Dream Theater self titled album discussion - [SPOILER FREE DISCUSSION ONLY]

[Flacracker]

That edge cut off to me just looks like the way a ray of light can hit your eye and get cut off like that. None of you have seen this before when looking at some lights?

[wasteland]

Well, I didn't notice the cut until somebody inverted the colors. It's sloppy, yeah, but it's not outrageously evident, come on! 

[serrano]

The question is if it's noticeable in the print, and i don't think it will be.

[unklejman]

It's not about the logo staying the same, it's about the new design looking bad. I actually redesigned the logo for my go at the cover, but it still retains the elements of the original design that make it look nice.

It's all subjective. I like the new design better, and consider nothing about the old one nice. I'm also a professional artist, so it's not about having an eye for it or not.

That edge cut off to me just looks like the way a ray of light can hit your eye and get cut off like that. None of you have seen this before when looking at some lights?

To me it looks like the artist took a stock image where the planets highlight was on an angle, and rotated the image to make the planet horizontal.

The question is if it's noticeable in the print, and i don't think it will be.

Bingo, we have a winner. Most people have their monitors set too brightly. Mine are pretty much calibrated to sRGB and I can still see it a little...

[Setebos]

Well, I didn't notice the cut until somebody inverted the colors. It's sloppy, yeah, but it's not outrageously evident, come on! 

That depends on the device you're using to view it. I'm using quite a high brightness setting for my screen and with that the cut is clearly visible even without modifications to the image.
I really hope, it isn't visible on the final cover -- even though I'm not exactly a graphics nut, this little issue really bothers me quite a bit.

[Whatsername]

Hi all! I love having this forum to read on the train ride to work. Makes my commute much more enjoyable.

Well, I didn't notice the cut until somebody inverted the colors.

This. And the sad thing is I have an associate's degree in graphic design, so it's pathetic I didn't notice it. Still, it isn't evident on my phone, so I'm okay with it for now. I do hope that they touch it up more simply because for those people who have a brighter display and will see the seam. I have a two monitor spread here at my job and on the one the gamma is turned up much higher and I can see the line. On my phone it's fine though so I'm not particularly concerned.

[atmyne]

Well, I didn't notice the cut until somebody inverted the colors. It's sloppy, yeah, but it's not outrageously evident, come on! 

That depends on the device you're using to view it. I'm using quite a high brightness setting for my screen and with that the cut is clearly visible even without modifications to the image.
I really hope, it isn't visible on the final cover -- even though I'm not exactly a graphics nut, this little issue really bothers me quite a bit.

I didn't notice it at ALL on first inspection, and thought it looked super badass. Now it's blatantly protrusive to my eyes. I cannot NOT see it.
Track titles have me incredibly hyped for this though...

[serrano]

Good that we cannot turn up the gamma on the final print. 

[Kotowboy]

And it will be 12x12 cm and probably barely noticeable.

[Whatsername]

Good that we cannot turn up the gamma on the final print. 

Hey, with advanced to technology and medicine, that might end up being a possibility at some point.

[Kotowboy]

Well, I didn't notice the cut until somebody inverted the colors. It's sloppy, yeah, but it's not outrageously evident, come on! 

Indeed. Lets blow up the pic - whack up the brightness and invert it and point out any small errors that most people don't care about and you probably won't even see on the final cd booklet sized pic.

[serrano]

On the other hand, i find it a subpar delivery for a probably very well paid job... I like the concept, but if i were a professional, given the zillions of planetary wallpapers available on the internet, i would have taken a lot more care.

Even if it works on the print, there will be images on the web, and as a graphic designer he should be aware that most of the people crank up the brightness and contrast on the monitors.

[ariich]

Generally speaking, isn't it a rather large coincidence that files with track names on them only get leaked immediately after the official track list is revealed?  This would have been much more convincing had it been uploaded at any point prior to yesterday's announcement.

Precisely, and the dude only joined youtube yesterday.

I feel I should address this now.

Discussion of leaked DT material, even hinting at its existence, is strictly forbidden here. Yes, there are likely to be lots of fake leaks over the next couple of months, particularly given yesterday's announcement of artwork and tracklisting, and yes it's very fun to mock them for how unrealistic they are. But there is a reasonable probability of a real leak at some point nearer to the release, and so from this point on we don't want to see any discussion of possible/fake leaks either.

Just stick with things that are officially released. If you do that, you'll be fine.

[The Curious Orange]

Well, I don't like the cover. But I don't hate it either. I imagine the "Dream Theater" logo will be along the left-hand hinge/tray bit?

But I love the way people thing they know what the songs will sound like based on nothing but the title. It'll be interesting to see how right or wrong they are...

[aprilethereal]

That cutoff thing really bugs me now

And Along For The Ride reminds me of The Count Of Tuscany. I hope we won't get at TCOT part 2 lyric wise.

[hefdaddy42]

ARIICH YOU ARE MY HERO

[erciccio]

I think the cutoff was made on purpose.
And I'm looking forward to understand why...

[Zydar]

It's a reference to Pull Me Under and its sudden cutoff

[bosk1]

I like the cover.  The proportions on the majesty logo do not bother me at all.  It is still clearly and distinctively the majesty logo.  The cutoff does not bother me either.  On a physical album cover, I doubt you would even be able to see it.  The problem is, we are looking at it on computer monitors, and that some of you apparently have your brightness turned up to where it is obvious.  On my settings, I can't even see it.

