomove them.I couldthenselectSkew whichallowedme toalterthe angle andperspectiveof
the cover sothat it perfectlymatchedthe photographedunderneath.If Iloweredthe opacityof the
object,Iwas transformingIwasable to easilysee where itneededtobe andhow it neededtobe
altered.The processwastime a little time consumingbutultimatelyrewardedtosee the albumsinthis
way.I didthe same processforthe box setphotoand the Archipelagogatefoldphoto.InbothIusedthe
GaussianBlurto create bothlightanddark shapeswhichIthenWarped intohighlightsandshadeson
the surface of the covers.Thisaddeda realisticlookingeffectwhichaidsthe authenticityof the
photography.
To create the three albumsonthe box setphotoI took three photoseachwitha single albumina
differentposition.Ithentransferredthe three photosintoone documentandloweredthe opacityof
each as I positionedmyownalbumover.Ithenaddeda drop shadow toeach of themhoweverIdidnot
use the Global Light.Thiswouldhave meantthat all the shadowsoriginatedfromthe same directionbut
inthe studio,Ihad usedmultiplesetsof lights,meaningthatshadowswere reducedfromtwo
directions.Iplacedthe shadowsdirectlybehindthe albumwere the lightcouldn’treach.Icouldhave
leftthe original shadowsleftbythe existingalbums,butIfelttheywere notstrongenoughandIneeded
shadowsthatwere more easilynoticeable.Asforthe albumsstanding,Iusedthe Gaussiantechnique
once more and adjustedthe opacityuntil theywere barelyvisible.The photographwouldlookbetter
withoutshadowsif thiswere tobe real,butthe shadowsgroundthe image and make itmore realistic.
I thenfinishedmylistof songsthatwouldfeature onall myalbums.
Or Any Realism
Intro – a reference tothe songbyThe xx.
Saboteur– inreference to Sabotagebythe Beastie Boys.One of myfavourite songs.
Immortal– alsoknownas livingforever,anodto Live Foreverby Oasis.
AnymoreLiars – isan anagram of the albumand bandname,Or AnyRealism.
Inferno – anotherreference toasong,thistime Fire by Kasabian.
Skyward –whichcomesfrom one of LeonardoDa Vinci’squotes:‘Foronce youhave tastedflightyou
will walkthe earthwithyoureyesturnedskyward,forthere youhave beenandthere youwill longto
return.’
Moxie– a synonymof fortitude.
Speed Play – inSwedishthisisFartlek,amethodof running:a mixture of sprintingandjoggingthat
buildsstamina.
Coincidence
Worlds – a reference toaquote fromAnyWeir’sbookArtemis:‘It’sthe greatestlittlecityinthe worlds.’
ShortCircuits – circuittrainingandfitswiththe technotheme, butalsoa reference toDaftPunk’s‘Short
Circuit.’
Motionless
Reverse
Proud Discovery
Scolded
Coincidence– a commontrope of Coldplay’sistofeature asongin the albumof the same name.
Perception
Archipelago
Tyrant– thisbeginsthe theme of the conceptalbum, of a dictatorshipinwhichthe occupantsflee.
InsideThosePyramids – buildingthe storyfurther.Alsoaremarkon how the pyramidsare adoredand
seenasa natural wonder,butare a landmarkof the slaveswhobuiltthem.
Missing – alsoa song byThe xx.
StepsAway – in the storythe rebelsare stepsawayfromrevolting.
Revolution – the rebelsrevolt.
The NightIs OurAlly – the rebelsthenuse the nighttoescape fromtheirfailedcoup.
Rowboat–methodof transport usedtoleave the shoresof the mainlandandreachthe islandsof the
nearbyarchipelago.
ParadiseAwaits – theygetcloserto the freedomthatlife of the islandswillprovidethem.Paradiseis
alsoa Coldplaysong.
Live The Life – the Englishtranslationof Viva La Vida, the ColdplaysongandFridaKhalopiece.
Castaway –depictingthe state of the rebelsastheyreachthe island.
Maniacal– the descriptiongiventothe dictatoras he sailsforthe islandstorecapture the rebels.
Ablaze– duringthispart the islandshave beenpillagedandfiresstarted.Thisiswhatmygatefold
artworkdepicts,withthe islandsinthe backgroundburning,the nearestone smolderingandthe front
mostislandshowingthe marksof someone havingbeendraggedawayinthe night.
Lying in Wait – those whosurvivedthe attackhide inthe undergrowthuntil the forceshave left.
Oneof the Few - …whosurvivedbeingrecaptured.
Volcano – the emotionsof those whohave beenleftalive.The waituntil the chance toeruptontothe
dictatorshiptheyhave leftto getrevenge.
Noxious –refersto the ash producedbyvolcanoes,itwill shroudthe state andpoisonthe inhabitants
much like the rebelswill once theyhave regrouped.
Technicolor Monsoon –a downpourof colourand happiness,washingoverthe rebels.They seethe light
and have hope.
Rustic Flag – theyjoinundera newflagmuchlike the Tricolourflagof the FrenchRevolution,asseenin
bothViva La Vida andThe StoneRoses’ artwork.
The Cycle Breaks – the rebelshave foundthemselvesandprepare to rescue those takenfromislands.
AlwaysA Little Further– ‘We are the Pilgrims,master;we shall go.Alwaysalittle further;itmaybe.
Beyondthatlast blue mountainbarredwithsnow.Acrossthatangryor that glimmeringsea.’Anextract
froma poemby JamesElroyFlecker.
Rhetorical
Tranquil
Arise – a reference to‘Rise’byHansZimmerfrom TheDark KnightRises.
Unwritten Law – similartoThe 2nd
Law: Isolated System byMuse.Usedin World War Z.
Surpassed
BoneDry – ‘skinandbones’from Yellow by Coldplay.
Two Point Four– 2.4km = 1.5 miles.
Fortunes
Rhetorical
Week14: 13/05/19 - 16/05/19
Thiswas the final weekof production,butIhadlittle lefttodo.I beganbyreviewingmyworktosee
whatneededtobe done.I noticedthatmycoverswere laid outas a vinyl sleeve wouldbe,the barcode
and writingwere atthat scale.However,the songswere listedastheywouldbe onaCD, all in one
playlist.Onavinyl recordthiswouldbe splitintomultiple sidesasonlyone side canonlycontain
approximately22 minutesof recording.Iwentthroughall the remainingcoversandchangedthis,
addingan A side andB side accordingly.
I thenmovedontofinishingthe lastpiecesof work.Thiswasthe rear coverof Rhetorical,Archipelago
and Coincidence.IstartedwithRhetorical andfoundanelegantfont.UponseeingthisIknew thatitfit
perfectlywiththe aestheticof the albumandhadto be used.Ithenlaidthe tracks out inan abstract
way,so that a diagonal patternwascreatedwiththe textbetweenthe splitplaylists.Ithenpositioned
themso that the photobecame introducedintothe design.Iplacedthe lowertextoverthe concrete so
that the uppertextsat overthe water.The usedthe edge of the concrete as a physical divide between
the splitand enhanceditvisually.Iparticularlylike the placementof textinthe bottomrightcorner as it
leavesthe whole photographopen,Itherefore placedthe barcode and‘legal details’opposite the song
titles.
I movedontoCoincidence.Ihadproducedsome songnamesusinga randomwordgeneratorhowever
these were vaguelybasedaroundatechnologytheme.The frontandrearcoverof the albumgave an
electronic,DaftPunktheme whichIutilised.Bothcoversgave thistheme intheirownway,the front
showingbrightcolourstransitioningtoblackuponwhatappearsto be a vinyl record.The top mostpart
isblurredas thoughspinningordancing,suggestingadance/rave theme.The repeatingthemeonthe
rear givesanelectronic,circuitboardappearance.
