CD Cover And Back, With Reflection

Technical

-The first step I took, after the obvious (taking the pictures) was to increase the contrast of the images, and make sure the microphone in the background did not look incredibly photoshopped.

-The second step I took was to put a cutout filter on the photos, giving them a relatively cartooney appearance, and less colours for the eye to take in.

-The third step in my process was to superimpose a photo of Mac Miller himself over the half of the cover, and turn down the opacity.  The money fluttering downwards on the other side balances the colours.  I then turned down the saturation to zero on each.

Idea

The original idea I had for the cover was  to do a country scene, but I almost immediately scrapped this because country is not only my second favourite genre, but also because it did not give tthe appearance of being handmade. 

On I moved to a rap CD cover.  And then the idea struck me: what do all artists do before recording any kind of music?  They work in an office for hours writing and perfecting each verse, down to a point where each line is perfectly harmonized with the others.  So I took a picture of some papers on a desk and played with the filters on GIMP at home.  After a short while, I had come up with the scheme that would eventually turn into the finished product.

Influences

The only artist that provided any real influence on the piece was Mac Miller.  During the making of the cover, I had my iPod on Mac Miller only.  After listening to Live my Life I realized that it actually takes effort to make the music he produces.  So I set to work, showing that “style comes with excellence and money makes benevolence.”

Composition

The only kind of balance I really tried to put to work in this piece is symmetrical.  The symmetry of anything is really key in my mind, so I tried my best to do that on the cover.  I put a picture of Mac Miller on the left side, and that gave the side too much weight.  So I again took a photo and  instead put it on the right side: Voila!  Both sides turned into something that looks nicely balanced.

Motivation

This was my only legitimate problem doing this assignment.  A lack of motivation is a sure-fire way to lead off to a lame and unproductive week.  The only real motivation I saw was a good mark and a pat on the head, but good marks are mandatory for a college acceptance.  I also very much am into the production of music, so this kind of assignment very much appealed to my tastes, though if it did not have to be handmade themed, I would have very much enjoyed creating it far more.

Critical Assessment

In my honest opinion, the most successful part of this assignment was the filtering I imposed on the images.  They give it a cartooney appeal that gives the impression of the simplicity of happiness, and how money helps you get it.   Money makes the world go round. 

There was one part of the project that surprised me, and it was the amount of work it took to paste photos in and make them appear as though they were actually there.  It was a challenge to make them not stand out with jagged edges and hard lines.

With additional time I would probably add more items to the desk, perhaps a lamp in the back left, beyond the crumpled papers.