To complete this brief I went through the La Betes promo shots and discussed with Dan which we felt would be the most appropriate for the cover. We eventually chose this one as it had a central figure and would avoid clumsy and unbalanced collage trying not to crop out other band members for the final cover. Once this was chosen I transferred the image to black and white and printed it out at a square format so I would have something scaled to work with whilst collaging.
I ripped up a few different coloured and textured paper and played around with loose collage for quite a while. I found myself more drawn to the red and black colour combination; the black ripped edges provided a nice texture while the red acted as an accent colour.
Once I found a composition I was happy with I white tacked the pieces in place and scanned it in; this was so I'd be able to change the collage composition if Dan and the boys didn't like it.
After this I played with the hand rendered text element of the piece. I wasn't sure exactly what they were looking for so I tried out a few combinations, sticking to white and black text to work cohesively with the image.
Once I'd finished these up I sent them off to the boys for discussion and approval. They had a bit of to-and-fro in the band about which they preferred most, but eventually went with the second option (shown again on the last slide of the issue post).
As mentioned on some previous briefs, I'm happy with the image as a piece of design work; whether or not it reflects the bands aesthetic is up to them. I've learnt a lot this year about acting as a professional and meeting halfway with your clients. I would consider myself to have been very lucky this year with the briefs I've been given as I think they've allowed me a lot of creative freedom. However I understand when to take a step back from a piece and understand this is a job and not just a personal project. I'd consider this brief one of those such jobs.