To start I separatedthe largerpatternintwo andplacedthe textbetweenthe halves.Iusedthe same
fontas on the front,Silom,asit fittedthe designverywell.Iwrote all the tracksinlowercase to further
portray the technology-computertheme.Asanartisticchoice I didnotdifferentiate betweenthe tracks
and the side titlesinanywayso that the wordswere notbroken.Ilefta gap betweenthe twolists
however,asIbelieve thiswouldbe helpfultothe consumerwhenwantingtofindthe correctside
quickly.
For the placementof the barcode I tookadvantage of the stripedpatternsthatI had made previously.I
insertedthe barcode inplace of one of these andaddedthe legal spew nexttoit.The resultis
somethingthatIam verypleasedwith.
I nextalteredthe rearcoverof Archipelago.Insteadof abrightand colourful collage Iwantedsomething
darkerand more fittingwiththe theme of the album.Iusedthe same image howeverIoverlaidasolid
blackcolourand slightlyloweredthe opacity.Thisallowedsome of the colourtoappearthrough,but
the theme wasmuch darkerand more serious.Ithenlistedthe twentysongs.Ichose somanyas I
wantedtocreate a special conceptalbumthattolda story.This meantfoursideswouldbe needed.I
chose a font whichwasentirelycapitalisedwhichfittedthe aesthetic.Unlike myotheralbumsI
numberedthe tracksas there were somany,a choice that wouldhelpthe consumer.Ilistedthe sides
smallerthanthe tracks to highlightthem, butIuseda maskon the colourlayerto create the dividing
lines.Asthe image wasalreadyverylinear,Imade the middle line shortersothatit causeda break in
the design.Comparingittothe original itlooksfarbetter.I thenaddedthe barcode whichblended
nicelywiththe background.Whenaddingthe recordlabel logo,Ichangeditslightly.OrAnyRealismand
Coincidence bothfeatureadifferentlogo,one withabig‘R’on the RaymothRecords,howeverfromthe
Archipelagoonwardsthisthenchangestosimplerdesign.Idid thisto show a progressionintime and
designnotonlyfromthe band butfrom external factorssuchasthe recordlabel.Itisa small detail but
one that I feel isnecessary.Raymothisalsoareference tothe brandof luxurywatchI createdduringthe
previousyears’FMP.
Aftercompletingthe rearcover,IfinallyrealisedIhadto change the title onthe frontcover.I had
debateditscartoonappearance since Imade it. I hadevenaskedthisquestionwhenreceivingpeer
feedback,the responseIgotwas that itwas appropriate forthe design,howeverthe rearcoverhadnot
beenmade duringthattime.Comparedwithone anotherIdidnotthinkthat the two tonesmatched.I
usedthe same fontas usedon the rear to use on the cover.ThislookedfarbetterbutI wenta step
furtherandaddeda designchoice whichIhadbeendebatingforsome time.Iaddedalayermask tothe
fontand beganto stipple edgesof the text,chippingawayatit.Thisgave it an organiclookas though
inkedwithaquill,addingtothe old-timesmaptheme.
I thenre-appliedthe newdesignontoboththe albumbox sets.
Withall the productionworkcompletedIuploadedittomyWix site where Ibeganto presentsimilarto
howan artist or band’swebsite wouldpresenttheirworks.Ipresentedeachalbumwithitsownmusic
player,listof tracks,frontand back covers,additional artworksandabrief synopsis.
Week15: 20/05/19 - 23/05/19
Evaluation. ThisweekIevaluatedthe productionprocessesIusedsince the beginningof the project.
Week16: 03/06/19 – 06/06/19
Evaluation.

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Production diary

  • 1. Week1: 21/01/19 - 24/01/19 Contextual researchandproposal.Inpreparationfornextweek,Ibegantoresearchgraphicdesigners and artiststhat relate tothe product I wantto produce.I foundseveral people whose workintrigued me,and some whose workIhad not encounteredbefore.ByresearchingbothIbroadenedmyviewinto the industryandwas able to achieve agreaterlevel of understandingintocreative choices.Istarted withTappinGofton,a duoresponsible formanyof Coldplay’salbumcovers,alarge inspirationforme startingthisproject.I soondiscoveredHipgnosiswhoworkedon TheDark Side of the Moon,analbum witha coverregardedas one of the mostinfluential ever,asitstrayedawayfrom the genericprofileof albumartwork.By researchinglaterallyanddiscoveringthe traitsandinspirationsof the artists themselvesIsoonfoundthatanotherof Coldplay’sartdirectorswasinspireddirectlybyone of Hipgnosis. I believethatIhave lookedatenoughof a variedsetof artistsand graphicdesignerstoproceedintothe nextstage of researchbut lookingatmore will nothurtmy production.The designersIhave researched have givenme plentyof inspirationalreadyandsome eventhe knowledgeintothe meansof producing worklike theirs. Week2: 28/01/19 - 31/01/19 Research.Buildinguponthe previousweek’sworkIstartedto lookat existingproductsinordertogaina greaterunderstandingof albumartwork:theirmeaning,theirthemesandthe productiontechniques used.Ifirstlookedat Coldplay’s Mylo Xyloto,which,beingaconceptalbum, hasa verystrong theme and art style whichrunsthroughout.Iusedphotographsof myown copyto dissectcertaincreative decisionsusedinthe production,suchasthe use of differentsectionsof aspray-paintedwall forthe art and variationsinmediumandpalette tocreate contrast.Ilookedatthe art direction,the albumcovers and itsvariants,the editionsof the albumandthe live performances.Havingpreviouslyresearchedthe artistsbehindthisalbum,TappinGofton,I couldunderstandsome of theircreative choicesforthisart. Coldplaystatedthattheywere adoptingthemesthatcompare tothe White Rose movement,whoused leafletsandstreetartto defythe Nazis.Theywere alsoinspiredbyAmericangraffiti,whichis what inspiredthe wall artwhichbecame the albumcover. By lookingatthe cover art inthisway itis clearthat it isthoroughlythoughtout.Notjusta pretty picture,the covercarriessymbolismof the whole album.Havinglookedatpiecessuchas Head Cape whichwaschosenbecause of itsabstract appearance,albumcoversstruckme as beingimagesthatgave a summaryof the work.I didnot expectadeepmeaningbehindthe workthatinterlinkedsoheavily withthe musicand theme.Thisissomethingthat Iwill includeinmyownwork,howeverasIwill not have any musicto base itupon,I may finditharder.I couldinsteaduse the songnames. Week3: 04/02/19 - 07/02/19 Research.Havinglookedatmore of the productionside of researchthe previousweek Idecidedto delve intothe audience andmarketresearch.Ibegantolookat the salesfiguresof musicregardingthe differentformatsandfoundthatalthoughvinyl musichasbeenpopularinrecentyears,streamingis secondto none.Maybe forthisreasonthere isa more noticeable inclineinretail of albumbox sets whichgivesthe consumerthe feelingof ownership,whatwithatangible product.There hasbeen somewhatof a surge to create editionsof albumswhichinclude additional itemswhichappeal to affectionate anddedicatedfans.
