album cover, opinions needed (UPDATE)

[briktop11b]

    My buddy is the singer for a "red dirt" band here in Oklahoma. They are about to have an album cut and I told him i would make him an album cover. He didn't have a clue what he wanted on it but we both have a sense of humor so i thought up this composite. Its a composit of about 12 pics i think ( all royalty free,of course). So tell me what you think. I tried to be original and to make something catchy and humorous. Thanks for all constructive criticism.



NEW ONE

[Donkey_Kong]

That looks great!

I think something needs to be done with the text though. Not sure what. It blends in with the clouds and is a little hard to read...which isn't always necessarily a bad thing.

[briktop11b]

Thanks. I tried to make the the wood look on the text and i was going for an overall dark look on the cover but i was also thinking the letters just dont pop like they should, almost hard to read. Thanks for confirming, will fix.

[NiN^_^NiN]

I think the wood look is great but a brighter wood and a thicker font would be better maybe an army font or the font used on all the college football jackets maybe?

[danny_galaga]

i agree with nin. just brighten up the letters. the picture itself is great (",)

[RayB]

Wood text looks better but is too dark.
2nd design the text looks too typically gothy or metal or something... Seen that style a million times

[Ginsu Victim]

More readable, but like RayB said, it's a font that's been done to death.

I like the rest of the pic (I'm an Okie myself, and that cover has some very familiar themes).

[grantspain]

like the first one -looks good,i like it
do you have a link to any of the tunes

[briktop11b]

Thanks for the opinions. I changed the font to a a more western style and if i wanted to use the Gothic type font i would have had to purchase it. I tried to add a little humor from the cow, i like it but I'm still undecided. Ill try to find a link and when i do ill post it. Something else. I made the file in CMYK mode and when i save it as a jpeg it stilllooks close to the original but when i post in on the internet the colors look darker and a lot more saturated? Hopefully when it prints it will print ok.

Link to the singers MYSPACE. I couldnt find any songs on there but you can get a good background for the band. In the friends list there is also another band named John Riley and the Lighthorsmen (the singer of that band used to be in the National Guard and went to Egypt in 2003 with me) who are also red dirt and they have an album out already, check em out.

http://www.myspace.com/rockstardamon

[grantspain]

this is interesting,i used to manage a band that played a few years back in the u.k.they played alt country sort of stuff with some more indie elements.
it was pretty new to the u.k but we did o.k,sort of took alot of influence from elliot smith and early wilco
i am now gonna go look at this "red dirt" stuff to see what i can find,good luck to your mates band btw

[briktop11b]

If you like the sound check out Cross Canadian Ragweed (alabama, and boys from oklahoma are great songs), also check out Stoney Larue ( OKlahoma Breakdown, and feet dont touch the ground are my favorites from him). Thanks.

[ahofle]

I think the first one is still the best.  If you could just lighten up the wooden text as well as the rest of the image (basically like the 2nd one).  The text looks way better when it's not semi transparent IMO.

[RTSDaddy2]

I still like the first one also best....

I've had to come up with  album covers for both of our small market releases. I've got a couple of suggestions that might help the first one:

1) Is it too late to go back and make it a sunny day so the darker letters show up better? (edit): Yes the dark skies get the "outlaw" message across better, but the wood letters are also very effective.

2) If it is, is there some way you could adjust the picture so that the darker clouds appear to be down a level and there's just enough light/ perhaps an off white or light grey  in which to place the darker wood lettering?

It seriously looks great, but the wood lettering with that pic ought to get them a lot of looks, if nothing else.  Like the group's name also.  Good luck to them!

[RayB]

It doesn't have to be sunny in order to punch up the title.

For me it's a toss between #1 and #3, although #1 the wood grain is blurry. It's like you used a texture that was not high resolution enough for a print image.

#3, try punching up the logo a bit more (you're using some kind of layer blend mode right? Like Overlay, or similar? Increase the % of it a bit so it lightens it up about 10%)

[briktop11b]

Alright how bout this one. I still dont like the way its coming out darker and over saturated when i put it on the net. I adjusted levels and curves for overall brightness and used the last text with wood, added a slight pillow emboss, and slight outer glow to make the letters stand out from the clouds.

[briktop11b]

Ok, they like the cover thanks for all the help guys. I also made a design and im trying to talk them into making some band shirts. I now a screen print place that has affliction style shirts that they can print on(distressed, tye died, washed) their awesome. I want to put this design on some shirts. Im also going to make a graphic for the back to go across the shoulders but i havnt got there yet. So what do ya think?

[WareWolF]

I would put the hay bale back on, it balances out the picture.  I'd also go back to the regular cow....  the censored overdoes the theme and has been done too many times before.  IMO...  I like the font in the 3rd picture w/out the wood grain the best as far as appearance, still has a western style but easier on the eyes.

You are going to have to make two files, a "net version" and a "print version".   You are never going to get a printed version to match what you view on the net.  Everyone's monitor will display the picture different also, the color balance in the last picture looks very good on my LCD but may look totally different on a CRT.

WareWolF

[AtomSmasher]

I would put the hay bale back on, it balances out the picture.  I'd also go back to the regular cow....  the censored overdoes the theme and has been done too many times before. 

I completely agree with this statement, although I like the wood grain font.

[NiN^_^NiN]

I was thinking something more like this
http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y279/aussie_ninja/outlaws.jpg

To funky?

Your got the perfect font now tho