This is a great deal for independent musicians, bands, etc. Discmasters has a 500 piece cd duplication deal that includes 500 full color discs packaged in color Propack sleeves, with a UPC barcode for just 99 cents each. That makes even an EP release a potential money maker, also an inexpensive way to spread a demo in professional packaging.
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CoverArts.com is a new site that lets visitors vote up cd and book cover designs. You can view covers by most recent additions or by highest rated. At least one new cover design is added every day. CD cover design has it's own unique design challenges - sometimes conceptual, other times it's creating a style for an artist photo or photos.
There is some excellent design work represented there. I check it out for inspiration (actually their rss feed sends me new covers as they are added). Each cover is tagged with genre or type, so you can search for just Rock or Hip/Hop covers with a simple click. Cool.
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Wilson Rothman published a neat article at Gizmodo about the ever shrinking packaging for music. I had almost forgotten the CD long box, the original packaging for compact discs. As he describes,
"They actually started shipping in long rectangular boxes, so they'd take up exactly 50% of the rack space of a vinyl album. I think this was on purpose, so record stores didn't have to retool their shelving. The upside was lots of surface area for cover art, and the early days of the CD were like a return of album art. These long skinny boxes had huge busts of Jim Morrison, huge prints of the famed Zeppelin explosion that launched a band into stardom. The boxes were also wrapped in easy-to-tear plastic, so getting into your CD, though it took a few steps, was pretty easy."
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Ever wonder how a cd cover design comes together? Check out this case study from a talented young designer who blogs at a vector art site.
It's pretty cool, he breaks down the elements, showing the use of stock photos to create several variations on a Christian rock cover design.
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Flickr member iri5 has found a cool way to recycle old cassette tapes, making portrait art of the magnetic tape.
His Flickr set includes portraits of Jim Morrison of The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Ian Curtis (of the now defunct Joy Division), Marilyn Monroe, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Robert Smith of The Cure and Ian Brown of Stone Roses. Great stuff!
The artist is working on Tom Waits and I saw a request for Frank Zappa. I would love to see that.
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But fortunately still not small enough to climb into a vacuum cleaner. Old comedy reference for a new article by Steven Heller at Wired Magazine about the shrinking space of music album art. This quote sums up the design challenge nicely:
"The space allotted to album art may be a fraction of what it once was, but that just sets the bar higher. If musicians can continue to innovate in the digital age, then designers must take up the challenge of the minimalist thumbnail."
Exactly. Check out the article here
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Steve Heller of Print Magazine published a nice post about Jim Flora and his influential illustrative style. Flora produced jazz album covers in the 40s that set a style still used today. In fact some designers license Flora's work for modern CD covers.]]>
The relationship between art and music is always changing, particularly in recent times. It continues to remain strong in those for whom music is more than just entertainment. One such artist is Daniel Edlen, who channels his love of creativity and music into a unique expression. Using record albums as a canvas, he hand paints portraits of musicians directly on their vinyl releases.
Here's a time lapse video showing Bob Marley's portrait progressing from outline sketch to completion. Very cool!
I may have chosen mostly classic rock artists, but Daniel's works include recent artists such as Jay-Z, Eminem, Madonna, Snoop Dogg, Fergie and will.i.am, Tommy Lee, Jonathan Davis of Korn, The Flaming Lips etc. So check it out: Vinyl Art site.
related posts: 300,000 LP Albums and Covers Recycled into Art
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Cooll Paper Cd Case !!! Flower Design ..... - Funny home videos are a click away
More screenshots and download Playwatch from Aquarius Software
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