  • 2. I wantto be able tophotographthe set altogether,asmyexistingproductsresearchhasshownme.To accomplishthis,Iwill needtobe able toprintthe work and assemble itsothatit can fita vinyl record. Notonlywill Ihave to factor thisintoproduction,butI will needtoensure Ihave the meanstodo so: printingoncard and on sizesabove A4. Thiscomesfrommy researchwhichhas revealedthatmostbox setsare presentedinthis,astomaximise the appeal tothose lookingtocollecttangibleitems. Week4: 11/02/19 - 14/02/19 Problemsolving.Tocreate myalbumcoversI needto use paintingtechniquesthatIdonot have access to. By thisI meangraffiti.SpraypaintingstreetartissomethingthatI will notbe able todo physically but issomethingthat,withsome development,Icouldpull off digitally. I startedby lookingatthe resourcesthatI had aroundme.The biggestaidIcouldsee was Photoshop,so I beganto recreate a small portionof the Mylo Xyloto artworkusingthe brush tools.Findingabrushthat wouldreplicate the texture of the paintwouldbe difficultbutafterreconfiguringexistingbrushesI adapteditto somethingsimilar.Thisdidnotworkas I had intendedatfirst,whichIexpected. To helpme furtherI watcheda shortvideoonline.Thiswasnota tutorial as such butvideoshowing actual streetart beingpainted.Lookingatthe movementsmade bythe artistswiththe canistersand notinghowthe solid,brightpaintstuckto the surface gave me an ideaof how it couldbe painted digitally. HeadingbackintoPhotoshopIuseda verysoft brushwithhighlyfeatherededgestolaya base coat of blackin a non-discriminatoryshape.Ithenaddedablue colourabove,roughlyfollowingthe artstill. Selectingasimilarpink,Idottedthisaroundthe shape.AsIwas usinga graphicstablet,Icouldapply pressure asI wouldwithanactual pen.ThismeantI couldmanuallyfeatherthe edgesslightly,asthough the paintcanisterhad blendedthe twocolours.The effectgave ita slightlydottededge,butIenjoyed this.I addedthe othercolours,the lighterblues,the yellowsandfinishingwithwhite. The effectwassuccessful.Iwaslookingfora collage of bold,slightlypsychedeliccolours,whichI had achieved.However,the overall image lookedblurry.Thiswasbecause of the featherededgeswhich gave thisedge. To reverse this,Ichose the ColourMixerBrush,but I chose a much harderbrushtip.I workedoverthe edgesof the colours,bridgingbetweenthe tonessothattheyflowedmuchbetter.Thisnotonlybrought the work intothe foregroundagain,butitalsoaddedtexture tothe painting. I had originallytriedtoreplicate asimplergraffiti designaftershortlygivinguponthe MX artwork. I foundan image of graffiti onlineandbroughtitintoPhotoshop.Icopiedthe roughoutline of the letters, usingthe Pencil tool.Iwasusingthe tabletat thispoint,soI was able to gainan accurate althoughnot perfectdefinition.Still unsure of the tool,manyof mylinesendedupsharpandjagged.Iuseda featherededge brushtolaythe base coloursdownandI roughlymixedthe tonal differences.Thiswas because Iwas focusingmore onthe outline duringthisexperiment. I thenusedthe same brush to outline the textinblack.Thisworkedwell butdue tomyuncertaintywith the graphicstabletthe lineswere shakyanduncoordinated.ThismeantIneededanew technique. A solutionwasfoundwithAdobe Illustrator.Thishada verysimilarbrushtool howeverall linesdrawn were corrected.Thisgave me much more scope foroutliningtextasitwas difficulttogowrong. Illustratoralsousedadifferentmappingsystem, meaningthatinsteadof pixels,the drawingswere storedinequationandratios;I couldeasilyresize anydrawingsinawaythat isnot possible in Photoshop.
  • 3. I beganto draw letterswiththe software.Itwasat firstrelievingtohave essentiallyanauto-correct feature howeverthe software wasunfamiliarandto utilise itproperlyIwill needtolearnmore.Ibegan to fill andshade myletters,butthiswasa difficulttask.Idonot thinkI usedthe correct toolsandI could not blendthe coloursinthe same wayas I had before. UsingIllustratorisnot outof the question.BeinganAdobe program, Ican transferfilesbetweenitself and Photoshop,meaningthatanycalligraphycanbe done there and movedtoPS. My creative problemsare currentlybeingsolvedsuccessfully,andmypractical problemsare being attendedto.The mainconcern isthat of printing.Forthe bestproduct I will needtofindanexternal source to carry outthe printingof the LP covers. Week5: 18/02/19 - 21/02/19 Problemsolving.Followingthe previousweek’sexperiments,Idecidedtotryonce more withthe graffiti art style.Icarried overthe patternI had createdlastweekinanattemptto rescue the design.Byusinga photographof a concrete wall,I wasable to somewhatsimulatespraypainting,usingthe graphicstablet to draw.AfterI had pastedthe colourful designintothe centre of the page,Ipaintedarounditin a base orange colour.Thisbroughta brightnesstothe whole image andwasa colourthat wasnot seen elsewhere atthe time. I thenbeganto doodle acrossthe page whichwas the mosteffective way of creatingoriginalartwork; withoutthinkingaboutit.UsingimagesthatsprungtomindI was able to buildupthe layers.The first thingsI createdwere the large charactersthat spelledoutthe word‘paint.’Istartedwiththe base of yellowinthe vague shape of the lettersbeforeIoutlinedthe wordsina thickblack.To fitthe graffiti aesthetic,whichInoticedimplementedmanycartoonelements,Iaddedshadowsandhighlightsonto the characters. Thoughmultiple colourswere usedItriedtokeep the variationlow andslightly disconnectedasItriedto replicate the poorlogisticsof aspray-paintartistthatwouldneedtolug aroundmultiple shadesforaperfectpicture.Next,Ipaintedthe greenaroundthe yellow whichthen snakeditswaytowardsthe topof the screen.ThiswashighlightedandIbegantoencase it ina black outline.Ilostheartduringthisparticularpartof the artwork whichiswhyit remainsseemingly uncompleted.However,Ifoundthatdrawingovermistakesleadtoafar bettercreative processthan usingthe eraser.Thismeantthat I coulddoodle anythingwithoutworryoveritsqualityoranything looking‘wrong.’ To breakup the blankspace nextto thisI drew bubble-like circles,the largestof whichIoutlinedand shaded. Owingtomyinexperiencewiththe graphicstablettheseappearjaggedandrough,butI thinka similarresultwouldcome fromaninexperiencedsprayartist. I movedtothe tentacle.Ipaintedthispinktomatcha cartooninterpretationof asquidoroctopusand I chose colourswhichdidnot quite matchas the shadesor highlights.Again,thiswastogive the impressionof alimitedpalette.Iwantedtomake the outline muchsmallerthanthe PAINTtext,more the size of the bubbles.Thiswastogive the correctscale to the wall. I nexttestedabubble fontwhichIdrewto spell the words‘test’and‘sample.’Aroundthe latterIadded a pool of waterinwhichI experimentedwithripplesandsplashes.Thisagainhada cartoonelementtoit whichisso prevalentingraffiti art. I thenaddedstreaksof paintwhichI thendrew dripsonto.Thissimulatedabuild-upof paintthatwould normallybe due toa liberal application. The rest of the image consistsof doodleswhichslowlybuilduptogive the artworka collage appearance,somethingthatIintendedtomake.Iam pleasedwiththe results;however,Iwoulddo
