> album art. > objective(s): Students will create a album art design for an existing artist's "next" release that utilizes imagery and text

Transcription

1 > album art > objective(s): Students will create a album art design for an existing artist's "next" release that utilizes imagery and text > curricular focus: This lesson emphasizes thematic design (design that visually represents a concept) as well as integration of typography to match mood. Technically, this lesson focuses on the use of the Type Tool and Layer Styles. > specifications: save as: Album Art_Lastname. psd dimensions: 4.75" x 4.75" resolution: 300 dpi mode: RGB contents: Transparent > instruction: review the emotive qualities of color red- anger, love, hot, aggressive, power orange- warm, energetic, cheerful, caution yellow- fear, happy, healing green- life, nature, envy, fresh, sick, money blue- sad, cold, peace, calm (light), authority/dignity (darker) violet- royalty, mystery, spiritual brown- earth, natural, reliable, conservative (tan), comforting (reddish) black- death, dark, formal, serious white- purity, light, innocent gray- basic, practical, impartial review basic typography terminology (see page 7 Typography Terms) definition of font (including points as unit of measure) type styles: Roman or medium/regular, italic or oblique, bold, bold italic or bold oblique font categories: serif, sans serif, script, deco what separates deco fonts from body fonts font architecture: size, baseline, cap line, mean line, x-height, ascender, descender discussion on how font selection impacts mood (see page 8 How Fonts Impact Mood) discussion on imagery to represent selected album title gallery view of student examples (edge to edge design, tutorial use, photo use, creative use of text) review the graphic design ideation process of brainstorming, thumbnail (rough) sketches and mock-ups brainstorming- writing down various ideas thumbnail sketching- roughly sketching out various ideas mock-up- accurate, to-scale drawing of final idea, including color treatments, graphic treatments and typefaces review Type tool in Photoshop (see Creating Your Text on page 5) text lines versus text blocks start creating text by simply selecting the Type tool and clicking in side the document frame do not create a text block like you would in Microsoft Word text blocks are not necessary until you have a body of text like a sentence, paragraph or more Anti-Alias- always set to Smooth in the top Option bar (to the right of Font Size) you will see "aa" symbol; change the setting to "Smooth" Character palette (Window: Character) size, leading, tracking, height percentage, width percentage Text Warp see instruction continued on page 2

2 > album art review using Transform to specifically locate and/or align objects select Layer of object you wish to move go to Edit: Free Transform use the X and or Y coordinates in the Tool Options bar at the top to change its location coordinates the document may be defaulted to pixels so you may have to type "in" for inches after your numbers for example: to center a text block you would change the X coordinate to in review use of Layer Styles styles may be used individually or in combination to create dynamic effects may use preset combinations to create a specific look (such as Wow Styles) demonstration on how to copy Layer Styles from one Layer to another as well as Scale Effects introduction to the Magic Wand tool (for use in creating a Marquis of an object with a crisp edge like a band logo) > procedure: select artist name and album title (must be original) and approve with instructor album names that are previously associated with artist in any way will result in a full letter grade deduction create thumbnails for selected album title and approve with instructor thumbnail sketches should be good enough for the instructor to be able to envision what it would look like minimum five completely different visual ideas for the same title with at least two variations on variations are slightly different versions of the same idea where you add/alter a concept in a better way variations are strongly encouraged as they show you recognize a great idea and are exploring it further you are a designer now!- have a reason for everything each item you include- its color, size and location- should all be carefully planned and reflect the mood if you do not have a clear answer to the question "why did you do that?" then don't do it must incorporate complete background (see page 4 Background and Text) background cannot simply be a color or gradient fill background must have some sort of graphic treatment that reinforces the album title mood it does not have to be major- it may be a texture or filter that's even barely there if you like if you cannot effectively draw what you intend to do in the background you may label it to the outside artist name and album title must appear (see page 4 Background and Text) artist name may be their logo or you may choose a font; you will chose a font for your album title font(s) must match mood of album title select fonts by viewing them in Microsoft Word or Photoshop text scale and location is open no requirements for either- just that they both appear in the composition can be separated or together can be different sizes (but decide why one is bigger than the other) can be in foreground or background can be integrated in other artwork creative use of text is required- cannot just be filled with color or gradient what creative things are you going to do to the text to reinforce the mood? filter? effect? layer style? text warping? you do not have to sketch the actual font- just label it to the outside so it is identified photo resources are allowed (to reference when drawing or even tracing) but no actual photograph may appear do not worry about how you are going to be able to create your ideas tutorials are allowed (subject to approval by instructor) to create specific aspect of artwork you must attempt the design problem on your own first; if you cannot make it work, you may ask for permission to use a tutorial see procedures continued on page 3

