What makes good Techno (and other Electronic genres) Album Art?

[benjified]

I had a tangent with Popey about album art here viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7533471

I want to move the conversation here.

Thanks for the advice and sharing images, I really like the 3rd one.

Since your comment I have been noticing artwork a lot more and seeing if there are any common themes. Think more abstract/futuristic stuff seems common in my musical genres so something to focus on next time I make a track. Artwork certainly needs to be more than an afterthought which it currently is.

Might even look to see what artwork packages are affordable or if I can use pixlr still but use more functionality.

Thanks again

Abstract/futuristic seems to be the norm, but I see nature stuff too. Here's an album from Autechre:

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I don't mean to pick on you Popey, but I want to use your Detour album art as an example.

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I think the picture you've chosen is good, but how it was framed and the font chosen give off a template vibe.

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So why does Autechre's album art work, but Detour fall short IMO? I think it's largely on the placement of the text and possibly the choice of font. I think there is also a level of image processing that went into Autechre's album art that gives it a subtle mood that a straight photo wouldn't necessarily impart. A big, bold font can work in some circumstances, Autechre opted to have the font small in the top, left.

Some questions for everyone before I waffle on and forget what the point of the conversation are :

What makes good Techno and other Electronic music album art for you? What album did you get because the album art stood out to you? Is there anyone here that makes their own album art?

PS Samiver's Detour is great song, I definitely recommend everyone to check it out.

[PhillipOrdonez]

The color of the font also plays a role in addition to the font type itself.

A more toned down font in plain white and smaller would have worked well. Techno is meant to be serious and the artwork used by professionals tends to reflect this. If you (anyone reading this) pay attention to details, everything from any particular artist will have a common thread from the music, to their artworks and even their press pictures and their social media presence. Similar tones, both musical and visual. It is all coherent and fitting together.

[Popey]

The color of the font also plays a role in addition to the font type itself.

A more toned down font in plain white and smaller would have worked well. Techno is meant to be serious and the artwork used by professionals tends to reflect this. If you (anyone reading this) pay attention to details, everything from any particular artist will have a common thread from the music, to their artworks and even their press pictures and their social media presence. Similar tones, both musical and visual. It is all coherent and fitting together.

From my very brief investigation the common thread is a good shout and something I am noticing. It seems quite common from what I have seen so far for this to be the case(and noticed some labels have the same image and just change the artist/song title).

[PhillipOrdonez]

Yes Popey, i haven't seen this but I can imagine some do that, but it goes deeper than that. Colour palettes, types of shapes (curvy or pointy or squarey), etc. all these things actually communicate something indirectly which has to resonate (or not clash) with the message of the artist music/image/personality.

[benjified]

Another example of a photo in a similar vein. More than half is sky with a road cutting through, the tank and the red glow in the distance add a striking juxtaposition to the mundane. Lots of post processing to give an image a dream like or worn, antique look. Font is small but stylized to what typically is using on a Chemical Brothers album. A bit psychedelic or exotic, but not excessive.

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Next album, a collage. I imagine something like this could be done with public domain and royal free images you, not as hard as it may seem.

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I've tried my hand at a few, if anyone's interested I can try to come up with some tutorials. I'm not a professional though, just a hobbyist, so whatever I say is "just some a-hole on the internet with an opinion". It's been like 7 years since I made this, I'd definitely do some things differently. I don't have any text on here, that's the first thing I'd add. I don't like the fleas, I'd take them out, and the hot air balloon.

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[benjified]

Oh my god, I almost forgot at one point I made Miley Cyrus a dolphin.

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