  • 4. thingsslightlydifferently.The firstwouldbe touse multiplecoloursasa backgroundinsteadof just orange.For thisreason,itgivesita verywarm glow to the artworkthat is nota drawbackbut doesgive it a particulartheme.Iwouldrathera collectionof colours. To gain a much betterunderstandingof how myalbumswouldturnoutI wentto a nearbyshopand boughtseveral albums.One agatefoldLP,one astandard sleeve LPanda smallersinglevinyl.Ithencut the hingesandmeasuredthe spreadoutnets.Thisgave me accurate measurementswhichIcoulduse to visualise the printingmethods. Week6: 04/03/19 - 07/03/19 Planning.WithproductioncommencingintwoweeksIstartedplanningmyfinal products.Ibeganby layingoutsimple plansforthe individual productsIamgoingto produce,thiswasdone inPowerPoint.It gave me a reference pointtofurtherplanfrom.Ithenbeganto sketchideas formyalbumartworks. These drawingshadbegunalongwiththe project,butI chose certainimagesandrefinedthemtotwo firmideas. I thentookartwork frommy experimentingprocessandcreatedamock-upof one of the albumcovers, thiswas the graffiti workwhichIusedto create artworkof an island.Byusingthe centrepiece of the graffiti,the blendedcolours,Iwasable tocreate representationsof the skyandthe sea as theywould appearin the final product.Ipastedthe experimentintoaPhotoshopfileandtransferredonlythe bright,blendedcoloursontoanew,12.5-inchby12.5-inch file.Ithencopieditagainso that I had two separate images,aseaand a sky.I thenusedmasksand the ColourBalance tool to transformthe coloursto a scheme thatI woulduse inproduction.AlthoughIlike the multicolouredcollage Iwantthe image to representreal life insome way,soa warm, duskyskyit wasI created.I didthisby increasing the red anddecreasingthe blue.Irepeatedthe processforthe seabutmovingthe slidersinorderto create a blue colour. Next,Itooka photographof an island,the same one thatmy sketchisbasedfrom.I traced aroundthis withthe Brush Tool whichproducedanoutlinedsilhouettedappearance. Week7: I was ill forthisentire week,sonoprogresswasmade.I was happywiththe workdone the previous weekandfeltthatthe planningwassufficient. Week8: 18/03/19 - 21/03/19 Production.Ibeganimmediatelywiththe productionof the firstalbumcover.Creatingthe artworkwas goingto take the largestportionof time and soneededtobe tackledfirst.Idecideduponthe album currentlynamed‘Lunar’whichappropriatelyfeaturesanastronaut.Ichose to thisas my firsttask as this coverwouldfeature artworkmore predominantlythanthe otherandtherefore,Ineededtoperformthe mosttime-consumingtaskfirst.The artworkisa recreationof the famousphotographof the 1969 moon landing,the astronautstandinguponthe surface of the moon,the flagand landingcraftreflectedinhis visor.It isa historicmoment,muchlike the contextof Delacroix’s‘LibertyLeadingthe People.’ I startedby drawingthe astronautusinga graphicstablet.AlthoughIhadnot muchexperience withthis before Ifeltthatit wasappropriate touse itgiventhe taskat hand.Thisimmediatelyfeltuncomfortable
  • 5. as I was notpractisedwithit. Thisgave me unevenlineswhichoftensplayedoutinrandomdirections. To stop this,Ifoundthe Brush Settingsbarand adjustedthe wayinwhichthe brushrespondedtoinput and I wasable to correlate the brushsize withpenpressure.Thisallowedme togive small sketchmarks as I wouldwithpenandpaper.Thisgave a more natural feel tothe penand solvedthe discomfortIhad felt. In orderto gainaccurate proportionsof the photowithouttracingthe astronautdirectlyorbeginninga newsketch,Idecidedtouse a drawingI had made of the photoduringmyplanning.AsIwas more fluentwithaphysical pencil,IknewIhada betterchance of the astronautbeinginproportionthanwith the graphicstablet.I tracedaround the sketchwhichIfoundjust,as it wasan impressionof the photo but ina differentformat.Thisgave the basicoutline of the bodywhichthenallowedme tocreate the restof the art unaided. I beganthe ‘painting’process.Ihadoriginallyintendedtofollowthe photoprecisely,paintingabove it on a separate layerasI had done inotherprojects.Thoughon the day I feltthatthiswas,like the way the outline wouldhave been,disingenuous.Iwantedthe artto be solelymyownimpression:not influencedbythe constructionof the image butbythe way that I saw it. So far,I have onlyusedtwotools:the Brush Tool and the MixerBrush. The latterallowsme toblend colourstogethersina waythat it notpossible withthe BrushTool.Itgivesasmoothtransitionbetween shadeswhichallowsme tocreate shadowsandhighlightswithmuchgreaterease.Italsoallowedme to create a smootheredge whichhelpedwiththe circularshape of the helmet.ThisisamethodthatI have usedsince the fanzine projectthoughIwouldlike toexperimentfurtherwithit,orat the leasttry to newmethod. Upon creatingthe visor,I drewa sketchedversionof the reflection.Thiswould notnormallybe howI woulddrawinpreparationforthe MixerBrush; however,the flowinglineswere somethingIwastrying withthe pen.I onlysketchedthispartas I wasunsure of what wasto replace thisas one designshowsa globe where the visorshouldbe,soatthismomentI am notcommittedtoeitherdesign.The effectof the sketchis somethingthatIfoundveryappealingandbegunanew trainof thought:thissectioncould be usedas artwork itself.The artstyle issimilartothe actionpainting of JacksonPollock.
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  • 18. Week9: 25/03/19 - 28/03/19 Production.AsIenteredthe secondweekof production,Icontinuedwiththe artworkof the astronaut. Havingdone the upperportionof the bodythe previousweekIbeganto work onthe body.This involveddrawingthe complicatedpartsof the suitwhichhasslowedproductiontothe pointwhere Ido not believe Iwill finishthe entire piece bythe endof the week. I have not differedmymethodsfromthe previousweekandIstill usedthe BrushandMixerTools. The way that I draw the astronautisby usingthe image nexttomy drawing.The masktool enablesme to isolate the single portionIamdrawingand to move itcloser.I will thenchoose asimilarshade or colourand roughlysketchandfill blockareas.Iwill thenaddthe shadowsor highlightsandblendthem so that itreproducesa realisticlookingreplicaof thatparticularsection.Althoughthisisaslow process, I have identifieditasthe fastestwayof producingthe work.Withthe additionof the graphicstabletitis much quickerthanitwas duringmyfanzine projectearlierinthe year.I believe thatthisdetail will pay off inthe endandI hope that it will produce ahigh-qualityimage.
