Artist Logo

Here is my chosen font for my artist. By looking at already established artists websites and album covers, I have learnt that the logo used for the album art is conventionally used in the header for the website. This helps create a consistent and continuous artist image. 

I have also created a small abbreviated version of the logo, that would be used on the drum skin and merchandise.

Final Album Images

I have edited all of my images and using photoshop and I have cropped them so that the proportions are correct for the Jewel CD case, and for the digipak. I have two different varieties of image, ones shot at the cafe and ones that I shot in the forest. I have decided to use the forest Images for the Album cover, and the ones shot in the cafe for the Single. Here are my images: 

I am now going to add my text in the chosen fonts to create my final product.

Album Artwork- Photos

Here are the photos I have taken for my album artwork. I am going to use photoshop to edit them to create my final product. 

The Beatles- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

To help me understand the codes and conventions that are needed within album art I decided to look at this revolutionary and iconic Beatles album. Here are my notes on what I found:

Artist's Website- Research

With advances in technology and the development of the internet the way we access music has changed too. These changes mean the way artists/ bands promote themselves has had to alter also. As part of the supporting task I have decided to create a website for my artist. 

Websites allow artists to promote themselves online, acting like a virtual business card almost, but it also provides somewhere for existing fans to keep up to date with what the band is doing, when the text gigs are and if they have new material soon to be released. 

To help me create my website I have decided to look at some artist/band websites, this will give me a deeper understanding of what to include and how to compose my website. 

Below are some websites I have looked at and my thoughts and feelings about them:

Adele- http://www.adele.tv/home

• This is a very simple yet classic website design. 
• I like the layout using boxes over the top of a faint image of the artist. 
• The way the image used for the album cover is echoed in the background gives us a continuous and consistent representation of the artist.
• Artists name is biggest thing on page. Important as it needs to be the first thing we see. 
• sophisticated/ grow up colour scheme
• Mailing list
• videos integrated to home page

The XX- http://thexx.info/

• Less conventional that Adele site.
• Strong brand- X in the centre with footage behind it
• Brand colour scheme used (black &white) used throughout album art, videos and merch.
• Simple Links
• Newsletter sign up, like adele's 
• option to play track 
• links to myspace page, itunes and amazon
• contact info

I have noticed that a lot of artists also have a merchandise website attached where fans can order official products. For this reason I have decided to look at the format of "The XX" shop.

In keeping with the artist image and style the shop is very simple with a continuation of the black and white colour scheme. It has the artists logo at the top and all produce has the artist logo incorporated. By looking at this I have had lots of ideas for my website for Ellie and I now feel confident that I can create a website that promotes my artist whilst being in keeping with my artist image and brand. 

Nirvana- Nevermind

I have decided to look at Nirvana's "Nevermind" album as it was an innovative and groundbreaking album. Here are my notes below:

Although my artist is nowhere  near the same genre as Nirvana, I believe that I have learnt a lot from the composition of this album art, and the fonts used to create the band image. 

Oasis- Definitely Maybe

I have decided to look at one of an Oasis album cover as they are one of the biggest british bands of all time. Oasis lead the way in the "Brit Pop" movement of the early 1990s, drawing on influences from successful bands of the 1960s, such as The Beatles. Their songs were brilliantly written and had were intended to make statement about what was occurring culturally, politically and musically in the UK at the time. This movement was a combatant for the invasion of American grunge bands that was happening at the time. 

I believe that we can draw parallels between that movement and the current situation in the UK music industry. Towards beginning of this millennium the UK market was saturated with hip-hop, R 'n' B and Pop artists coming over from America, but since 2006 we have seen a revival of British music, with new artist such as Adele, Lily Allen and Tinie Tempah making the debuts. I believe that we are now in a Golden Age of British Music, with more British artists succeeding in "breaking america," and I think that the way Adele's new album has dominated world charts going straight to number one in more than 20 countries so far, with one of the tracks "Someone Like You" having a record breaking 9 consecutive weeks at number one. 

