Album Cover Critique
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- 29 Responses
- bmehalo0
i like the blood the way it is. it has a punk feel. no need for me to think "oh that's not real." what the f*** is wrong with people. rock on man.
- blueless0
I agree on the mood being reached.
One thing I noticed, maybe flip the child layer. The light direction doesn't match the direction of the shadow, Or that of the WW photo.
good job.
- sinbad0
I really like the new 2nd version with the red blood splat coming from "Irtiqa." Keep retouching the kid.
1 thing that noone has pointed out is that the white text in "Entity Paradigm" gets lost a little against the white in the image. It's not too bad here, but on a cd it will be pretty small. maybe a slight gray outline or glow to it.
well done overall.
- minge0
the kid still looks stuck on. have you done any thing to it?
weaken the black for starters.. to dark
- auricom0
i'd say just get rid of the kid.
- lifeinsodium0
no love for sodium?
:(
- leisurebot0
It's an interesting concept, but again the details are mussing it up.
Besides the already mentioned white line and the lack of transition in the boy.
The boy is in a different contrast ratio than the rest of the picture ie. his shadow areas are black the WWII pictures is faded and there are no true blacks... His shadow is too flat (one color) and it's faceing the wrong way, and its sitting like a cubist table.
The grains of the pictures are totally different very smooth in the WWII picture rough in the boy... Try scanning the boy from a larger photographic print, the grain scale should change...
The edges you've aplied are great they sit with the picture really well.
As for the type, both places cause a little trouble; on the first the "entity paradigm" gets lost, on the second "irtiqa" is cluttered with the soldiers, "entity paradigm" sits up really nicely... Both could be resolved by playing with the type size, or soft shadows.
In general it's nice to keep the band name towards the top, so when people are flipping through the cd bins they see it right away...
From the look of the type this is a hardcore band, if it's not I have no second guess based on the cover artwork...
Keep up the work...
- bomy_dick0
goodness mate..
i can't understand a word of your english...
nice site overall.. but why did u write all these 'catch' phrases ?
- bomy_dick0
that's the main problem .. the kid looks cheaply copied / pasted there.. too obvious...
and the blood effect looke really cheap.?is that really 'necessary' to put some blood there..
the rest is fine, nice typo,
- cinder0
I would never, ever see that band live or listen to their CD judging by the cover.
The world already has enough death metal militant bands.
- bug0
i love you tho...
in such a non-homosexual way...
- bug0
i'm usually not the critic, but, to me it looks like you just plopped the image of the child onto a layer seperate from the soldiers with no integration...the attention of the soldiers in the photo is focused to the left...
Also...a major issue for me, besides the fact that the kid totally doesn't mesh, is the fact that i don't know the title of the album?....although i do like it more aligned top, i don't know what it says...Irtiga, Irtiqa, Irtioa...plus the edges of the photo scream PS brushes...doesn't feel authentic.
- unknown0
hmmm
- lifeinsodium0
thanks for the comments. and yes i do need to blend the kid in a little more with the image, i am working on it and will post the progress by tomorrow.
as far as the concept of the cover goes - the album is about this child that is born in the 1st track and the album follows the kids life through his various difficult moments until this person's death in the final track on the cd. there is not one happy moment in the album and its all about difficulties and life being a shithole.
what i wanted to show with the cover was this person's life in a nutshell. through out his life he was never comfortable, all he ever felt like was a little kid, scared shitless of things around him and never being in control.
the blood does look cheesy but that is what i want. i want the red paint splatter to distract you from the image. i want the viewer to wish that the splatter wasn't there because it keeps getting in your way.
more comments will always be appreciated. thanks for the help so far. i am still working on it.
- czrock0
My honest opinion here is I think in this case less is more. I think your overall subject matter is very literal and gives it all away at first glance.
Maybe look into trying to create some mystery on the cover, where you can reveal more of the overall concept as you go through piece, maybe in the inside cover?
I hope this helps
- unknown0
great concept...I like #1.
But #2 is great too, and the scary women tree is great idea ;).
- kpl0
it's effen awesome. 2 is better... I'd say make that blood look more like a printer's mistake. as is, i think it's being too aggressive... it's almost like scratching in "THIS KID WILL DIIIIIIE." a bit more subtlety is what I'm saying.
otherwise, this probably the best album cover I've seen since Armand Van Buren's pic of a kid holding an ak...and the Roots' Things Fall Apart covers.
Really. I really do like it. honestly.
- tymeframe0
I like the scratches in the bg, which ties in with the photo and the filter. I also love the battered text which leads into your gorey red title. Great design and mood generation.
Icono is right about the blood. I'm not sure what you're going for here, the kid doesn't look effected (expression wise) by the blood or gun shot or whatever.
I'd try to work the red in with the kid another way. (maybe as the shadow?) Also feather the kid's head in a bit.
Outside the details tho, it's great.
- IP0
I would suggest a few more blood soaked children as that always makes people happy :)