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  • 44. Week10: 01/04/19 - 04/04/19 Thisweekwasspentfinishingthe LunarSeaalbumwork.At the beginningof the weekIwasconfident that thiswas goingtobe finished.The processwasthe same as I wentthroughthe remaining pieces methodically. The focus wasthe backgroundthat the astronaut neededtositupon.Ioriginallyneverintendedtoplace himin a seahoweverthe ideamade muchmore sense.Istartedbycreatinga rocky landscape behind the astronaut,but I didnot have enoughrelevantreference imagestoworkwith.Ifoundthat using themgreatlyhelpedthe qualityof illustrationasitgave me a directimage to copyfrom.I decided insteadtohave the waterstretch to the equator.Thisthengave me the challenge of keepingthe correct perspective.AfterattemptswithwavesIkeptthe waterstill,thiswasmucheasiertodraw and theoreticallyspeakingitisthe Moonwhichpullsourwaves.Iexperimentedwithwaterrippleswhich had varyingdegreesof success,butIsettledona subtlerdesign.Icopiedthe astronaut,flippedhimand loweredthe opacitytocreate the reflectioninthe water. I attemptedanalbumtitle inthe style of Viva La Vida:the white,jaggedstrokesof paint.Thisdidnot lookbad,the opposite butIdidn’tthinkitfitwiththe overall album. I finishedthe legsandthe backpackof the astronautand movedontothe rear cover.AsI statedbefore,I reallylike the action-paintingstyleof the visor,soIusedthis.I copiedontoa blackbackgroundso it wouldblendinseamlessly.ItlookedveryaestheticallypleasinghoweverIhad a few reservations.Ifirst thoughtthat the image wasa little tooon-the-nose.Manyrearcoversare relatedbutIbelieve the best didnot have toomany connectionsto the frontcover,keepingthe artworkoverall verysparse and diverse.Ialsothoughtthatthe printingcostswouldbe veryhighif I were to printan almostentirely
  • 45. blackimage.SoI came up withthe ideato reverse the coloursof the image.The blackbecame white and the orange became blue.Thistransformedthe artworkbytenfold.Iwasextremelypleasedwiththe results.The artworkwasnow a related,yetnotentirelydistinguishable patternandthe lighter backgroundliftedthe wholetone of the album. Nolongerwasita dark and seriousalbum, itwasa light yetmore ambiguousproductwhichI believe wouldbe uptostandardwithexistingwork. I thenaddedthe songnamesin a fitting‘Courier’fontwhichIthoughtrelatedtothe science and professionalismof the Apollomissions. Each of the songshas a specificmeaningorreference tosomethingelse.The songsIhave chosenare: Air Normal– The firstand secondsongcombined:‘AirNormal Yes’isananagram of the bands’name ‘Or AnyRealism.’ Yes – Part of the anagram,but ‘Yes’isalsoa songby Coldplayfrom Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends. P.T.O - aka Please TurnOverisa reference tothe song‘Turn The Page’by The Streets.Theirdebut albumOriginal PirateMaterial isan albumthat I researchedaspart of myalbumcover analysis. TwentySeven – isa reference tothe date. Apollo – referstothe Apollomissions,butmore specificallyJ.F.K’sspeechaboutthem.Inithe says,“We chooseto go to themoon in this decadeand do the other things,notbecausethey are easy butbecause they are hard...’ The Plan Changes – referstothe term adaptability. Green Berries – is a reference tothe song‘GreenOnions’. Lunacy – Lunar Sea isa playonthe word‘Lunacy’as I wantedthe albumname to have a double meaning. LGM1 – Little GreenMan 1 isthe name of a radiowave that wasdiscoveredfromouterspace.Itis believedtobe anextra-terrestrial frequencyandisthe albumcoverof ‘UnknownPleasures’byJoy Divison.
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  • 65. Week11: 08/04/19 - 11/04/19 Production.StartedArchipelago.AsIhadalreadybeguna piece of art at home forthe album, Istarted an entirelynewidea.Thiswasa mapof islands.Istartedbytakinga reference imagefromthe internet.I basedthe colourscheme fromthisand tookinspirationfromthe varied,gradient-liketransitionof coloursacross the page.I addedtexture bycreatinga new layerandselectingRenderCloudsunderthe Filtertab.I loweredthe opacityandblurreditslightlysothatthe texture wasdiluted.Inadditiontothis
  • 66. a chose several greytonesandbrushedthemacross.I thenchose the Multiplyoptiononthe layerso that theytranslatedontothe tan tonesof the agedmap. Thiscreateddarkerand lighterspots. Roughly,Isketchedoutlinesof severalislandsusingthe BrushTool inconjunctionwithagraphicstablet, whichallowedtovarythe pensize withpressure frommyhand.Thismade for muchmore accurate lines.Ithen‘inkedin’the outline withathicker stroke.Iwaspleasedwiththe layout,soIbegantoadd the hatchedlinesthatwere presentonthe reference image.Ididthisbyusingthe penand holdingShift to create a perfectlystraightline.Due tothe pressure featurethiswouldcreate bulgesalongthe strokes.Ihad to be careful forthis notto happen.Iquicklyfoundamuch more efficientwayof tackling this.By usingthe mouse thisgave me evenlines.Ifilledthe entire screenwiththe linesandapplieda mask,drawingaroundthe islandsto leave a border.Thisdidnotwork as well asI hadhoped:the look was toouniformed.A more natural feel wasneededtoIresortedbackto original idea.Thisgave me preciselythe lookIwasafteronce I had founda technique toensure evennessbetweenthe strokes. I thenuseda thickerbrushto highlightthe leftsidesof the islands,asthoughtheywere slightlyin shadow.Thisdidnot addrealism,butitinsteadaddeddetail whichitgreatlyneeded.The maplooked fine howeveritlackedcertainfinishingaspects,thiswasone of them. As a reference tothe workthatinspiredme duringmyresearch,Iincludedalittle tornedge onthe top leftcorner.Thougha small detail thiswasinspiredbythe burntedge of the photofromHypgnosis’ designforWish You Were Here by PinkFloyd.
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  • 76. [Easter] Week12: 29/04/19 - 02/05/19 Production.Experimentingwiththe BrushTool andthe Free TransformoptionsIdiscoveredasimple methodof makingcomplex images.Muchlike paintingonone side of paperandfoldingitinhalf,Icould
  • 77. draw randomlyandduplicate andreverse this.Thisgave me veryintricate designswhichIhadto use for albumartwork.Movingthe duplicatedimage evenproduceddifferentresults. I createdan entirelynewalbumbasedopenthese images.Theyare veryreminiscentof Rorschach image whichare usedto identifythoughtprocessesbasedonwhatthe subjectsees.These are left blank,butI decidedtocolourmine in,negatingthe purpose of the test.The artworkshowswhatI see fromthe image.Ileftthe art style basicwhichIbelieve bestfitsthe style of album.Italsocontrastswith the level of detail insome of myotherworks. The piece istransformedbythe coloursand becomesatapestry-like surrealistworkof imagination.The tonesof the differentsectionscomplimentthe Rorschachideawhichhasconstructeda completely randomcollectionof images. I leftsome errorsonthe art. Some coloursgoover the blackoutlines,butIleftthese andinone case transformedittofit withthe art. I transformedthemintosplashesfromawave.The mainsectionof the image appearsto be the headof a jackal-likecreature,hence the browncolouringbutthe dome of the foreheadalsogave me inspirationtopaintitas a shark.I thinkthe choice wasright as itbringsmore surrealismintoanotherwise normal partof the art. Italso appearsto me as war-paintsimilartothatof Native AmericansandevenBraveheart. Above thisstandto wingedfigureswhichtome resembledangels,thereforeIgave themhalos.This thensparkedme to travel aroundthe image and addthese drawingstoprotrudingpieces.Furtherdown the outline resembledadeadtree,withanoldbranch reachingoutwards.Itherefore drew atinycrow and vulture andplacedthemoneach side.Ilove thismostoutof the whole image because atfirst glance the birdsare seenbutthe two differentbodyshapesare notnoticed.Once itbecomesapparent the whole image unravelsasanasymmetrical yetnotquite asymmetrical work. I thenplaceditupona yellowbackgroundwhichmakesthe coloursstandbold.Whatwiththe orange glowaroundthe edge of the outline the piece becomesawarmandbrightmosaic of the mind. The font neededtomatchthe colours,soI chose inviting,roundedcharacters.The stylisticoptionto allowthe centre of the lettersbecome transparentalsohelpedtokeepthe image flowingthroughthe text.Itdid notbreakit up as much.I verymuch like the waythe textfadesinandout of the image.As thoughonlyvisible inthatreality,whichfitsnicelywiththe