I think that my artist fits into this new age Brit Pop movement and I therefore thought it would be a good idea to look at some of Oasis' Album art. Here are my notes below:

 

Album Artwork- Photography

I have decided that I want to have a link between the location for the setting for my music video and my album artwork, for that reason I took the photos for my album artwork whilst filming our video. I have done some rough sketches of my ideas for:

1. The advert
2. My album art/ digipak 
3. the website

Font Research

I went on 1001fonts.com and searched through the fonts and made a list of fonts that I think suit my artist and her image. I was conscious that the fonts have to fit with the images, I therefore have chosen a variety different styles, that communicate Ellie's Image.

Kate Nash- Made of Bricks

To help me in the process of creating my Album Artwork for Ellie Tanner, I have decided to look at Kate Nash's "Made of Bricks" album. I have chosen to look at Kate Nash because as an artist she falls into a similar genre to that of Ellie. 

This is Kate Nash's Debut Album and the artwork is really important as it is the first impression we get of her as an artist, before we even hear her music. For this reason her name is larger than the title of the album, because it is introducing her and establishing her brand. This is a convention I have seen in many other artist's debut albums, like the ones below:

All of these debut albums have the artist/band name as the only text on the cover. This is due to the importance of establishing who the band are, as artists and people. The style of font used is also important as it helps to portray the artist image. The style of font used for the text on Nash's Album has a handwritten and very informal feel. It portrays a very playful feel and we would expect to this theme to be carried on through her music.

In the foreground of the album we have the artist, with her back to the audience but she is facing around. This  gives the feeling that she is going/ walking somewhere, but by turning her head towards the audience it is as if she is inviting us to go to this place/ on her musical journey with her. Her pose is an allusion to that of the iconic Marilyn Monroe (below), who was one of the sexiest pinups of the 20th century.

The artist clothes in this cover convey a sultry and sexy feeling. This because red carries connotations of sex, passion and love, but also anger and fire. I believe that this is a statement about her music but also her personality, as Kate Nash's lyrics are very playful and romantic but also fiery, feisty and punchy, especially the "foundations" track. 

In this cover I think Nash wanted to convey her pride of where she has come from. I think she has done this through the background. The house is quintessentially english and with the red clay tile roof, and white wood window frames. The house almost looks like a dolls house, which also adds to the playful feeling. The pruned hedges have middles class connotations and therefore could be an allusion to the artist background. These structured hedges are contrasted against the overgrown grass and daisies. 

It is noticeable that Kate Nash is superimposed and I think that the designer has done this on purpose as a postmodern technique making us aware that what we are looking at isn't real. It's done to show us that they aren't pretending it is either. 

To help me when I create my back cover for my album, I have also looked at the back of "Made of Bricks" to see how the Kate Nash's production team created a cohesive packaging. 

There are certain conventions that I will need to adhere to when creating my back cover, such as a barcode, track list, copyright information and record label logo. These will all be things that I will look to include when I create my back cover. 

The playful writing used on the front cover is carried over to continue the artists brand image. As a whole it is a very simplistic back cover, but I think it works well with the front cover as the front cover is fairly complex so it is made for purpose. It isn't made as a piece of art it is more for function. This idea is something that I will keep in mind when I create my album designs. 

As a whole I really like this album and the playful concept. The text used has inspired me to use a similar font in my designs as it will contrast well with the logo/ brand font of Ellie Tanner. 

Editing

Today I worked on editing our film. I worked on adding effects to create the sepia/ old film grain feel of some of the footage. This idea was inspired by old/rustic  cinematic style used in Angus & Julia Stone's "Mango Tree".

To do this I cut the footage in Final Cut and then exported it into iMovie. Using iMovie I then added the old film grain and then imported it back into final cut.

Album Art Ideas

Here are my initial ideas for my album artwork: