The document discusses editing an album cover using the website Pik Monkey. It describes uploading a photo of the artist Temi and using various editing tools to enhance the image, such as whitening eyes, enhancing lip color, removing unwanted objects, and adding effects. It also discusses adding text including the album name "Stranger" and song titles, and formatting the layout across the front, back and inside covers. Feedback from others is incorporated into further edits to improve the overall design.
1. Editing my album cover using
‘Pik Monkey’
I decided to use this editing website, because I am aware that it
is an alternative to Picnik.com, which was closed down early
this year
3. Firstly, I uploaded the picture onto the ‘Pik Monkey’ website. This is the
image without it being edited yet
4. I firstly started with the ‘teeth whitening’ tool just to brighten Temi’s eye
whites. In addition I also used the ‘Eye brighten’ tool. Moreover by doing
this this improves contributes to the quality and sharpness of her eyes,
which immediately directs attention straight to Temi’s eyes
5. I decided to use the ‘Lip Tint’ tool to enhance the colour of Temi’s lips. I
am aware that pink lips connotes femininity and love. These features are
often what solo female R&B/Soul singers, base their songs about, especially
love
6. By using the ‘Clone tool’, this enabled me select an area of the picture and
‘clone it onto another area of the picture. I selected the silver background,
and cloned it onto the black bag that Temi was holding. I did this, because
the bag has no relation to the image, and therefore was pointless. Evidently
from the second image the hand bag has been removed.
7. From my audience research it revealed to me that my target audience
wanted to see simple italic font, however I am aware that my font ‘mancelle
script’ is a bit on the swirly side, this is because, I felt that the mise en
scene was very elegant and glamorous, and therefore this font was the
perfect match.
8. Next I included the name of the album ‘Stranger’ which is also the name of
song, in my music video
9. I also selected ‘stranger’ to be the same font as ‘Lola Cruz’ (mancelle
script) this is because, in my secondary research, most album covers such
as ‘Beyonce’s I AM SASHA FIRECE’ album, had the same font throughout.
10. I was just playing around with the photo effects, just to see which effect
I best suited the style of the album cover. I rejected them because I felt
that they lacked realism of a real R&B/Soul album cover.
11. I decided to use the ‘Dark edges’ tool, however, I decided to create a
‘White edge’ because I believe that a white misty edge, very much relates
to the name of the album ‘stranger’, moreover the mistiness suggests that
something is there however at the same time is not there, which moreover
relates to the album name ‘stranger’
12. I decided to use the ‘Focal zoom’ tool because It produced an effect where
it looked like the focus was primarily on ‘Lola Cruz’s’ face, which I believe is
very important for a Solo artist, and a Portrait based album cover
13. I decided to crop the image, because as my sister was looking at my work,
she verbally told me that the involvement of her hands looked ‘un-needed’
and ‘uncomfortable’ therefore I decided to remove her hands.
14. I used the ‘Tranquill’ effect tool, because I believe that it gave the picture an air
brush finish. Moreover I previously decided to ‘overlay the text ‘Lola Cruz’, and the
Tranquill effect, allows the text to be acknowledgeable. I believe that the effect
of the text ‘lola cruz’ connotes a sense of something that you know is there
however can also be identified as not there, almost as if it fading into the
background of Temis laced dress, which heavily relates to the name of the album
‘stranger’
16. This is the image that I have chosen to use for the back cover. I intended to use
one of the pictures from the Saturday photo shoot, however I believed that they
did not capture the silhouette of an album back cover. I like this image because it
is as if she is looking at possibly the song titles, which is what I intend this image
to produce.
17. I firstly decided to use the ‘air brush’ her skin, as her imperfections were very
noticeable. I noticed that artists on album covers that focuses on portrait based
covers, always look flawless. I intend to follow this convention.
