evaluation

My goal for this project was to find information about an event or a new artist which has been discovered this summer, I had to choose which path I wanted to follow i.e. graphic, video, animation, photography. I believe I achieved this by finding information and I got inspired to create multiple album covers from Tom Odell's original design. I thought the overall design of my album cover was good because it looked inspired by the original Tom Odell album 'Long Way Down.' I also thought it was good because I used the same colours and I tried to create a not too boring cover. The hardest part of the summer project was finding valid information about the artist because some articles may be written incorrectly. Secondly, I found making existing album covers to inspire from since there are so many genres to look at, I looked at popular artists because their album covers would be seen the most compared to the rest.

 I could improve my work by going into more detail with my opinions throughout my project, I could also make more experiments from my existing album covers I have created on Photoshop CS4. I could improve by looking at multiple album covers from different genres in music to see if there's a difference. Lastly, I could improve be creating something related to music for example, tickets, event posters, leaflets. I could not achieve this because I ran out of time however I concentrated most of my time on creating the album covers.

final album cover

The photo is set to the actual measurements so that it is able to print and fit a CD case, I picked this one because it relates to Tom Odell's actual CD design because of the green and blue colours. I also like it because it looked more professional than the rest which I created. The one reason I can think of which people might not like it is because it might be too dark to catch customers attention.


This screenshot is showing that people have looked at my blog and followed it so that my designs/work appear on their "dashboard". 

graphic design on album covers

I have been looking online for graphic designers who specialize in CD albums and music, sadly I could only find a new artists which do. 

http://www.rodsteele.com/freelance-graphic-designer-in-london/
Rod Steele is a graphic designer and illustrator who specializes his work in music, his music has been used by Apple, Microsoft, KISS, ABC News. He creates designs for book covers, album sleeves and helping in advertising companies all over the world. This CD cover is what Rod Steel designed for a heavy metal band in 2013, I like this album cover because the white stands out from the black background. I also like the symbol in the centre of the design because it can relate to 'heavy metal 
music' and that is what some people think of.


I am looking at Two Door Cinema Club's album design because I am interesting in the typography including in the cover. I like how the text is involved with the image of the kitten in the background with the letter 'o'. It is quite a basic album since it is just an image of an animal with little text at the centre. The text being white is a good idea because in my opinion, it stands out the most and it wouldn't work if it was any other colour i.e. red or black.

I liked looking at Of Mice & Men the band's cd cover for one of their albums because I like the style and how it is made. I like the centre but mostly the pale background informing you who the band is. It also includes a picture to give it more depth under the text. I could be inspired by this design by using the same text over and over at an equal distance.

Primary images for albums

These are my primary images of a variety which I may choose to use or involve in my designs, I like using flower and nature pictures because many bands have decided to create their albums based on looking 'relaxing'. I have also added my images which I have drawn so that I get some drawing skills shown.

Editing & experimentation

Some of my experiments and designs have been altered so when I print the final outcomes out, they are facing the same way to slide into a CD case. I prefer my first design to be the most success because I like the colour green in the background on the front cover and the white text stands out from the black lines and background. For my second design, I have been inspired by the 'Another Love EP' from Tom Odell's first EP. I like the colour but I think it is too boring and does not stand out like it should, I have tried to use the same techniques in the original on my design. My third design is a picture of Tom Odell which I drew on Photoshop, I did this because it could show drawing skills while presenting what I can do involving graphic design.

article on his music from NME & complaints

Over the summer: 

After Tom Odell's new album  being released, many magazines have been creating their own reviews on the album. The most famous one is a critic from NME magazine which rated the album 0/10, the review also quotes 'I wish I could say there’s a place in Hell reserved for Tom Odell' many people have complained about the review being too offensive and unfair however some people have agreed that "it is the truth." http://www.nme.com/reviews/tom-odell/14533

Another well known article is the reaction from Tom Odell's family especially his father who rang NME to complain about the review being 'too harsh on Tom.' Many of Tom Odell's fans believe to now call his father a hero for doing the right thing! http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/10131598/Tom-Odells-embarrassing-dad-calls-NME-to-complain-about-review.html

analysis on his album cover

'Long Way Down' released summer 2013

His new album 'Long way Down' is quite basic and the colours are very similar - using many blues, greys and greens. I like how he is stood at the top of a road which could emphasise that looking down the road is a ''long way down''. It is a very simple album cover because it just includes the artist with a landscape in the background which could be found to be quite mundane to people. To create my own album cover related to his original, I could take pictures of existing roads at an angle where it looks like there is a long way down. I will firstly create an album cover being inspired by Tom Odell's cover then I will move on to look at other graphic designers album covers for bands.

article on his album getting to number 1

This summer, Tom Odell's album 'Long Way Down' was released and went straight to number one for a couple of weeks after it being his first album to release ever. He has become well-known to people in the music industry and many people are liking his type of music.


http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/news/a494479/tom-odell-earns-debut-no1-album-with-long-way-down.html

Winning a Brit Award

Tom Odell released an EP 'Another Love' in the late 2012 which turned out to be a great success, this was because he found out he was nominated to be in the Critics' Choice 2013 Awards with AlunaGeorge and Laura Mvula. In February, he found out he was the winner of the category and it was announced that he was the first male singer to win the Critics' Choice Awards at the Brits. He stated "I’m thrilled and honoured to win the BRITs Critics’ Choice Award. I genuinely can’t believe it. Thank you so much. Looking at the list of amazing female artists who have won the Award already, I just hope I don’t let the boys down!” He was also looking forward to his full album being released this summer (June 2013). He was starting to become much more popular and his music is now liked by thousands.
http://www.brits.co.uk/news/2013/critics-choice-2013-winner-tom-odell

The beginning of Tom Odell's career

Tom Odell was born in Chichester which is located in the United Kingdom. He was brought up in a middle-classed family with his father being a pilot and his mother being a primary school teacher however due to his fathers job, they mostly lived in New Zealand for most of Tom’s childhood. Tom started to play the piano at the age of 9 professionally, his passion for music grew and quoted “I’d be writing lyrics in my head while the rest of the class wanted to play football." At the age of 18, he scrapped the plan to attend the University of York and tried to attend Liverpool music school. He quoted “it was humiliating: people laughing, grabbing the microphone as I sang" so he decided to move back to his home town. He joined a band for a little while but decided he wanted to be solo so he ‘didn’t have to rely on other people’. Tom Odell was signed onto a record deal where he started to create music hoping to be discovered.


In Summer 2013, Tom Odell has risen in the charts and has been touring the UK throughout the season. Playing at well known cities for example, Birmingham, Manchester, London, Leeds, Cambridge, Cardiff. This summer he has played Glastonbury which is a popular event which happens in Glastonbury every year where many act play in front of thousands of people. 

What have I chosen to do my project on?

Tom Odell's new album 'Long Way Down'

For my summer project, I have chosen to base it all on a new discovered artist Tom Odell. I have chosen him because I am really interested in his journey to become so well known in 2013 and how his music affects people who listen to his music. After researching about his music and graphic designers on album cover,s I will be creating new album covers for his existing album 'Long Way Down'. I will inspired by his original album cover however I will also be looking at graphic designer who are paid to create and design album covers for bands. To achieve what the brief wants, I will also be creating a Tumblr blog about his music so that people are able to follow what I am doing on this project.