titleof the album. Takinginspirationfrombandssuchas the Stone Roses,the debutalbumof myownband wasnamed afterthemselves. The Rorschach usedon the frontcover wasone of manyas the imagesthemselvesweresimple tomake and the designswere sofruitful.Therefore,Ihadmany spare imagesleftover.Ihadchosenthe bestfor the front cover,butI had several leftwithoutuse.Ithereforecompiledthemintoone collage forthe reverse cover.Iwasworriedthatthis wouldbe asintense andtherefore detractfromthe front.Icame to the decisiontoleave itblackandwhite,asa Rorschach image wouldnormallybe.Thisgave it individualityaswell asleavingthe frontcoverthe limelight.Iaddedtemporarysongsnamesinthe same font(thoughthistime withoutthe gapinthe centre of the characters) and gave thema matchingblack and white theme.Usingablackstroke aroundthe lettersseparatedthemfromthe backgroundand lookedfitting.Ileftthiswhile Ipondereduponthe restof the images. As an additional piece of artwork,I chose one of the bestresultsandcolouredthis.Ichose a darker theme,adeepred.Inthe centre featuredademonicfigure.Iaddedablendof orange,yellow andwhite to create a fieryglowtothe centre of the body.Aroundthe edgesof the outline and of the page I added a darker red.The image wascomplete.The workwassimplistic,muchlike the designtechnique however
  • 78. the resultswere perfect.The artworkbecame aposterthat wouldaccompanythe albuminthe box set. Duringthe weekIalso revisited apiece of albumart I startedmanyweeksago.Thiswas createdoutside of lessontime andwasa veryon-the-side project.Icreatedacircular patternthat resembledaclassic jukebox fromacertainangle.However,Ididnothave faithinthe work soleftit.I broughtit back this weektocorrect the designflawsandpotentiallymake itintoanotheralbum. Originallybeingwhitewithorange highlightsthe albumlookedsleekbutitdidnotseemappropriate for the indie rockgenre,more technomusicor hiphop.I startedby messingwiththe coloursandbecame attractedto a colourspectruminsteadof the basicorange.One of the poorestdesignswasthe border aroundthe albumsothiswas removed.Ithenusedthe Free Transformtool torotate it,by holding shift I was able todo thisin90-degree sections.Insteadof the patternprotrudingfromthe side itnow came fromthe topwhichlookedmore traditionallybutultimatelybetterasitmade more sense. An effectIhadusedinthe pastwas the blurtool,specificallythe motionblur.Thiscouldbe usedto create a radial blurto give the illusionof aspinningobject.Aspartof the designwascircularthiswould give the coveran interestingfeature.The roundel wouldstay‘stationary’whereasthe restwouldspin givinga mixedeffectof motion.Iadjustedthe level of the blursothatthe image couldstill be discernibleandaddedthe text.Ichose the word‘Coincidence’fromarandomword generatorbutthe worddoeshave meaningtomyself. The characters lookedoddnotblurredalongwiththe restof the image butadjustingthe level of blurto the textso that itwas still legible wasanissue.The firstfew attemptsmade the textablurredmassand as I reducedthe levelsIrealisedthatitwasstill too high.The textalsogave me a sense of motion sickness.Ithenreducedthe blurdrasticallysothatitcounteredbothof these issues.Ibelieve thatmy currentoptionwasthe bestas itnow showsthe textslightlyblurredbythe spinningof the objectas well still beingeasilyreadable.The combinationof the coloursandthe latestadditionof the light-gradient backgroundgivesalikenesstoMyloXyloto.If acloserinspectionistakenthe spectrumstretchingacross the image transitionstoblack.Thisisa subtle reference tothe albumartworkof CoexistbyThe xx which has a similarfeature. At home I beganworkon a newpiece of art for the nextalbum.Usinga 24x24 inchcanvas I began paintingwithacrylicpaints.Thiswastwice the size of a 12inch vinyl sowouldgive me give me ahigh level of resolutiononce Icanto photographingit.Iuseda large brush to layon thicklayersof green paint.The resultswere good,some areasstill seemedthinlyspreadbutIknew thiswouldnotbe noticeable afterthe nextstage.TakinginspirationfromJacksonPollock’sactionpainting,andJohn Squire’s‘Bye Bye Barman’createda similarpiece.OutsideIlaidcardboardto protectthe groundand squirtedagenerousportionof white paintontomypalette.Ithenperformedthe delicate artof flicking paintat the canvas.Afterseveral separate coatsIhad the finishedpiece.Thiswouldthenbe editedin Photoshop.
  • 79. Week13: 06/05/19 - 09/05/19 Beinga bankholidayweekend,the lessontimewashalvedbutIbeganthe remainderof the weekby creatingthe barcode and legal nonsense foundonthe coversof the albums.Icouldpresentthe artworkswithoutthese,butIfelta more realisticlookwould dothemjustice.Tocreate the barcode,I simplyrasterisedablackrectangle andusedthe Eraser while holdingshifttocreate irregularstripes.I
  • 80. thenmaskedanarea for the numberstogo and I copiedthe whole image ontothe rearcoverof Lunar Sea. In the same fontas the one usedonLunar Sea,Courier,Itypeddetailsrelatingtothe copyrightof the workand the year itwas published.Thiswasgoingtobe 2013 and wouldfitintoa timelinethatwould give the banda twenty-yearhistory.Thiswouldmeanthatthe collectoreditionbox setcouldbe in celebrationof the anniversaryof this.Ialsochangedthe last track on the albumas I wasnot happywith ‘LGM1’ as it wastoo on the nose and alsodidnot fitthe restof the track titles.Ichangeditto ‘Lightspeed’whichisareference to‘Speedof Sound’byColdplay,asIwas originallygoingtocall it ‘Speedof light’butitsoundedtoocheesy. I nextfinishedthe rearcoverof the debutalbum, OrAnyRealism.Iaddedthe songnameswhichwasa mixture of randomlygeneratedwordsandcrypticmessagesandreferences.Forexample,mysong ‘Immortal’isa reference toOasis’‘Live Forever’and‘Intro’isanod to the songof the same name by The xx.For the textI chose the same shadesof yellow andorange ason the front cover,thisconnectedthe twoimagesfurtheras well ascontrastingwell withthe blackandwhite image.Iusedagradienttomake coordinate colourssothat theywere darkerinthe centre and returnedtothe lightercolourat the edges. Thisbroke upany monotonyonthe page.InadditiontothisI addedan orange innershadow whichhelpedtoincrease the contrastbetweenthe textandbackground,therefore makingiteasierto read.I thenaddedthe barcode and my ownloremipsumtothe top rightcorner. I usedthe Brushto add a dark patch so that the white textwouldbe highlighted.Itmeantthe image didnotexactlymatchbutit was unavoidable. WiththisalbumfinishedImovedbackontoCoincidence tocreate the rearcover.I beganbytakingthe shape on the coverand pastingittwice.Withthese twopiecesIformedanoval or pill-like shapethatlay horizontal.Insteadof beingcolouredlike the front,Imade ittwotone,blackand white whichfitthe aestheticmuchbetter.Aninspectionof the frontcoverwill show the gradientdropsintodarknesswhich I believeitsuitablytiesintothe theme of the rearcover.A large portionof the page was still leftblank, so I decidedtofill thiswitharepeatingpatternof the pill shape.These were smallerandstretched across the entire image.Torowscouldfitwiththe thirddisappearingintothe darkness.Iwasvery pleasedwiththe designatthisstage,butIdecidedtotake it furtheranda blackgradientsothat when applieditmade the pillsgraduallyfade intothe dark.The image wasnow completed.Ididnotadd the songsbut insteadleftitsoI couldre-evaluateonadifferentdaywhichhelpsme tojudge myworkina differentlight.The artwork,tome,lookedlikeadata streamthrougha cable and the largerpill wasa single particle beinginspectedbefore allowedbackintothe flow. Archipelagowasnextonthe menu.The backcover wasprovingdifficulttoproduce asI had not yet workedouthowit wasto tie intothe conceptalbum’s theme.Iknew thatitwouldinvolvethe colourful artworkthat I usedfor the frontcover.This wasusedto colourthe islandssoI thoughtthat itshouldbe repeatedasa call-back.Istartedby takingthe art and on anotherlayerroughlyapplyingablacksplodge usingthe Brush tool andgraphics tablet.Ithenusedthe GaussianBluron a veryhighsettingtocreate an undistinguishabledarkshape.IselectedMultiplysothatitblendedontothe artworkmuchmore smoothly.Thiswouldbe where the songswouldbe listed.ImmediatelyIrealisedthatthisdesignwas not goodenough,visuallyitlookedchildishandbasicandabove all it didnotfitwiththe theme.I disbandedthe ideaaltogether:Iwouldreattemptthisanotherweekwithadifferentmindsetand idea.
