Album Cover Parallax Process Document

Part One: Using Photoshop for the Album Cover

1. Gathering references 

I wanted to reference Purity Filter's Blight album cover for my project since I liked the composition. Also, it would have been easy to split into a foreground, middle-ground, and background. 

I went on Pinterest and searched for an appropriate aesthetic for the vision I had for the project. I settled on an icy cyber-sigil aesthetic which used bright, contrasted blue/black/white colors to create stunning visuals. 

For the background, I chose this pinned photo because it looked ambiguous but had an interesting texture. It reminded me of fractals in ice, an aesthetic perfect for my project. 

2. Taking photos

I used overhead lighting to take these photos. I also positioned a light hitting my face as well. I tried to have even lighting because I would "deep fry" these photos anyways, so preserving as many aspects of my face would be in my best interest. 

3. Masks and blend modes

I separated the photo into a mask with just me in it. I also sized myself down so I was in the middle of the canvas. I wanted to do a black box on top with one section showing the background elements. 

In order to match me to the visual language of the background, I applied a light blue gradient linear dodge blend mode, and I went in and airbrushed a darker blue color around my hair and clothes to make it pop out. 

I also masked out the second photo of me, flipped the image along the y-axis, and brushed away the right-side to make it seem more dream-like and ghostly. 

I made that image a screen blend mode and also applied an exclusion blend mode to invert the colors. I also colored myself blue to match the color palette of the background. To emphasize, I did not want to make myself too distinct, but more as a subtle touch to the album cover. 

3. Addition of visual elements/drawings

3a. Black box: middle ground

I added a black box and used the rectangular marquee tool to erase any parts that I did not like. I settled on a solid black line to the left for the artist name, and I erased the middle to make the background pop. I also liked using the black box because it allowed the picture to the right pop out. 

3b. Blue gradient + star

To balance the image of me on the right side, I wanted to add a blue gradient to the upper left side of the same color using the airbrush tool. It looked empty, so I ended up adding a white star. I airbrushed a white dot, and I used the smudge tool to bring out the four corners. 

3c. Metal iconography

I used the lasso tool to quickly draw in cyber-sigil icons such as stars, intricate lines, and a cross on the cover. I loved this part especially because it brought the entire album cover together.

Using the bevel and emboss effect, I altered and tweaked the settings until I was satisfied with the metallic look. 

To the left, those were the settings for the cross. I just increased the softness of the shadows. To the right, I had hard shadows for the stars, thus giving it a streaky look. 

4. Text

I used the font "Over There" for "Sirensong" available in dafonts.com. I also used the font "Neuropol X" for "ecstacy" from the same website. I thought these looked very futuristic for the aesthetics of the cover. 

5. Referenced photos

I still thought the album cover looked empty, so I searched online for any barbed wire graphics I could use. I settled on this one because it was simple but aesthetically pleasing. 

I added the barbed wire and experimented with how it looked against the cover. Although I initially did not plan to alter it, I figured adding a white color dodge layer made it pop out better than a gunmetal color. 

Second referenced image: rune

I used this image of a rune and copy-pasted it in a vertical line to complete the composition. 

I arranged the runes to the right side of the album cover, applied a gray clipping mask, and used the same bevel-emboss effect to make it look like metal. 

I copy-pasted the same layer so that the highlights were more visible. Before, it was too dark and looked closer to stone, but now it looks like a dark gun-metal color. 

6. FINAL ALBUM COVER

Part Two: Using Adobe After-Effects to Make Parallax Album Cover

1. Setup

I imported all the layers from the photoshop file into a new AE composition. The "composition" type is all the folders I created in the photoshop file.

I changed the two settings at the lower right hand side to "2 views" and "custom view 1" to see my workspace. One side had how my project would look like from the camera, and the other was the 3D properties of each layer. I separated each layer slightly so there would be a parallax effect, but to a minimal degree. I wanted to focus on the motion graphics rather than the parallax since it made the album look off. 

I also added a camera layer and applied the 3D material to all layers so I could arrange the elements in a 3D space.

2. Applying the position motions

I changed mainly the position for most of the elements. For the camera, I made a simple zoom in, pause, and zoom out in terms of position. Also, I wanted the vertical rune to fly in from the bottom, stop for a second, and then exit from the top. Thus, I set the starting position as below the camera, set the second keyframe as within camera view (01s mark), kept the same position at keyframe 3 (03.2s mark), and set the final position at a keyframe above the camera (05s mark).

For the sake of simplicity, I only covered how specifically I achieved this with the runes. However, I applied and copied this technique to all the elements. As the screenshot shows, I put the keyframes for the elements in roughly the same spots. I had around 11 different elements, so it would be extensive and unnecessary to list all of them. 

3. Applying y-rotation motion

I wanted the barbed wire element to make a 360 rotation in the middle of the composition, so I flipped it on its y-axis to achieve this effect. In the keyframe window, I made the first/second keyframe as its original position, flipped it 180 degrees in the third keyframe, and flipped it another 180 degrees (aka 360 degrees) to make it spin. 

4. Applying the opacity motion

For the blue gradient and the bottom right corner picture of me, I also applied an opacity motion to make it fade/increase in opacity. For the blue gradient, I started off with a lower opacity, increased the opacity, and decreased it again. For the image of me, I had full opacity, decreased it, and then increased it again. 

5. Applying screen to clipped mask of text

The most ambitious/experimental aspect of my project was adding a moving screen to a only the text "sirensong" only. I started by adding a new layer and using the pen to draw out a lavender solid line. 

With the layer, I went to layer > blending mode > screen to control which blend mode it should have. The technical name of the mask would be an "add" mask. 

I applied a position motion to make the screen blending mode to swipe across the text like it shined. It moved from left to right. 

I duplicated the text layer so that I can use "track matte" as a clipping mask. 

After duplicating the layer, I highlighted the screen layer, went from layer > track matte > matte with layer below > alpha matte to apply the screen layer to only the text. This applied it to the "Sirensong 2" layer, but it only had the screen effect. Thus, duplicating the text twice allows the text underneath to show. 

6. Applying effects and presets

I browsed the library and applied the mosaic effect and preset because I liked the digital look. As seen, the size of the pixels were 60x60, and I altered the opacity. To apply this effect to the entire project, I went to the file that saved all the effects I made into one project, and I applied the effect. I varied the opacity to not overpower the project. The opacity ranged from 100% to 0% in the first second, and vice versa in the last seconds. 

7. FINAL PRODUCT

I believe I learned a lot about the programs from this project, and I liked how I challenged myself with the clipping mask screen blend mode. The only challenge I ran into was the timing. I had to individually move all the keyframes a second forward so it accommodated a pause to show the album during the middle.