Copies & Emulations

For my copies, I remade two CD covers.

My first was a LadyHawke album cover that was made using watercolour paint and a sketch of the image of the artist.

The original:

My copy:

I made my copy by firstly drawing on the text and image using a simple black pencil. I then used water colour paints to paint on the background over the top of the drawing (the black ink over the woman is accidental).

My second copy was a Sigur Ros album cover that was made by printing in black ink onto textured paper.

My copy (work in progress):

Firstly, I roughly drew my shape onto a thin piece of polystyrene and then cut it out by using a scalpel.

I then rolled black ink onto one side of my polystyrene shape, making sure to cover the surface evenly.

I then created the pale brown, textured background for the album cover ready to be printed on to.

My copy:

My copy of the album cover was also shown to the band Sigur Ros while on their UK tour this year. After seeing my piece, they signed the vinyl of this album and wrote "Takk Jessie" at the top, meaning "thank you, Jessie" in Icelandic.

The image above is the signed record.

For my emulations, I made two pieces inspired by subjects and techniques I found in my research.

Watercolour birdcage:

I created this by using Gouache paints which work similarly to watercolour paints. I first drew the birdcage in pencil and then painted over it. I stuck to a colour palette of blues, pinks and purples.

To further this experiment, I scanned my painted birdcage and began editing it in Photoshop.

I first changed the colour threshold of the birdcage scan so that it was completely black, giving it a stenciled-on look.

I then defined this shape into a pattern that I could overplay onto a coloured background. The edited the scale of the tiling.

Next, I added more of the birdcage behind the pattern and lowered their opacity to fade them into the background colour. 

Finally, I experimented with adding a bunch of colourful songbirds on top of the pattern. I cut each bird out in a jagged cut-out fashion and edited their colouring to give a bold, stamp style.

Above is the final outcome of my experimentation.