So, I decided I'd try my hand at making an album cover for David Cook's new CD. Yes, I completely made up the title and had way too much fun in Photoshop... The picture is from the Billy Jean performance, and the skyskape is Tulsa. I'd really like some comments {constructive criticizm much appreciated, I'm new to the whole rendering/blending thing}. So, without any more asides:

You know, I'm still not 100% happy about the photo I used... Oh well. Anyway, I'd really like some comments... You're not obligated to say it's the best thing you've ever seen or even that it's good, but as an artist, I'd just like some feedback.

Thanks again,
Lirix
Easily Amused Word Nerd #1977

I really really like it its just sooo wow!!!

I am an artist also, so I'll give you my honest opinion, since I know it's important. It was a really creative thing to do, making an album cover for a cd not even made yet. I really like the paint spatters, and frankly would LOVE to know how to do that in Photoshop, that technique escapes me! Honestly, it seems a bit to cartoony for my taste, and I would've preferred to see a recognizable pic of Dave on there. The overall feel doesn't make me think of his music either, if I saw that on the shelf, I would probably think it was either punk or rap. I'm also not a big fan of the title, again because it doesn't evoke the Cook feeling. The colors you chose are nice, although I would probably opt for less yellow. The city scape is a nice touch, especially being that special city scape, but I think I would have liked if it was more faded away in the background and was either just a straight silhouette or a realistic image. I hope I wasn't too harsh, because I do think this idea has great potential, and you do know how to do quite a bit more than I do in Photoshop. I just wanted to be honest, cause most people don't like to dish out negative criticism, even if it is constructive. Keep on trying and I'm sure you'll keep coming up with better and better stuff!

Thanks so much for the advice. Looking at it later I thought it gave the "Hip hop" vibe as well. I was listening to some of his Axium stuff from earlier while I was making it, so I think that's where the random title came from. The cartoony-ness of it is more or less a preference of style. I personally think that covers with just a picture of an artist can get pretty bland and all look relatively the same. The yellow probably shows up a bit different on my laptop monitor, knowing my luck... It was supposed to look like the city scape was in the paint in the splatter.

Thanks so much for the comment {no, it wasn't too harsh, and I hope my reasons make sense and doesn't sound too much on the defensive, I agree with you for the most part}. The paint spatters are actually a brush set I downloaded And Photoshop just takes a lot of playing around, I still fumble a lot and accidentally improve things.

As a side note, I just grabbed the first picture I had on my computer, I didn't have very much option-wise, I haven't been collecting photos for quite some time. Thanks again!