That said, I like Blob's version quite a bit.

[Whatsername]

It's a reference to Pull Me Under and its sudden cutoff

[emtee]

There must be some reason for having the planet/earth/orb (whatever it is) on the cover as opposed to just the Majesty logo by
itself. They never do anything w/o thinking about it. I'm sure it will tie into the theme somehow.

[Mister Gold]

I think the cutoff was made on purpose.
And I'm looking forward to understand why...

If it's Hugh Syme, I wouldn't be too surprised if it was just laziness. However this thought had also occurred to me. If that's the case, it'd remind me a little bit of Genesis' Trespass, when the artist made a large cut through the original painting after the band had added in the song 'The Knife'. However, I wouldn't say that it's all that effective in this case.

Then again, some epic detail might be revealed where the cutoff represents something from the lyrics and completely change opinions on the whole thing.

There must be some reason for having the planet/earth/orb (whatever it is) on the cover as opposed to just the Majesty logo by
itself. They never do anything w/o thinking about it. I'm sure it will tie into the theme somehow.

I'm guessing two things:

- The band wanted the cover artwork for this album to be similar in nature to the cover artwork for Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon
- It ties into lyrics from the album, possibly Illumination Theory, based on the light at the left side of the cover.

[GasparXR]

Was it actually confirmed that Hugh Syme did the artwork?

[Mister Gold]

Was it actually confirmed that Hugh Syme did the artwork?

As far as I know, no it wasn't.

[aprilethereal]

There must be some reason for having the planet/earth/orb (whatever it is) on the cover as opposed to just the Majesty logo by
itself. They never do anything w/o thinking about it. I'm sure it will tie into the theme somehow.

Just like the unicyclist tied into the theme on ADTOE

[Whatsername]

As a new DT fan I feel I'm allowed to ask, did Hugh Syme do the artwork for all the previous albums, or were there any other artists?

[BlobVanDam]

As a new DT fan I feel I'm allowed to ask, did Hugh Syme do the artwork for all the previous albums, or were there any other artists?

Hugh Syme has done all of DT's album covers from Octavarium onwards. Fairly sure he didn't do any prior to that.

[Elite]

There must be some reason for having the planet/earth/orb (whatever it is) on the cover as opposed to just the Majesty logo by
itself. They never do anything w/o thinking about it. I'm sure it will tie into the theme somehow.

Just like the unicyclist tied into the theme on ADTOE

Yes, actually. Considering the album was going to be called 'Bridges in the Sky' first, the unicyclist on the rope high up in the sky fit with the theme very well. Only when DT decided to use BITS as the song title, instead of 'The Shaman's Trance', which it was called originally and changed the album title to ADTOE, the rope was made to be broken, tying in with the new album title.

[BlastParadigm]

It's a really good bet that Hugh did the cover.
But if it was indeed Hugh, then I gotta admit, he's probably reaching a state of irreversible laziness.

[Whatsername]

There seems to be a general consensus that Hugh isn't very good at album art? Or that he doesn't execute well? Am I gathering this properly or is that just my perception?

Also, which album do you think has the best art?

[bosk1]

There seems to be a general consensus that Hugh isn't very good at album art? Or that he doesn't execute well?

I wouldn't go that far.  I think it's more that a subset of fans who post on an Internet forum don't like his art.

[Whatsername]

There seems to be a general consensus that Hugh isn't very good at album art? Or that he doesn't execute well?

I wouldn't go that far.  I think it's more that a subset of fans who post on an Internet forum don't like his art.

Ah okay. Because I never had a complaint about the album art. I would say some of it wasn't especially good but some of them I really like. That's why I figured I'd ask.

[Mister Gold]

There seems to be a general consensus that Hugh isn't very good at album art? Or that he doesn't execute well? Am I gathering this properly or is that just my perception?

On the contrary, I personally think Hugh Symes has made some downright fantastic artwork for a lot of great albums in the past. Some of my all time favorite album covers were done by him. But in recent years, especially for the more recent DT albums, he seems to have lost his touch a bit.

Also, which album do you think has the best art?

Definitely 6DoIT. However, I'm also loving the look and concept of the new cover too. I'm only hoping that the cutoff is fixed by the time the end product comes out.

[hefdaddy42]

There seems to be a general consensus that Hugh isn't very good at album art? Or that he doesn't execute well?

I wouldn't go that far.  I think it's more that a subset of fans who post on an Internet forum don't like his art.

I think it is more accurate to say that he appears less committed on the artwork he has done for DT than for the bigger-named acts for whom he has produced album art.

[JPX]

The artifacts are just compression artifacts from being a jpg file brightened up, not because of the stock image used.

I've just started my own quick mockup of my idea of a "better" cover. Only just started this, and keep in mind this is from scratch, not editing the existing image. Only an hour or two of work in this.

Really not a fan of this, sorry.

The logo now looks really flat, and the outline on the upper portion of the logo doesn't look correct.
The lens flair detracts from the composition and washes out the entire image.
The only improvement to me is the image used for the planet.

I appreciate the time you put into it though. I just happen to love the cover the way it was.