AWT4 – Album Art:  Bands That Never Were

Some of the most beautiful and powerful art that reaches a mass audience can be found on the covers and insides of vinyl and CD music albums.  This is a good example of non-traditional media, both in the techniques and types of imagery and the fact that it didn’t exist as an art form in your grandparents’ day.

 

The project here is both conceptual and actual.  You are to invent a band or other performing artist, complete with fictitious but plausible biography.  They might be current or from past decades – you might want to invent the ultimate hip-hop or Nashville artist of today, a New wave band of the eighties, a long forgotten folkie or psychedelic band from the sixties, or bee-bop band from the fifties.  They might be musicians, or perhaps spoken word or even some other type of performer.

 

Next you invent a theme for one of their albums, one that references the times they lived in and their past history, and the influence a contemporary art movement or artist has had on them. This has to be developed in your sketchbook – jot down your brainstormed ideas, sketch out possible visual connections.  The art connection will require that you do a little research on the movement or artist you’ve chosen, so the connection makes sense.

 

After you have a theme, do some planning, again in your sketchbook.  Sketch a few different ideas for the front & back covers and the insert.  Discuss them and get them checked off by me before proceeding.

 

Finally, start creating the 3 parts: front cover, back cover and insert.  These have to be printed and fit into a CD case, so do some careful measuring.  Then create separate PSD files for each part, at 300 DPI.   Measurements of a Jewel Case.

 

The Process & Parts

  1. Choose a time & genre, and invent the band
  2. Sketchbook development of theme and ideas
  3. Front Cover
  4. Back Cover
  5. Insert – Song List & Bio
  6. Bonus Feature

 

Theme

·                                What kind of band/performer/artist are you inventing?  Let the genre and album title guide the rest of your creative process

·                                Reflect the theme in the title, the band’s name, the song list and bio, and through visual elements such as fonts, value, colour, composition, etc.

Front Cover

·                                Stunning photography – unusual angles, lighting, colour;  clear face(s)

·                                Collage and/or other layering; interesting of layers, transparency, blending modes etc.

·                                Artist and album Titles – font style that fits the album theme.  Some special effects and alteration of titles

·                                Thought given to elements & principles of design

·                                See some cover examples

 

Back Cover

  • Related to theme of front, but an alternative:  maybe an inversion of some sort; another angle; different processing of some of the layers and images; maybe an extension of the idea from the front – random example: artist is lively, on stage with lights etc. on the front cover, whereas the back has a darker shot of the artist alone slumped over an amp in the aftermath of the concert;  or riding a horse on the front, lying on the ground watching the horse disappear over the horizon on the back
  • I f you prefer other media, this is your chance – you can do any original art you want on the back, provided it’s related to the theme and you get my approval

 

Insert

  • A song list that fits the theme – at least four titles.  If it’s a spoken word or other type of album, four suitable titles
  • A plausible biography of the band/artist, showing how they developed to the point where the theme you’re using makes sense
  • Artwork must again suit the theme.  It could be partially hand-drawn and scanned, including calligraphy
  • Artwork can include a background picture or pattern, collage or individual inserted photos, borders
  • Can be a single page (of a size that fits in a CD case) or more if you’re on a creative roll

 

Bonus Feature

  • A song list that fits the theme – at least four titles.  If it’s a spoken word or other type of album, four suitable titles.  If you want to get really creative and try out another medium, script a short interview with the band and use Cool Edit to record & edit it.  It’ easy – just ask me how!  We could even burn it to a CD to give your project some audio content.

 

Dimensions

 

Printing & Display

Do a great job (and one suitable for public viewing), because I’d like to display your CDs in the main foyer.

The display will look something like this (but a lot better!)  This one has the front cover folded out of the case – we might decide to do it differently for yours…