Final CD cover

After completing the artwork for the CD I scanned it in and put it into a template on photoshop then printed it out onto an A3 sheet of card. It took a while to print because I had to use the by pass tray but once it was printed I was really happy with the results because the colours printed out so vibrant and exactly how I wanted it to look. I am so glad that I was able to print onto this kind of card as it was my intention from the beginning and for a while I wasn't sure if it was going to be possible but I think that the card case really finishes the overall look of the album cover. Here are some images that I took of the completed case.

Front cover 

centre of cd case 

Back of CD case 

Initial thumbnail sketches

here are sketches of the initial ideas that I had for the album covers they are only thumbnail very rough sketches at the moment to help me decide witch idea I like best.

These sketches are for a concept that I had based on a scandinavian folk tale about a man that buys a cat. I decided to try out  drawing some cats curled up asleep because I love the shape that they make when they're all snuggled up. After drawing the thumbnails I decided that I did like the idea but I feel like it doesn't go that well with the sound and atmosphere that the album has.

Cat sketches 

The next concept that I had was based of the folk tale of the hill people that lived under the hills because they are scared of loud noises. I decided not to go through with this concept because it was very similar to something I had previously seen (read more about that here) and I couldn't figure out a composition that I liked. 

Hill people rough sketches

The final concept idea that I have is based off a Folk tale called Huldra about a woman who gets given a cow tale and she has to hide it from normal people. (Read the folk tale here) The moment I read this story I really liked it and it made me think of a woman that lives in an enchanted forrest. When I listen to Agnes Obels music it makes me think of a beautiful forest with an undertone of darkness. I think this idea would work really well for the album concept. Here is a very rough sketch of the idea I have, sorry for the bad photo ill upload a better one the next time I have that sketchbook on me. 

Huldra rough sketch 

Aventine

I conducted some research on the album name to find out the meaning of it, what i found out was very interesting. I Found out that Aventine is actually the name of one of the seven hills that Rome was built on. This Hill has a lot of Roman mythology linked to it this is the story that is linked to Aventine: 
The Aventine was a significant site in Roman mythology. In Virgil's Aeneid, a cave on the Aventine's rocky slope next the river is home to the monstrous Cacus, killed by Hercules for stealing Geryon's cattle. In Rome's founding myth, the divinely fathered twins Romulus and Remus hold a contest of augury, whose outcome determines the right to found, name and lead a new city, and to determine its site. In most versions of the story, Remus sets up his augural tent on the Aventine; Romulus sets his up on the Palatine. ^{(i found the above story on wikipedia i tried to use the original sources but unfortunately none of the web pages were English so i am going to have to trust wikipedia just this once.)} 

Aventine Hill

Im not sure yet if i will use this information to create my album cover concept but it is really interesting and gives me more to think about.