Cover art: Hand drawn vs. Computer imaging

Cover art is unique in general and often decides whether to buy a CD or not for me(I know that is messed up!). I usually prefer hand drawn covers to CG just because it adds this "human" feel to the music package as a whole. Nowadays there are all kinds of hybrids that combine the two, but I will take a straight hand painted cover anyday.

Some of my favorates.....

Hexenhaus--Edge of Eternity
Kreator-- Endless pain
Lightforce-- 1986-1988
Hammerfall-- chapter V
Deliverance-- Weapons of our warfare
Death--Leporsy
Mortification-- Scrolls of the Megiloth
Freedom Call-- Stairway to fairyland
Rhapsody of fire-- Triumph or agony
Extol-- Burial

Hand drawn easily wins in my opinion. I love the work from the likes of Ed Repka.

I prefer hand-drawn but it still takes a human touch to add the "zippity-doo-daa" to computer generated imaging....even a good photograph can be stellar ?

Hand drawn for me.Repka,Rexorcist to name a few.

I prefer good art.

with classic hand-drawn artwork like that ^ around, it's quite obvious. One of my fav covers. By the way, Raw Power is an Italian hardcore band.

I like well done hand drawn, but there are some good Computer ones as well.

i love the hand drawn/painted stuff most.

I love the old hand-drawn covers from years ago. Ed Repka did some amazing work! There's just something about the hand-drawn covers that computer-generated ones just can't touch, IMO. Some of the computer-based ones are pretty good, but hand-drawn wins by a landslide. The same applies to logos. The old logos ruled!

I'm probably one of the few who is a fan of the old 70's-era group photo covers. ANGEL's "Sinful" is an example, as is the debut KISS record. "Get Your Wings" by AEROSMITH, "Ain't Life Grand" by BLACK OAK ARKANSAS, THIN LIZZY's "Fighting," etc., are among some others.

BTW, Rex did a nice job on the ULTIMATUM cover. I like the color-scheme, and I'm a sucker for a well-positioned logo, such as is the case here with the aforementioned ULTIMATUM cover.

The digital art can be awesome. Here's a few of my favorite pieces from Travis Smith.

i love the digital art as well. the complete layout to Psychotic Waltz's Bleeding was amazing. however, it does not have the same impact on me as Larry Carrols art does.

I also love the hand drawn/painted stuff. My favorite artists are Derk Riggs (Iron Maiden, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, Bruce Dickinson), Mark Klinnert (Rhapsody), Andreas Marschall (Hammerfall, Blind Guardian, Running Wild, Covenant, Dark Moor, Destruction, Grave Digger, Helloween, In Flames, Krator, Obituary, Raven, U.D.O., Wintersbane, and many more) and Gary Smith (Savatage and Omen).

My favorite album cover of all time from Gary Smith:

(Gutter Ballet a very close second)

My favorite from Andreas Marschall

Favotrite from Derik Riggs:

Favorite From Marc Klinnert:

mc666 wrote:

i love the digital art as well. the complete layout to Psychotic Waltz's Bleeding was amazing. however, it does not have the same impact on me as Larry Carrols art does.

Oh, there's some killer hand-painted stuff, no doubt. What I like about digital art is that it just creates stuff that's impossible to paint. But someone like Travis Smith is just awesome. That Ziltoid cover is a painting and digital art. The Redemption cover looks like it could be, but as far as I know it's not. The dude is awesome!

I absolutely love that Anathema cover. I'd love a really big print of it.

I like the old prog art by Roger Dean. Bought many an album just on the basis of that.

I prefer the pitch black album cover like "This Is Spinal Tap".

I like hand drawn. Anything else is lazy.

With such fantastic hand drawn artwork out there, I don't see how anyone who does computer graphic artwork could even compete.

Point taken! (But I for one admitted to liking both!)

I like both. The Into the Pit cover above by Rexorcist is a combination of both.

In my opinion, I think we came out with one of the coolest covers ever!

Hand drawn all the way. The new CIIC cover is a prime example of very poor CG work.

i dont mind as long as i like the artowk

Rex, your sarcasm was hlarious!! lol Those covers that you selected to post are among the lamest hand-drawn ones. Still, as lame as the BATTLEAXE one is, my 15-year old "inner child" still appreciates it...lol

Sarcasm? I don't know what you are talking about. Those are masterpieces of handicraftedness.