  • 81. While Iponderedovermultiple ideas,Ibeganworkonthe fifthalbum.Ididnot originallyintendto make this,butI feltthat itwouldmake the box setmore thorough.I had alsowantedtocreate an album coverfrom photographywhichIhadnot yet done.I selectedmyPollockworkwhichhadalreadybeen nicelyframedwhenphotographed.InadditiontothisIalsoselectedaphotofrommy albumtaken several weeksprior.Thiswasof the bayat SouthShieldsanddepictedthe pinksunshiningontothe calm waters.Itfeaturedanangledpromenade inthe foregroundwhichIcouldutilise. Firstly,Iwentback to the Pollockandusedthe ColourBalance maskto alterthe coloursfroma deep greento a purple.The change enhancedthe photograph,itlookedfar betterasit thenmatchedwith coloursof the secondphotograph.Ileftitblank,withoutatitle forthe momentasI decidedwhatthe albumname shouldbe. I movedontothe rear cover.First,I tookthe photographand alteredthe angle sothatthe once sloping walkwaywasnowperfectlyhorizontal.Thisthrew the restof the image intoaslope whichlooked visuallyinteresting.Ithenusedthe Lassotool toselectonlythe background,everythingbutthe promenade,andusedthe GaussianBlur.Thisblurredthe image slightlyandmade the foregroundstand out further.Next,Itookthe Pollockartworkandpasteda sectiononthe surface of the concrete and altereditsstate fromNormal to Screensothat onlythe white streaksshowedacrossthe surface.Iused the Perspective toolsduringthe Free Transformstate toalterthe angles,makingitlookmore realistic. Afterhavinga shortbreak,I came backto the albumanddecidedagainstthislastchoice.The paintupon surface didnot lookwell enougheditedtobe kept.InadditiontothisI enjoyedthe randomnessof the twoimagesand withthe correlationbeingthe loosecolourscheme sharedbetweenthe two.The overall effectof the twoimagesremindedgreatlyof the Coldplay’sdebutalbum, Parachutes,whatwiththe simplisticnature of bothpiecesof art andthe vague sea-side theme onbothrearcovers. Comingback tothis albumalsomade me realise thatthe albumcoverdidnot needatitle onit. Asthis was to be the most recentalbumfrommyband,I referredto my peerfeedbackandnotedhow aband wouldusuallyuse analbumname formarketingpurposes.Thisbandwassupposedtobe twentyyears oldand therefore wouldnotneedtoinclude atitle onitswork. I alsousedtime duringthe weektophotographmyreference albumsinthe studio.Inmyfree time I produceda spreadsheetof printingcostsinrelationtothree albums.Due tothe highcost of printingit meantthat itwas not an optionsoI insteadIplannedtransfermyalbumcoversontoexistingalbums photographedasI wouldhave done.Itookthe albumsusedduringmyplanningphase andstoodthem invariouswaysthat I had analysedduringmyresearch.Iuseda blankwhite backgroundasseeninthe photosfrommy research. I thentookthe photosintoPhotoshopwhere Iimmediatelyrealisedthatthe photoswere muchdarker than shownonthe DSLR’s screen.Thisdidnotset me back badlyas I wasable to adjustthe lightlevels usingthe Levelsmask.The brightnesswasreturnedtoahighersettingandthe imperfectionsinthe studio’ssurface were removed.Ithenimportedall the albumcoversandusedthe Free Transform optiontomove them.I couldthenselectSkew whichallowedme toalterthe angle andperspectiveof the cover sothat it perfectlymatchedthe photographedunderneath.If Iloweredthe opacityof the object,Iwas transformingIwasable to easilysee where itneededtobe andhow it neededtobe altered.The processwastime a little time consumingbutultimatelyrewardedtosee the albumsinthis way.I didthe same processforthe box setphotoand the Archipelagogatefoldphoto.InbothIusedthe GaussianBlurto create bothlightanddark shapeswhichIthenWarped intohighlightsandshadeson the surface of the covers.Thisaddeda realisticlookingeffectwhichaidsthe authenticityof the photography.
  • 82. To create the three albumsonthe box setphotoI took three photoseachwitha single albumina differentposition.Ithentransferredthe three photosintoone documentandloweredthe opacityof each as I positionedmyownalbumover.Ithenaddeda drop shadow toeach of themhoweverIdidnot use the Global Light.Thiswouldhave meantthat all the shadowsoriginatedfromthe same directionbut inthe studio,Ihad usedmultiplesetsof lights,meaningthatshadowswere reducedfromtwo directions.Iplacedthe shadowsdirectlybehindthe albumwere the lightcouldn’treach.Icouldhave leftthe original shadowsleftbythe existingalbums,butIfelttheywere notstrongenoughandIneeded shadowsthatwere more easilynoticeable.Asforthe albumsstanding,Iusedthe Gaussiantechnique once more and adjustedthe opacityuntil theywere barelyvisible.The photographwouldlookbetter withoutshadowsif thiswere tobe real,butthe shadowsgroundthe image and make itmore realistic. I thenfinishedmylistof songsthatwouldfeature onall myalbums. Or Any Realism Intro – a reference tothe songbyThe xx. Saboteur– inreference to Sabotagebythe Beastie Boys.One of myfavourite songs. Immortal– alsoknownas livingforever,anodto Live Foreverby Oasis. AnymoreLiars – isan anagram of the albumand bandname,Or AnyRealism. Inferno – anotherreference toasong,thistime Fire by Kasabian. Skyward –whichcomesfrom one of LeonardoDa Vinci’squotes:‘Foronce youhave tastedflightyou will walkthe earthwithyoureyesturnedskyward,forthere youhave beenandthere youwill longto return.’ Moxie– a synonymof fortitude. Speed Play – inSwedishthisisFartlek,amethodof running:a mixture of sprintingandjoggingthat buildsstamina. Coincidence Worlds – a reference toaquote fromAnyWeir’sbookArtemis:‘It’sthe greatestlittlecityinthe worlds.’ ShortCircuits – circuittrainingandfitswiththe technotheme, butalsoa reference toDaftPunk’s‘Short Circuit.’ Motionless Reverse Proud Discovery Scolded Coincidence– a commontrope of Coldplay’sistofeature asongin the albumof the same name. Perception Archipelago Tyrant– thisbeginsthe theme of the conceptalbum, of a dictatorshipinwhichthe occupantsflee. InsideThosePyramids – buildingthe storyfurther.Alsoaremarkon how the pyramidsare adoredand seenasa natural wonder,butare a landmarkof the slaveswhobuiltthem. Missing – alsoa song byThe xx. StepsAway – in the storythe rebelsare stepsawayfromrevolting. Revolution – the rebelsrevolt. The NightIs OurAlly – the rebelsthenuse the nighttoescape fromtheirfailedcoup. Rowboat–methodof transport usedtoleave the shoresof the mainlandandreachthe islandsof the