3 > album art create mock-up of selected design and approve with instructor print out Album Art_Mock-up.pdf from the lesson plan folder a mock-up is a finished, high quality drawing to the best of your ability, regardless of ability draw artist name text and album title text in the font you chose (as it would appear in the finished work) this includes actually drawing the artist logo if you are using one label all colors and treatments (effects, styles, filters, etc.) to the outside of the frame with lines connecting begin work on computer make sure you properly name all layers remember that you may draw from, or even trace, a photograph tracing may not include the use of Selection tools of any kind- it must be Brush overlay only you may not ever draw from from or trace someone's artwork (drawing, painting, graphic) > requirements: file maintenance file specifications are adhered to all layers are named and ordered properly no hidden layers composition and aesthetics artwork must match mood of album title this includes color and lighting must have complete background and foreground (edge-to-edge design) background cannot be simply a color or gradient fill background must have some sort of graphic treatment that reinforces the album title mood may be subtle or even barely there as long as it is not simply a color or gradient fill artist name and album title must appear somewhere in the composition objects that are supposed to be centered are positioned precisely using Transform coordinates no actual photo images are included in final design tutorials may be incorporated if only a minor part of the design (at instructor's discretion and approval) any tutorial used in any way must be sited in the metafile description go to Metadata (Shift + Ctrl + Alt + I) or (File: File Info) copy and paste tutorial URL into Description field of metadata typography font selection and treatment (Layer Styles, Warping, Filters, etc.) must reflect overall mood of album title artist name may use existing logo but also must incorporate graphic treatment creative use of text- (cannot be just color or gradient fill) incorporate filters, effects, styles, warps, etc. all text anti-alias must be set to Smooth text elements are properly located text close to the center must be perfectly centered text cannot be crowded by the edge of the frame edge

4 > background and text background The background cannot be just a color or gradient fill. The background can be a major visual element, or it can be something that is barely noticeable. It does not matter as long as you remember two things: 1. you at least have something 2. it reinforces the overall mood of the album title Dir en Grey- the background is major artwork that is full opacity and bleeds to off all edges. Modest Mouse- the artist chose to do a paper texture with a worn, vintage look that is barely there that reinforces the old-style ink image of the man. artist and album title You have a lot of options with your text. The only requirement is that both appear in your design; that's it. How big they are, how noticeable they are, and where you place them are entirely up to you. They can appear next to each other or they can be separated. They can be even be integrated into the artwork. You may use your artist's wordmark logo instead of typing the artist's name in a font. Also, you cannot just type text and fill it a color. You must do something creative to the text such as a Layer Style, Filter, Effect, Warp, etc. Lastly, remember that font selection and treatment must reflect the overall mood. Fenomen- The artist and album title appear together and are placed in where it creates visual interest as well as balanced visual weight. (The album title does not have creative use of text and was a grade deduction.) The Birthday Massacre- The artist name is a logo that the artist cut out from an image she found online. She added an outer glow. The album title is actually integrated into the artwork.

5 > creating your text > how to start entering text Simply select the Type tool, move the cursor into your document and press once, then start typing. Do NOT click and drag a text block. It will be unnecessarily big. If you just click once and let go, Photoshop will create the text block automically in the smallest possible size. > set your anti-alias to smooth Alias refers to the jagged edge of a curve or diagonal line in a raster image. Anti-aliasing is the process where these aliased (or jagged) edges are smoothed through blurring. Below, the left arc is aliased. To the right is anti-aliased. All text in your project must be set to Smooth anti-alias. Select Smooth from the Anti-Alias menu in the Option Bar. > how to stack text Do not stack large text within the same text layer. In other words, do not type the first line, then press Enter and type the second line. The leading (the distance between two baselines of text) is far too great, leaving an awkward amount of space in between. You can see the example on the left feels too loose. The image on the right is corrected. There are two ways to handle this Create a separate text layer for each line and manually move it to it's optimum location. 2. Adjust the Leading in your Character palette. highlight the lines of text and adjust the Leading value appropriately a good starting point is to make the Leading the same number as the font Size (adjust from there)

6 > album art concerns Inappropriate Tutorial Use Inappropriate Photo Use Appropriate Tutorial Use Appropriate Photo Use This piece looks great but the entire design was completed using tutorials (flames and iced text). Tutorials can be used but may only be a part of the design. Approve any tutorial and how it will be used with instructor before beginning. This design utilized a tutorial to help give the flames a realistic look but is only a small aspect of the overall design This design works very well with the style of the band and the mood of the title. Unfortunately both the skyline background and the face are both images placed directly into the composition. The artist should have traced them instead. The artist found the perfect image of a heart and simply traced over it. The original image does not appear in the artwork.

7 > typography terms > what is a font? A complete series of alphabetic and numeric characters, punctuations and symbols in a particular size and style. Font size is measured in points, which equal 1/72". > what are the types of fonts? serif- fonts that have counterstrokes, or feet, on the ends of main strokes of text Times New Roman (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) sans serif- fonts that do not have serifs, or feet, on the ends of main strokes of text Arial (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) script- fonts that resemble hand-written text and can be formal or informal Script MT Bold (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) decorative- fonts that are graphically enhanced for visual impact; should never be used in small sizes (body copy) Jokerman (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) > what is body copy? Body copy is informational text presented in smaller font sizes that require clean, easily readable fonts (like Arial/Times). > what are type styles? medium or roman- (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz italic or oblique- (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz bold- (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) bold italic or bold oblique- (ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz) > what are the parts of a font? size- the total height of the text, measured in points, from the highest part of any character to the lowest baseline- the imaginary line on which text seems to rest upon leading- the distance between baselines in known as "leading" capline- the imaginary line uppercase letters seem to reach mean line- the imaginary line lowercase letters seem to reach x-height- the height of lowercase letters (without ascenders) measured from the baseline to the mean line ascender- the part of lowercase letters that rise above the x-height (meanline) descender- the part of lowercase letters that drop below the baseline > what is leading? Leading (pronounced ledding) is the distance between baselines of text.

8 > how fonts impact mood