TechnicalDodging near the bottom of the image in order to add contrasting light/dark colours. I had to create polygons (such as hexagons, so many hexagons!) in specific sizes then select the polygons, switch layers and copy/paste specific parts of the image below to get the shapes I wanted. Making the logo glow or look like a stamp required use of tricky filters. I applied many filters to change the shape and overall colours of the image, giving it a natural feel. I used a brush to get the base for the stitching, copy-pasted then used a filter to apply jagged edges. After applying these edges I applied a filter that gave it a cloth-like texture, completing the process.
Idea or ConceptMy main inspiration was one of the images shown on the "CD Album Covers.pdf" file. It was a series of interesting shapes with actual art inside the shapes. I decided to shape my cover similarly, giving a lot of blank space for the mind to fill in the details. My initial idea was much different, though, the initial idea had no blank gaps and was going to have very little editing. My initial idea was something like Little Big Planet, in that the world would be regular fabric stitched on to the surface of either the wood or a blank screen. But as I was limited to pictures of post-it notes and dish clothes, I made do with my materials.
InfluencesThe artists listed on the reference page inspired the shapes on my final cover. Matt Zeinstra was also a great influence as he convinced me to try certain filters and certain other strategies to make the picture look a little less horrible.
CompositionI made most of the image unbalanced so the viewer's eyes would swivel around the picture, but I purposefuly made some of the parts pixel-perfect. The spaces between the rectangles are all completely even, with the points being at the direct center of the rectangle and each point corresponding to the edge of another rectangle. I tried to make things look proper while beind misshapen.
As for eye movement, I want people to read the logo, follow the inverted circles then read the title of the album. I figured that was the best way to have the most important bits stand out while maintaining a brightly coloured initial photo. The rest of the shapes are cosmetic, they aren't meant to draw the viewer's eyes. This was the way I avoided clutter, as that can make an album cover look absolutely horrendous.
MotivationThe Cat Empire has to be my favourite band, and being given time and marks for dedicating work to them is something I took advantage of. I also wanted to create something professional looking, a legitimate piece of art. Most of my other works have been scribbles and small photoshops, but I feel this is the first thing I can put on a resume and brag about.
Critical AssesementI dislike all the white space. Last-minute I've been tossing the idea in my mind about changing the blank space to a yellow background with coffee-stained edges. It would give the cover a very rustic look to it, with a hand-made indie feel. Though I've asked the opinions of others around me and they disagree, so I kept the space white. Though I figure it's good to be minimalistic when everyone else has cluttered pictures. What surprised me was when Matt told me to use a couple filters on my initial image (which was a bunch of post-it notes taped to a dish cloth) and Haela told me she liked what I made (before the crazy editing). If it weren't for their contributions I would have scrapped the entire cover. What surprised me was it actually started to look good after enough editing, and in the end it not only looked appealing, people mistook it for an actual album cover!
If I had more time to go over my concept, I'd probably take the time to manually edit the mosaic part of the back cover to look like stained glass, and change the stitching to look like actual stitches. Given even more time I'd alter the shapes on the front cover to more varied ones, squares and triangles and pentagons in order to offer more variety. But again, minimalistic.
