'THUS II' Cover Art Sneak Peak & Conceptualization

This is the final image that will grace 'THUS II'. The trifold art (top of the blog) is still being included with the CD, but I wanted to create a single unifying image for the cover that would really encompass the arch of the music, as opposed to choosing one of the three images as an incomplete glimpse into a much larger picture. This image actually incorporates the images of the trifold art...if you look closely. The 'arch' to which I earlier reffered is really simply the lineage of life experiences since my first album. As I mentioned in my previous entry, 'THUS II' involves resonant subjects such as love, friendship & the loss thereof, self image, individuality, success & failure, money problems, etc...basically parameters of most anybody's life. I feel the trifold artwork sums up a lot of this stuff pretty literally, so I took the album cover in kind of the opposite direction, portraying the arch more metaphorically.

I used an image of scope and 'space' as, you guessed it, a metaphor for the mind. 'THUS II' intends to feel like a journey (hopefully a good thing), where the listener has a sensation of traversing a long distance, rather than just listening to a random bunch of songs by some guy. It's supposed to be like a guided tour through 4 years of my experiences with a soulful and hopefully thought provoking commentary on the sites, emotions and characters along the way. The 'orbs' or 'planets' depicted on the cover art represent the three suites as separate locales that the listener will be transported to (direct flight- no stops. :) They're spread out before the viewer as if this is the beginning of the journey they take. There's a little guy at the end...I guess he's me. At first, it just didn't look right without the little guy, and it didn't immediately hit me what he was there for other than looking cool...but when I included him, I thought, 'Oh, that's me at the 'THUS II' finish line, tackling this thing.' So I left him in there. Love that little guy. :*)

Anyhow, I just finished this image and I think it really works as the album cover for my new work. This baby is pretty much ready to be released. A couple minor technical tweaks to the overall thing and I can close the book on this chapter, and get it out to YOU. (>giant sigh of relief<)