Over the past several years, I’ve had the privilege of having an ongoing client relationship with AI Ghostwriter — a synthesis project of Audio Imperia and Ghostwriter Music, which offers albums of cinematic music tracks for trailers and other film projects.
One of the coolest (and most challenging) things about these projects is that I have only one piece of information to start the project with: the title of the album.
These projects are also unique in that I have to work within the style of previous artworks that have been made by other artists, utilizing a strictly greyscale color palette, lost edges, nearly photorealistic details, and a highly textured, papery finish.
For me, working with this combination of strict limitation and creative freedom is a recipe for creating some great work.
Starting with the thumbnailing process, my goal is to generate a series of strong variations derived from the title of the album. Sometimes, this means several iterations of the same idea, and sometimes it means completely different interpretations.
Each variation is numbered and presented to the client, who has a chance for additional input. Having worked together for a couple of years, we’ve developed a trust in my creative process, and so feedback at this point usually just boils down to something like, ” 2 looks great! Let’s go with that”.
At this point, it’s time for me to evaluate how I’ll proceed with the first draft.
Sometimes, it means diving straight into hand painting over the thumbnail, but others it means starting with photobashing or using a 3D model as a base. Every piece demands a slightly different strategy to be completed in a timely manner with the appropriate amount of realism and detail.
No matter how I proceed, I offer at least one more check in with the client before I proceed to the final detailing, to make sure there are no changes that need to be made.
That’s the essentials of the process, but of course there’s so much more to go into when it comes to creating cover art like this. Let me know if you’d like a video or more information on how I go about creating these!
Until next time,
Eben