character CD cover design

[Ricco]

Hi I had to do a cover for a hip hop band called FliteCru. I designed the logo and the artwork would you buy it if you were into this kind of music?

[geldslaw]

wow, great concept, illustrating and design skills, but I would regard what you have their as unfinished work.

take it into illustrator and tidy it up somewhat, give it a more professional look rather, and this may be harsh, rather than a boot leggers look.

look for cd cover art work that is similiar in design, and raise the finish of your artwork to that level

but I can see that when it done, I would pick it up and look at it with an interest to buy it.

keep up the good work

[Motammad]

Indeed, the main visual element - the guy - is done well. However, the problem is in the overall composition of the design. It's too rigid and definitely too aggressive (positioning key elements to the center makes it seem strict and direct, that leads to it being dull). Try to come up with a composition scheme that would be more flexible and dynamic (I'd call hip-hop rather dynamic).
Here's what I'm talking about. Though this is not really a CD cover, it still pretty clear to explain my notions:



See how the axes acuminate to the left? Though the shapes are rigid, the scene was set up in a way that would soften that rigidness.
A good trick to set up a simple and en effective composition, divide the sheet (of paper or whatever) into three equal horizontal and vertical parts. That should look like the tic-tac-toe board. At the points where those line intersect, thats where you put the "sweet stuff". This technique is also known as the Rule Of Thirds: