I made the artwork for this cd cover in blender but used publisher to to make the cover.
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awesome artwork. i like how you can’t see anyhing but the cross, hill and sky. it makes the cross look much taller and more powerful
I’m still amazed at all the things Blender can do considering that it’s an open source application. Very nice work.
It looks great! I might lower the specularity on the cloth a bit, but I guess that depends on the type of cloth it is. Also, you might want to use a different font that’s not Papyrus; it’s a very commonly used font for Christian-related anything. I see it all over newsletters in my church and Christian albums.
But those are just suggestions. Nice work!
Oh, and by the way, do your image dimensions match those of a real CD cover? If so, could you share them? I’ve been struggling with that for a while now :o
the dimentions I use 4"7/8 by 4"7/8 if your doing a design that is going to press remember that the studio needs room usually at the bottom of the tray cover for they’re tag as well. the group wanted the font they really liked it. I was going for a satin look on the cloth I had designed that before they had looked at it for a cover but they saw it they really liked it. the album has been out now for a couple months. thanks for the comments, I’ve become a big fan of blender myself, there is still a lot for me to learn about it though.
Looks really good, and I agree with the Papyrus font not looking the best, but it’s all personal preference.
I will be designing some cd covers for a local studio soon. Not necessarily with blender though, mostly just arranging the pictures they want and the text. I will probably do some 3D work on them aswell though.
I can’t put my finger on it, maybe lack of effects or sky map based AO, but the cross and rock really look fake against the sky. That’s my two cents. Oh and I agree with what they are saying about the font; and gradients are a little overdone, sorry.
the gradient was done that way to bring out the cloth and the font, just as the border the sky and parts of the hill, like I said it was the customers selection concerning the font, personally something a bit thicker would have looked good also had the font been different I would have gone to a less dark color but with a thin font I needed it to be easier read, but for what it is worth, i agree about the hill and cross, the cross was not lighted correctly at all and the hill needed more dimention, I came up with design when I first really started looking at blender but the piece is balanced and what the client wanted.
and no need to be sorry, I’d rather someone be honest about their opinion. than not to get one at all, it’s the only way I can learn. 
I love cd covers they’re fun and working with the musicians is cool too. Papyrus works better with print than web, the gradient looks choppy here but when it printed, it looked great. good luck with your covers!!
@wilmaciii - welcome to blender! I have some experience with graphic design as well as some specific to album cover work (and even in christian music circles at that!). I remember some of my first cd covers, and this reminds me of some of them. In the spirit of constructive criticism, here’s what you can improve on the next cover you work on:
The 3D Render - the concept is fine and appropriate for the album title, however, more time should be spent on material textures. The marble texture on the cross is confusing, imho I would have used a more authentic wood texture. The cloth is fine, but maybe a little too shiny. The rock hill below could use more bump mapping, and perhaps a few grass strands to break up the bare rock face. The cloud background is fine for the concept as is.
The Layout - From a design standpoint, you want to avoid a centered layout as much as possible, this is usually the sign of an inexperienced designer. Left or Right aligned layouts carry more punch and are generally more aesthetically pleasing. Also, it’s usually best to avoid large areas of solid colour or even a coloured gradient like this (or at the very least a better colour choice, the bright purple has no weight to it), and try to use the photo or render for as much of the back ground as possible. The solid background really makes it look old (and not old in good way).
The Typography - as with all the other commenters, Papyrus is indeed a poor choice for a few reasons. The first is that it is a very common font, usually included on anybody’s computer as a default font. Rule of thumb should be that if the client knows the name of the font by name, it’s likely a bad choice. 
It’s not as sophisticated as other font choices that can be purchased for design work. Secondly it’s not really suitable for different sizes/purposes of type. Better fonts have different versions of the typeface for different sizes/styles that allow for finer variations. For instance, even if used for the title, it certainly doesn’t work for the smaller text, a sans serif font would work better there (or at least for some of the smaller lines).
Client Choices - Regarding your comment about the client choosing the Papyrus font and being pleased with the outcome, I think you are doing them a disservice by not offering them better design options and not letting them choose bad designs. This comes with experience however, and as you improve your confidence in your work will as well. At that point you’ll be able to steer the client in the right direction. At the end of the day it’s your work, so make sure it’s really good!
I’d be willing to mockup a new version of the design using some of my points above, do you have a large version of the render with more (hopefully with more bleed around the edges. Maybe you could provide just the hill, cross and fabric, and then I could composite the clouds in behind so that we can fill the entire cover with the render. It’s no big deal if you can’t, I might set up a new scene myself.
Cheers,
Todd
@ todd
thank you for your comments.