Magazine Remake

For my final exam as I am designing and creating a music magazine. I decided to remake the front cover of a magazine that was music related. So I chose to copy the front cover of an issue of Kerrang a this is the sort of interesting dynamic magazine cover I wish to achieve myself as a finished product.


First I went on google images and selected a suitable and relevant Kerrang cover. Then I decided that although I would keep the same layout as the original magazine. I would change all the words and the images used. This would test my skill in keeping with the genre of the magazine. S
o any of the images I used were off the Internet however everything was created from scratch nothing was copied form the original.


I started by manipulating the main image of the arctic monkeys by using the brightness/contrast slider to give it that unique look. Then I created the title using a simple font with roughly the same dimensions as the originals then using the line tool and the paint tool to give the letters their almost unfinished look. This also added the cracked lines across it. I then inserted the text in the centre of the magazine and chose a similar font to the original and placing the black boxes behind them in another layer.
Every aspect on that page has a different layer, this allows me to skip between items on the page easily and also stops me form accidentally deleting something or editing the wrong object. Then I put in the other pictures such as the posters and the Arctic Monkeys album poster and placed the white boxes behind them, using the free transform option to alter the sizes and orientation of each image giving the front of the magazine that sort messy thrown together look. Then I used the paint tool and different paint brushes to give the "poster special" writing that painted outline. I placed in the coloured boxes behind the text in the bottom right using the text option. I also placed shadow on each one to give them the 3D effect making them stand out to the reader a bit more.


The artist I chose to use as the main featuring article on the front cover as well as using an image of them were the Arctic Monkeys as these are a band which I like as well as them being in keeping with the feel and style of the magazine. Images of them and their albums were also readily available off the Internet. all of the band names featured on the front of the magazine are real nothing is made up as I wanted to keep the authenticity of the magazine even though it was a remake. Then I finished off the top of the page with the "futureheads" stripe at the top and using the text stretch option on the words to make them fit exactly into the boxes

As you can see these front covers are very similar and effective even the one which created in a few hours on photoshop. I think I did a good job and that my photoshop skills are up to the job or creating a music magazine such as working with many layers. This task has allowed me to assess my ability with photoshop and to select appropriate material to fit the genre of the magazine. The only problem I can see with my version of the magazine is the fact that the original image isn't exactly as wide as the original making the magazine look a bit stretched however that could not be helped as this was an image I got off the Internet. Overall this was a real confidence booster as I created the whole thing from scratch!