18. As previously said, I decided to use the ‘Lip Tint’ tool to enhance the colour of
Temi’s lips. I am aware that pink lips connotes femininity and love. These
features are often what solo female R&B/Soul singers, base their songs
about, especially love
19. Next I decided to use the ‘clone’ tool again, to remove the shadow of the camera on
Temis shoulders.
20. I then used the ‘Tranquill’
effect tool, to brighten up
the image, and brighten her
skin, however it did not
produce the same effect as
it did compared to my front
cover. This is because it
darkened the edges instead
of creating the ‘ white misty
effect’
In addition I then used the
‘Focal zoom’ tool, to enhance
the focus of Temi’s face.
However it still did not
produce the exact same
effect. I went back to my
album cover research, and
saw that the back cover were
never exactly the same as
the front cover. As it is
meant to be the front cover
that captures the attention
of the audience
21. Lastly I used the ‘frost’ effect to create the ‘misty’ effect instead of the
darkened effect.
22. To ensure that my the size of my image was the size of an album
cover, I used Pik Monkey collage, which allowed me to choose from
various collage template. I saw this collage above which consisted
the two rectangles I inserted my front and unfinished back cover.
Because when my edited images were too large, I had to crop the
images in order for my images to acceptable in an approximately
15cm to 11cm (this was what I found out this in my secondary
research about the dimensions of an album cover)
23. Next, I included the text. I followed my
album cover plan draft, where I intended to
include chronological numbering first, and
then the song titles on the right hand side of
the cover.
24. The song titles I have recommended, have been taken from original R&B/Soul songs.
For example the song title ‘trust and believe’ is an original song of Keyshia Cole
who is an is an American R&B/Soul singer-songwriter and record producer.
DAVID GAUNTLETT argues that in contemporary society, gender roles are
more complex and that the media reflect this. He points out that female role
models today are often glamorous as well as successful in a way that previously
they were not. He states that much of this is due to the rise of ‘girl power’ and
‘women independency’ in the media, through identities constructed by music
artists such as Beyonce. By taking David Gauntlett’s point into consideration I
have purposely decided to include song titles that promote ‘girl power’ to
encourage a positive representation of females in the media rather than a
negative representation which is widely employed in the media.
25. I have now changed the font of the text, to ‘Mancelle Script’ which was also
used in my front cover. This will be a convention that I will be carrying out
throughout my album cover
26. Due to verbal feedback from my class mate Funmi, she explained to me that my
song titles should be spaced out downwards. I took her point into consideration,
and moreover It revealed to me that the distance between each title, can
connote the idea that song titles are of strangers to each other, therefore
which is why they lack proximity.
27. Evidently from my secondary research of album covers, I noticed that there
was small text written on the album back cover. This involved mentioning the
names of the managers and producers, who were involved in the making of the
album cover I assume. This is why I have decided to include this convention in
my album cover back.
28. I then decided to reduce the size of the font, to create an effect where it is
‘unreadable’ (to exaggerate), this is because I gathered from my album cover
research that this part of the text was extremely small, which automatically
decreases the relevance of it to the audience, therefore the ‘producers, managers,
record label’ (these were included in the text) do not remove any attention from
the artist on the album cover.
In addition I followed the same scheme I used in the front over, where I applied
the ‘overlay effect’
32. Firstly I used the ‘clone’ tool, to clone the silver background onto the white
back ground of the first image towards the left. I have done this because the
image will be placed behind the front cover of the digital, and it will be sensible
to carry on with this convention. The clone tool allowed me to ‘clone’ a section
of the image on the right, and pasting it onto where the image onto the left.