  • 83. nearbyarchipelago. ParadiseAwaits – theygetcloserto the freedomthatlife of the islandswillprovidethem.Paradiseis alsoa Coldplaysong. Live The Life – the Englishtranslationof Viva La Vida, the ColdplaysongandFridaKhalopiece. Castaway –depictingthe state of the rebelsastheyreachthe island. Maniacal– the descriptiongiventothe dictatoras he sailsforthe islandstorecapture the rebels. Ablaze– duringthispart the islandshave beenpillagedandfiresstarted.Thisiswhatmygatefold artworkdepicts,withthe islandsinthe backgroundburning,the nearestone smolderingandthe front mostislandshowingthe marksof someone havingbeendraggedawayinthe night. Lying in Wait – those whosurvivedthe attackhide inthe undergrowthuntil the forceshave left. Oneof the Few - …whosurvivedbeingrecaptured. Volcano – the emotionsof those whohave beenleftalive.The waituntil the chance toeruptontothe dictatorshiptheyhave leftto getrevenge. Noxious –refersto the ash producedbyvolcanoes,itwill shroudthe state andpoisonthe inhabitants much like the rebelswill once theyhave regrouped. Technicolor Monsoon –a downpourof colourand happiness,washingoverthe rebels.They seethe light and have hope. Rustic Flag – theyjoinundera newflagmuchlike the Tricolourflagof the FrenchRevolution,asseenin bothViva La Vida andThe StoneRoses’ artwork. The Cycle Breaks – the rebelshave foundthemselvesandprepare to rescue those takenfromislands. AlwaysA Little Further– ‘We are the Pilgrims,master;we shall go.Alwaysalittle further;itmaybe. Beyondthatlast blue mountainbarredwithsnow.Acrossthatangryor that glimmeringsea.’Anextract froma poemby JamesElroyFlecker. Rhetorical Tranquil Arise – a reference to‘Rise’byHansZimmerfrom TheDark KnightRises. Unwritten Law – similartoThe 2nd Law: Isolated System byMuse.Usedin World War Z. Surpassed BoneDry – ‘skinandbones’from Yellow by Coldplay. Two Point Four– 2.4km = 1.5 miles. Fortunes Rhetorical Week14: 13/05/19 - 16/05/19
  • 84. Thiswas the final weekof production,butIhadlittle lefttodo.I beganbyreviewingmyworktosee whatneededtobe done.I noticedthatmycoverswere laid outas a vinyl sleeve wouldbe,the barcode and writingwere atthat scale.However,the songswere listedastheywouldbe onaCD, all in one playlist.Onavinyl recordthiswouldbe splitintomultiple sidesasonlyone side canonlycontain approximately22 minutesof recording.Iwentthroughall the remainingcoversandchangedthis, addingan A side andB side accordingly. I thenmovedontofinishingthe lastpiecesof work.Thiswasthe rear coverof Rhetorical,Archipelago and Coincidence.IstartedwithRhetorical andfoundanelegantfont.UponseeingthisIknew thatitfit perfectlywiththe aestheticof the albumandhadto be used.Ithenlaidthe tracks out inan abstract way,so that a diagonal patternwascreatedwiththe textbetweenthe splitplaylists.Ithenpositioned themso that the photobecame introducedintothe design.Iplacedthe lowertextoverthe concrete so that the uppertextsat overthe water.The usedthe edge of the concrete as a physical divide between the splitand enhanceditvisually.Iparticularlylike the placementof textinthe bottomrightcorner as it leavesthe whole photographopen,Itherefore placedthe barcode and‘legal details’opposite the song titles. I movedontoCoincidence.Ihadproducedsome songnamesusinga randomwordgeneratorhowever these were vaguelybasedaroundatechnologytheme.The frontandrearcoverof the albumgave an electronic,DaftPunktheme whichIutilised.Bothcoversgave thistheme intheirownway,the front showingbrightcolourstransitioningtoblackuponwhatappearsto be a vinyl record.The top mostpart isblurredas thoughspinningordancing,suggestingadance/rave theme.The repeatingthemeonthe rear givesanelectronic,circuitboardappearance. To start I separatedthe largerpatternintwo andplacedthe textbetweenthe halves.Iusedthe same fontas on the front,Silom,asit fittedthe designverywell.Iwrote all the tracksinlowercase to further portray the technology-computertheme.Asanartisticchoice I didnotdifferentiate betweenthe tracks and the side titlesinanywayso that the wordswere notbroken.Ilefta gap betweenthe twolists however,asIbelieve thiswouldbe helpfultothe consumerwhenwantingtofindthe correctside quickly. For the placementof the barcode I tookadvantage of the stripedpatternsthatI had made previously.I insertedthe barcode inplace of one of these andaddedthe legal spew nexttoit.The resultis somethingthatIam verypleasedwith. I nextalteredthe rearcoverof Archipelago.Insteadof abrightand colourful collage Iwantedsomething darkerand more fittingwiththe theme of the album.Iusedthe same image howeverIoverlaidasolid blackcolourand slightlyloweredthe opacity.Thisallowedsome of the colourtoappearthrough,but the theme wasmuch darkerand more serious.Ithenlistedthe twentysongs.Ichose somanyas I wantedtocreate a special conceptalbumthattolda story.This meantfoursideswouldbe needed.I chose a font whichwasentirelycapitalisedwhichfittedthe aesthetic.Unlike myotheralbumsI numberedthe tracksas there were somany,a choice that wouldhelpthe consumer.Ilistedthe sides smallerthanthe tracks to highlightthem, butIuseda maskon the colourlayerto create the dividing lines.Asthe image wasalreadyverylinear,Imade the middle line shortersothatit causeda break in the design.Comparingittothe original itlooksfarbetter.I thenaddedthe barcode whichblended nicelywiththe background.Whenaddingthe recordlabel logo,Ichangeditslightly.OrAnyRealismand
  • 85. Coincidence bothfeatureadifferentlogo,one withabig‘R’on the RaymothRecords,howeverfromthe Archipelagoonwardsthisthenchangestosimplerdesign.Idid thisto show a progressionintime and designnotonlyfromthe band butfrom external factorssuchasthe recordlabel.Itisa small detail but one that I feel isnecessary.Raymothisalsoareference tothe brandof luxurywatchI createdduringthe previousyears’FMP. Aftercompletingthe rearcover,IfinallyrealisedIhadto change the title onthe frontcover.I had debateditscartoonappearance since Imade it. I hadevenaskedthisquestionwhenreceivingpeer feedback,the responseIgotwas that itwas appropriate forthe design,howeverthe rearcoverhadnot beenmade duringthattime.Comparedwithone anotherIdidnotthinkthat the two tonesmatched.I usedthe same fontas usedon the rear to use on the cover.ThislookedfarbetterbutI wenta step furtherandaddeda designchoice whichIhadbeendebatingforsome time.Iaddedalayermask tothe fontand beganto stipple edgesof the text,chippingawayatit.Thisgave it an organiclookas though inkedwithaquill,addingtothe old-timesmaptheme. I thenre-appliedthe newdesignontoboththe albumbox sets. Withall the productionworkcompletedIuploadedittomyWix site where Ibeganto presentsimilarto howan artist or band’swebsite wouldpresenttheirworks.Ipresentedeachalbumwithitsownmusic player,listof tracks,frontand back covers,additional artworksandabrief synopsis.
  • 86. Week15: 20/05/19 - 23/05/19 Evaluation. ThisweekIevaluatedthe productionprocessesIusedsince the beginningof the project. Week16: 03/06/19 – 06/06/19 Evaluation.