Front Cover First and Second Draft

To create the cover for 'The Rockweilers' debut album, I decided to use 'Adobe FireWorks photoshop', as I was very familiar with the programme, additionally I felt comfortable with it as I had previously used it for my A2 Textiles project. Furthermore, I understood the advantages of the programme, since it allowed me to change the style, colour of photographs. Moreover, I was also able to add effects to images such as a glow effects and many more. However, after having the programme for a long period of time, I have discovered that I am most comfortable using the techniques provided on this programme.
When beginning to work from the sketches I searched the internet for a number of images that I could use, and tried out different layouts and styles. My first attempt of the cover is shown below.

As a first draft, I believe that this was successful, as the layout of the cover is exactly how I expected it to be when drawing sketches. However, choosing the correct images was a long process as I had to apply the 'Graphic Pen' technique to a range of images, then choose which image looked best. An example of an unsuccessful image is shown by the photograph taken from the internet of the 'Big Ben'. Although the graphic pen image appears decent, the graphic lines were too thick and would make the album cover appear Gothic. Additionally, the angle of the image looked daunting and scary, which did not conform to my genre.

Secondly, I experimented with a range of photographs of Rottweiler dogs in order to choose an image that appeared fierce and courageous (to reflect the band), this would be shown through the body language of the dog. (Below are example of the Rottweiler images that I chosen from.) Finally, I chose to use the second image, as its body language appeared alert, moreover, i thought that the dog also looked as if it was going to jump, which could be related to the jumping at a rock concert.

However, after creating this first draft I still felt that the album cover appeared dull, so I chose to ask a few people for their feedback. Eventually, after hearing feedback I realised that the cover lacked the idea of rebellion so I began developing the cover.

In the second draft I incorporated a range of images with rebellious connotations. Firstly, this is shown by the skateboarders skating down the 'London eye', this also shows the adrenalin of the band's music. Secondly, I changed the font of the text to 'Chiller', which revealed an informal setting and revolutionary approach. Nevertheless, I still felt that the album cover needed more developing, to make it appeal to the audience in the best way possible. Therefore, I have decided to ask a range of people for constructive criticism.