Final Design

Here is my final CD cover with custom typography.

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Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 1 - student project

Textured Layout

Here is my design with the texture and lighting added.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 2 - student project

Some details here:

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 3 - student project

In or out of tent?

In the peer feedback session Jordan Jung mentioned it might be better to have the man inside the tent and not peaking out. When I got to texturing I added a light from the torch but this threw off the focus of the design as the light was pointing to the side. This is what he looked like before he was dropped. Cheers for the advice Jordan.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 4 - student project

Vector Layout

For my colour palette I have chosen a range of blues and purples to represent the moonlight. I have kept to detail quite basic as I plan to add plenty of highlights and textures to the scenery in Photoshop. I have also added the man peering out of the tent to see what the noise is. I will add light from the torch and also plenty of mist at the next stage.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 5 - student project

Final Layout Sketches

When sketching for the final layout I decided to change some aspects from my original written concept. I have got rid of the cute bunny as the potential victim, because no one cares about cute bunnies, right? Instead I was thinking a camping tent with the outline of a couple inside to increase the tension and show off the monsters size. I have also ditched the idea of having a tree frame around the main scene as I feel there is not enough room and it would only distract from the other elements.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 6 - student project

Final Sketch (Rejected)

This was originally my final sketch but as I started recreating it in Illustrator I decided the angle of vision was not dramatic enough and there was a lot of wasted space, so I rejected it and started again.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 7 - student project

Monster Sketches

Even though I plan for the monster to be silhouetted and quite mysterious in the final design, I needed to know his shape, proportions and how he might move. After plenty of sketching I settled on the monster below. He's called Paul.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 8 - student project

Layout Sketches

Here I am trying to get a clear idea of how the elements of my design could work together. The elements are text (Band name and album title) the monster (main character and focus of the design) and the trees/forest (surrounding environment).

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 9 - student project

Introduction & Mood Boards

Chosen band: Super Furry Animals

The "Super Furries" are a Welsh rock band who formed in the early 90's. Their music is described as psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation, but I don't think that does it much justice. Gruff Rhys has an amazing but casual voice and the lyrics are pure genius. If you are not familiar with their music I promise you have never heard anything like it. Give this song a try "Fire In My Heart".

Chosen album: Phantom Power

The sixth of their nine studio albums "Phantom Power" will be celebrating it's tenth anniversary on the 21st of July this year (2013), this makes me feel very old. The singles from this album were "Golden Retriever" and "Hello Sunshine". This is one of my favourite albums but the main reason I chose this for my project is because I have always loved the album artwork (more on this in the next section).

Past album artwork

Pete Fowler is the man behind the majority of the band's various album artwork, see below. He is a Welsh artist who is well known for his "Monsterism" paintings, animations and toys. Pete's artwork fits with the bands music perfectly and I recommend having a look at more of his work at his website.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 10 - student project

Concept Development

While I am I huge fan of Pete Fowler's illustrations I don't want to create something similar to his previous art. I do however want to pay homage to him by having two aspects of his work in my final artwork. Firstly I want the main character in my artwork to be a monster, I'm thinking threatening but cute in some way. Secondly I'm thinking of "framing" the image in a forest setting, possibly using a wood texture like seen in the "Phantom Power's" original artwork (image above).

Written Concept

The design space is framed on the left and right by trees which present the scene. It is night and a vast forest is drenched in moonlight. In a clearing, at the foreground of the image, sleeps a sweet innocent rabbit. A giant creature looms above the trees and leers at the small rabbit. Does this monster mean the creature harm? It is hard to tell as monster is silhouetted by the moonlight. Only the furry outline and glowing white eyes can be seen of the mysterious behemoth.

Super Furry Animals - Phantom Power - image 11 - student project

Ged Hirst

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