Disturbed CD Cover

I listen to hard rock music and am currently working on a project in Desktop Publishing where I create a book related to my choices in music and why its important to me. While I looking at album covers, I came upon this article about how Disturbed's Ten Thousand Fists article was created. It is an older article, from 2005, but I thought it was interesting because we have been talking about design briefs in class. This article  gives a good idea of how lead singer David Draiman had a concept for the cover and then Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo created the final design.


Here is the article:

SPAWN.COM >> NEWS >> DISTURBED UNVEILS NEW ALBUM C... DISTURBED UNVEILS NEW ALBUM COVER ON SPAWN.COM Enter To Win a Guitar Signed By the Band Featuring Spawn Art August 19, 2005 Copyright 2010 TMP International, Inc.   Today, Spawn.com is debuting the full album cover art for Disturbed's Ten Thousand Fists. The album cover was designed by Todd McFarlane and Greg Capullo. Slated to be released September 20, Ten Thousand Fists is the band's first studio record in three years. Pretty frickin' cool. So why McFarlane and Capullo? Lead singer David Draiman explains the album art: "We wanted to bring our old icon, the Disturbed smiley face, whom we call 'the guy,' to life. I came up with a concept that embodied what the record was about, the 'guy' leading an army of people from all walks of life and all colors of skin, with their fists raised in unison, as a symbol of unity, strength and defiance with an azure sky in the background. Being a fan of the Spawn comic book series and the artwork that Todd and his company have done in the past, we could think of no better team to bring this idea to life. We are incredibly pleased with the piece, and think it is the most striking and certainly our favorite of the three covers." So when the idea was presented to McFarlane and Capullo to do the artwork forTen Thousand Fists, they jumped at it, especially with Capullo being a big fan of the band. "As soon as I heard the concept, this composition sprang to mind," Capullo said. "There was, however, early ideas concerning color and lighting that I changed once I began the painting. At first, I planned to make the sky dark and brooding which I thought I'd contrast by using some blood red up-lighting on the figures. While I was painting, I decided to try a fiery sky instead. This approach served two purposes. Firstly, I could draw the viewer's eye to "the guy's" fist by placing the brightest glow directly behind it. Secondly, I could silhouette the throng of bodies against the horizon; further drawing the viewer's eye to the main focal point--'the guy.'" Recorded in the band's hometown of Chicago, the 14-track album was co-produced by the band and Johnny K, who also guided 2000's The Sickness and 2002's Believe. A modern hard rock essential, The Sickness has sold 3.4 million copies while the equally evocative and platinum-plus-selling Believe debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 chart.