33. Then I used the ‘air brush’ tool to smooth out the imperfections on her face. I
have done this because evidently from my album cover research it presents
flawless skin of especially the female solo artists, DAVID GAUNTLETT argues
that in modern society, gender roles are more complex and that the media
reflect this. He points out that female role models today are often glamorous
as well as successful in a way that previously they were not. Therefore
presenting her as ‘glamorous’ will be very appropriate in our modern society
34. Using the ‘eye brighten’ tool, this enhanced the whiteness of her yes, and
more over sharpened her eyes. I believed that it was ideal for me to touch
up her eyes, as she has direct eye contact with the audience, and moreover
her eyes connote a sad expression, therefore I enhanced her eyes, so that
the audience can actively see the emotions she is expressing. Her emotion
in this image also relates to he narrative in my music video,
35. I decided to use the ‘Lip Tint’ tool to enhance the colour of Temi’s lips. I
am aware that pink lips connotes femininity and love. These features are
often what solo female R&B/Soul singers, base their songs about, especially
love, which is also what my music video is about.
36. I was just playing around with the photo effects, just to see which effect I
best suited the style of the album cover. The ‘Orton’ effect I used
brightened up the colour of Temi’s skin tone
37. I decided to use the ‘Focal zoom’ tool because It produced an effect
where it looked like the focus was primarily on ‘Lola Cruz’s’ face, which
I believe is very important for a Solo artist, and a Portrait based
album cover
39. Next I copied the lyrics to ‘Jhene Aiko – Stranger’ online onto ‘Pik
Monkey’
40. To follow the previous step, I then changed the font to ‘Mancelle Script’ as
this convention has been used throughout the production of my album cover
41. Ideally I wanted to position the lyrics of the song towards the left of
the case, however due to the verbal feedback of my teacher, she
explained to me that the font was too small, and moreover the colour
was dull, and did not stand out at all. Then…
42. … I decided to split my lyrics into two columns, increase the size, and lastly
change the colour of my font to white. Due to verbal feedback again, it was
revealed to me that by placing the lyrics over her face, reduced the ability
for the audience to connect with her, and therefore they may lose interest in
the cover
43. I then placed the two columned lyrics further apart on the case, so the
that Temi’s eyes was not hidden, as her facial expression was ideal for
the narrative of her music video, where she is sad. Moreover I also
included the title of the album stranger above the left hand corner
44. Next I then aligned the text from the right, to the centre
45. I then sharpened the entire image, in order for the texts to stand out
against the background
46. Following the conventions of making my front cover and back cover, I
carried on the same convention, where I ‘overlayed’ the text.
47. Lastly I then used the ‘exposure’ effect to brighten up the entire
image.
48. Due to verbal feedback, my friend suggested that the text ‘stranger’ should be
red, to match her hair
50. I firstly decided to use the ‘air brush’ her skin, as her imperfections
were very noticeable. I noticed that artists on album covers that
focuses on portrait based covers, always look flawless. I intend to
follow this convention.
51. Using the ‘eye brighten’ tool, this enhanced the whiteness of her yes, and
more over sharpened her eyes. I believed that it was ideal for me to touch up
her eyes, as she has direct eye contact with the audience, and moreover her
eyes connote a sad expression, therefore I enhanced her eyes, so that the
audience can actively see the emotions she is expressing.
52. I decided to use the ‘Lip Tint’ tool to enhance the colour of Temi’s
lips. I am aware that pink lips connotes femininity and love. These
features are often what solo female R&B/Soul singers, base their
songs about, especially love
53. Next I decided to use the ‘clone’ tool
again, to remove the shadow of the
camera away from the white background
54. Next I used the ‘’exposure’ tool to brighten up the entire image, as I
noticed that the complexion to the other images that I previously edited
(front cover, back cover etc…)
55. Next I used the ‘Tranquil’ effect to follow the convention I had
previously used in making the other covers. However it did not
produce the same effect as it did compared to my front cover, I
was quite disappointed. Therefore I had to compromise and use a
variety of more effects in the aim of achieving a similar effects.
56. Next I used the ‘focal zoom’ effect, to allow the focus to be
primarily on her, however I noticed that it made her hair look
fuzzy, and her hair is quite an important asset, so therefore her
hair looking blurred was unacceptable. Therefore I removed this
effect.
