Individual idea for CD cover

As I mentioned in my introduction, we have not only been given the task to make a music video for our band but we also have to make a whole promotional package which includes a CD cover. I would like to have a go at designing my own from scratch to ensure I can create it exactly how I would like it, I may have a go at this after I get a few ideas together, but for now I have collected a variety of images that I like the look of and think could work with our band.

I chose this image because obviously the theme of our song is kissing. I could have chosen a simple picture of just a couple kissing, but i really like the effect of this picture - its very soft, creative, unique and could quite easily be an album cover. I also like the colours used, they are very calm and easy on the eye. However, it doesn't exactly relate to the band as much as I would like, there needs to be more of a rock element.

These pictures are very different to the one above. I chose the one left because it is very simple, yet artistic. The guitar here is obviously used to represent the Rockiness of the band, but because they aren't exactly heavy metal or grunge I thought the details on the guitar make it look softer and therefor suites the genre of the band and song better. Its a similar idea why i chose the picture on the left, its simple - yet still contains music images which ties in the kissing and the song. However, i feel that these two pictures are too simple and wont show of the band to a desired effect.

 

I also tried out some different fonts using 'Cool Text'. The name of the band has to be noticed on the CD cover to grab attention of potential buyers. I prefer the font and the style on the left example as it looks quite classy and professional, it would also stand out and it is clear to read. However, the one on the right does look quite stylish and could quite possibly belong on a CD cover, it doesn't look as professional and wouldn't stand out as much..its also fairly obscure and difficult to read.

                       This is my individual mock CD cover, the main reason for doing this was to start using photoshop and get familiar with the different effects. The two images at the top represents the front and back cover whereas the two at the bottom represents the inside. You can see the image I used for my front cover is also used at the top of this post, however I edited the image to my desierd effect, using brush strokes, colour control, blurring tools, light effects and other photoshop tools. To make the CD cover look more realistic I added in bar codes, record labels and perental advisory labels. However I do realise that non of these images can be used for our real CD cover design as I got all the images of the internet so it would most probably be illegal or frowned upon if I use them.