CD Artwork Analysis

Mika- Life in Cartoon Motion

 

Life in Cartoon Motion is the debut album released by British singer-songwriter Mika. The album was produced by Greg Wells and Mika himself, mixed by Wells, with co-production on two songs by Jodi Marr and John Merchant. The album was released via Island Records on 5 February 2007 in the United Kingdom, and via Casablanca Records on 27 March 2007 in the United States. The characters were designed and drawn by Mika and his sister, Yasmine, They created little narratives and scenes and then took all this to a design company called Airside. These ideas were then developed and expanded with Richard Hogg, and later repainted by Yasmine.

Mika is known as an artist who's music is very fun, catchy and joyful. I think when this was being designed by Mika and his sister, I feel that he wanted to show his music and his overall persona through his album artwork. Mika has used doodling techniques and it also looks like he has used coloured pencils on brown paper to show the album name and theme 'Life in Cartoon Motion' through this album cover. I feel that this was designed handmade but then feel like maybe has been touched up in Photoshop to be ready to print of and use on the CDs. I really like how lines, curves and other shapes have been used because it really makes you look into all the little detail of the small drawings going on in the image. The bright colours also give this cartoon, fun, abstract effect that Mika I feel is trying to create. I really like how Mika has used bold text, added his name in bold 3d lettering, used drawings related to music and also used a photograph of himself on the left because If you never new who Mika was or you didn't know if this was a CD cover, I feel that you could figure this out by just looking in detail at the artwork. Typography I feel has been used really well because of how it has been made 3d and gives a lot of depth to the artwork. I also really like how he has chosen a bold stencil font because it really fits with that theme of doodling. I feel that this will influence my design a lot because I really like how these Fat rectangle are descending to a vanishing point behind the clouds and this reminds me of sunray which I want to use in my design.  

Madonna- Celebration

Celebration is the third greatest hits album by American singer-songwriter Madonna, and the final release under her contract with Warner Bros. Records, her record company since 1982. The album artwork was fully designed by a street artist who goes by the name Mr. Brainwash. This work was inspired by a portrait of Marilyn Monroe create by Andy Warhol's. The artist has used techniques such as spray painting, stencilling and paint splat. I feel that this work was drawn up by hand but has been digital edited such as the text, slight vignette on the right, texture overlay etc. The colours used for Madonnas hair and makeup are the same as the ones used on the Marilyn Monroe piece, however Mr. Brainwash has added a more urban feel by not adding a background colour which makes it look like a graffiti piece on a wall. Also the colours are much more brighter and pop much more than in the Marilyn Monroe artwork. The typography used in this design is a very simple sans serif font with Madonnas name being much bolder than the album name. The text is cut outs from the two different coloured paint splats which are placed at the top of the cover artwork. I really like how the paint splats also spread across the left top side of the artwork.
 

Wynter Gordon- With the Music I Die

 

This is the album cover for the debut album 'With the music I die' by an American singer/songwriter 'Wynter Gordon', which was released in 2011. The album is described as reviewers as a 'classic' dance/pop music album. I couldn't find any information about who designed this album cover, but I feel that the artist went for a really classic, formal and neat design style for this artwork. The cover includes Wynter on the front doing this seductive pose and has this curvy pattern which is symmetrical above the waist and then wraps round her legs. I feel with this design that Wynter and the artist wanted to communicate the curved coloured design as being the music within her and maybe that her dance music is joyful, colorful and imaginative. I feel that this has been created in Photo Shop by digitally adding the curved design around the photograph of Wynter. The typography has been neatly arranged in a classis style with the use of sanserif font in a circle along with some of the track list. Wynter Gordon has also used a different style more modern simple logo other than her normal bold text WG logo that she uses on her singles. This design reminded me a lot of Si Scotts work and how he uses curved lines to add to letters or an image.