Album Art Project Process Book by: Kim Hawkins
So I chose the band Flogging Molly, which is an Irish punk band from LA. For this project, the class had to choose a band or a group of bands that they liked, choosing one in the end that was most favorable and then to create a record from that.
This project was created in the class Intro to Graphic Design and Illustration. For this project, I used the programs photoshop, illustrator and InDesign. As for why I chose Flogging Molly, not only do I enjoy irish music in general, I also felt that they are tied into the pirate/ salor theme. Some of my most faviorable works of art I’ve created in the past is getting to create art work of that theme.
The reason why I chose these bands is because I enjoyed the music. I wanted to stick to music that I enjoy, so after I was told of this project, I put in a couple of earbuds and went through the bands I like. I chose the bands Distrubed, Teddy Bears, Foster The People, Flogging Molly, and the Offspring. I had other bands in mind but the image I’d create for them just wasn’t comming to me. The ones that did, I either fell on older album covers, the theme of the band, or a character that seemed to represent the band itself.
For example, the Teddybears always had a bear on their albums. So I wanted to create the cover of the record with a bear head on the front. Then to give it more energy, I gave it these tenticles/ vines, as I felt the band had this vibe to it. Another example I went with would be Disturbed, which is a heavy metal band. Their mascot is always this figure whos face is always covered in shadows except for his eyes and teeth. Feeling those were a strong feature, I then proceded to draw out the teeth opening up, as if goading the viewer to take a peek. Wanting to then mix it up, I then put the eyes inside the mouth. I felt this gave the piece this dangerous feel to it, adding in the tenticles to give it more.
I chose this font for the style of the font looked similer to many of their other album covers. I wanted it to be as similer to their older albums, as I wanted this cover to feel as close to something they’d have. As for the stle and appearance of the font, I felt it had significants to the pirate feel I felt the band had.
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So for the in class discussion, everyone felt either this drawing or the disturbed piece really worked. Seeing that I enjoyed creating the Flogging Molly piece, I went with it in the end. I did agree with the class on the pieces that were the most popular and was actually very happy that the Flogging Molly was chosen as I had the most fun creating it. As for the color sceam, the original color I went with was green. I felt this color represented the band the best.
I feel that the images are working for the cover of the album as the images are well spaced and are centered properaly. The lack of line in the drawn images on the cover of the record give it the appearance of a logo and the color draws the eye in. I felt many of their songs not only were irish themed but also had this sea woarthy/ pirate feel to it, and thats what I wanted to create for the album. Add to this, their main logo was that of a snake and a clover. In the end, I not only wanted to make something new but to also keep the old.
In the end I thought the project turned out successfully. Not only does the record cover look great, I enjoyed getting to create it. Maybe if I could redue this project all over again, I’d go with Dropkick Murphy instead (another great irish band). I thought how the images worked with the type, especially on the back of the album worked really well. I proably would still stick with plain old pencil and paper as my pieces pop out more if I draw them by hand. Not only that, but I’m more comforatable also. A lesson I did learn from all of this: buy a printer and print it yourself, as it’ll save you time and money.
Don’t trust any one with your project!