My Fake Band - Evaluation

I believe that both my CD Cover and Poster turned out the way I wanted them to and were the most successful out of all the project I have done for this unit; they both have that rock genre look I was after to reflect my band and also they both stand out and catch the attention of the target audience I was aiming them at (16-24 years). I believe that this was achieved through the contrast of black on white and white on black, it made them both more bold and out-there, also the text font I used helped to make them eye-catching, it wasn’t simple it was bold and had texture to it which matched the genre of music I believe.

I created Mood Boards to gather up research of previous CD Covers and Posters to help me influence my own work. I got my research for my Mood Boards off Google Images. I also got some of my influences for my CD Covers from a book called ‘The Greatest Album Covers of All Time’ by Barry Miles, Grant Scott and Johnny Morgan. For my fonts I got them from a website called ‘Dafont.com’ where my particular font was listed ‘Fancy>Old School>Night Stalker’. My hand drawn drafts where of the images I was going to use for my final pieces which I got from Google Images – I drew them from the computer to paper.

With my CD Covers I had difficulties with changing the colour of some pieces of my work; with my back cover I struggled to make the parts of the volume dials blue because I wanted them to look like they were naturally blue and not placed on. I also, on the back cover, had difficulties with making the number texts stand out; they looked like they blended in too much but I didn’t want to enlarge them, so I made them have a blue glow around the edges to make them stand out more. With my Poster I had no real difficulties as it was quite a simple and basic piece to do.

I enjoyed doing both the CD Cover and the Poster as I was able to reflect my personal taste and my own ideas into my work. I mostly enjoyed the editing of both pieces as I am quite used to Photoshop and know how to do the basics and achieve what I want to achieve, but also through this process of creating a CD Cover and Poster I learnt new methods, tools and skills which will help me with future projects – for example the ‘Background Eraser’ tool, how to invert, how to adjust the shadows and highlights and the ‘Colour Replacement’ tool.

What I would change about my CD cover is make it a bit more realistic, meaning I would add some small print where the barcode and logo is, also I would have taken my own photos if I could do this again as I believe it would have looked better and I could have done more to them. What I would change about my Poster is to also perhaps used my own photos, but also I would perhaps add more information and it looks a little bland – but I do believe my Poster works well despite as others I looked at didn’t contain much information on them. Furthermore, I would perhaps do different ideas so I could use different software, such as InDesign and ImageReady, and get use to different methods, tools and skills. And also I’d get to use different file formats, such as INDD and GIF – as so far all I have used in Photoshop is PSD and JPEG.

MY Fake Band - Poster (Final Images)

My Fake Band - Poster (Step By Step)

Step One:

 

 Firstly I opened up a new blank document. I done this by going 'File' and then 'New...' where there were options to create a new blank document - I renamed me document and made the size A4.

Step Two:

Then I copied and pasted the imaged I wanted to use onto my new blank document, where it came out small - I then needed to adjust the size.

Step Three:

I adjusted the size of the image by going 'Edit' and then using the 'Free Transform' tool. I stretched the image out to the size i want, filling out all over the blank document.

Step Four:

Once I was satisfied with the size of my image I decided I wanted to edit it - I wanted to flip the black and white over. I done this by going 'Image', then 'Adjustments' and then 'Invert' which basically changed the two colours around.

Step Five:

 

Next I added some text. I done this by getting the font I wanted off a website called 'Dafont.com' where I found this particular font under 'Fancy' and then under 'Old School' where it was named 'Night Stalked - this is the same font used throughout both pieces as I think it show continuity. I then print screened my texts onto another blank document and cropped around the text, and then I copied and pasted the text onto my image. Once that was done I used the 'Free Transform' tool to enlarge my text to the size I wanted.

Step Six:

Finally, I done the same method as previous with the rest of the text and positioned it in the style I wanted. And once satisfied I saved the image as a JPEG and changed the quality to the maximum (12) it could go for best picture.

My Fake Band - Poster (Draft)

This is my hand drawn draft of my poster. This is a rough drawing of how the imagery will look. Also, as with the CD Cover, the final pieces will be neater and more detailed as well as in black and white and contain some text.

My Fake Band - Poster (Mood Board)

This is the 'Mood Board' I done for inspiration for the poster for 'My Fake Band'. I have gathered images of previous band posters I liked and would influence me for ideas for my own band poster.

My Fake Band - CD Cover (Front And Back Cover Final Images)

My Fake Band - CD Cover (Back Cover Step By Step)

Step One:

 

Firstly I needed to open up a new blank document. I do so by going 'File', then 'New...' and then changed the name of the new blank document and also the size to 300mm by 300mm - the same as the front cover - then clicked 'OK' and my document was then ready.

Step Two:

Next I needed to add my image which I done by copying and pasting the image onto the document.

Step Three:

Then I needed to adjust the size of the image as it was too small after being copied and pasted. I did this by going 'Edit' and then 'Free Transform' and stretching the image to the size of the document - but avoiding distorting the image too much.

Step Four:

I then decided I wanted to change the colouring. Which I done by going 'Image', then 'Adjustments' and then 'Invert. This basically flipped the colours over - i.e. black became white.

Step Five:

 

I felt that, after inverting the colours, the image was a little too bright and I wanted to tone it down a little. So to do this I when 'Image', then 'Adjustments' and then 'Shadows/highlights...' where a menu appears letting me adjust the shadowing and highlights in the image. Once adjusted to how I wanted it I selected 'OK' to change the image.

Step Six:

 

I then decided to change the colour of certain parts of the image. I done this by selecting the 'Eyedropper' tool and going to the front cover and selecting the blue used on that image, then I used the 'Colour Replacement' tool - and adjusted the size of the tool depending on what part I was doing at that point in time - to place the blue on to the parts I wanted.

Step Seven:

 

 

Once I was happy with the image I then added text. Which I, as well as the front cover, got from a website called 'Dafont.com' in a section called 'Fancy' under 'Old School' called 'Night Stalker'. I print screened the text onto a separate document, cropped it, and copied and pasted it onto my image. Then I adjusted the size by using the 'Free Transform' option. Once happy with the size I then needed to erase the white background of the text; I done this by using the 'Background Eraser' tool and carefully erasing the white trying not to remove the black text also.

Step Eight:

I done the same process to the other number texts, but for the title texts I didn't use the 'Background Eraser' tool - but everything before was the same process. I chose not to erase the background of the title text because I felt it blended into the background too much without a white text background.

Step Nine:

 

Looking at my work at this point I felt that the number texts didn't stand out as well as wanted. So I decided to add a glow - of the same blue as used throughout - which I done by going 'Image', then 'Adjustments' and then 'Colour Balance...' and adjusted the colour levels until it matched the blue i required. I done this to all of the number texts.

Step Ten:

 

 

Finally I needed to add a barcode and a record company they would be signed to - I chose 'Hungry Audio' who is an independent recording company because it reflects the bibliography. I got my images from 'Google Images' and copied and pasted them onto my image, then I used the 'Free Transform' option on them to adjust them to the size I wanted, and then I placed them where I wanted. After I was happy with my results I saved the image as a JPEG file and maximised the quality for the best look.