Enter the Dragon (FTD's Dragonheart)

[Manhattoe]

Finally, I conquered the dragon.

It was a long way and a hard fight, and I was on the brink of surrender, but now it has come to an end I can live with.

As I pointed out in the artwork discussion forum, the title derives from a Bruce Lee movie. It alludes to the Chinese dragon suit (of course). The whole thing is made up to suggest a sense of exotic mystery, Asian occultism, karate etc. pp.

I hope you like it.

Comments of any kind, as always, are very welcome.

[Steve]

You did he very very good job on this one.
Very well done

[mn-designs]

Very good looking set you made here! I was not to much impressed when i saw your previews...but after seeing the final product..it turned out great! but didyou know that on your back cover zip file the inlay is placed? so the back cover isn't there for download. thought to let you know.

[Manhattoe]

Looks really great to me, don't think i need this one for print but still very nice to look at.

Just thinking of all your other work then this must be the best one so far.

Thanks, Ron. I am glad you like it.

Why do you not need for print? Do you have the original FTD CD?
Or do you, as I do, avoid having that poor show on your CD shelf.

When I did the design, I asked myself several times why I did spend so much time for a show like that.

You did he very very good job on this one.
Very well done.

Thanks, Steve. Your comment is appreciated.

[Manhattoe]

Very good looking set you made here! I was not to much impressed when i saw your previews...but after seeing the final product..it turned out great! but didyou know that on your back cover zip file the inlay is placed? so the back cover isn't there for download. thought to let you know.

Well, Patrick, I wasn't impressed by it myself, until I found the solution to all my troubles. And thanks, for your nice comments.

As for the zip-file, I didn't know (of course) and corrected that mistake.
Thanks for letting me know.

[Jungleroom76]

EXCELLENT DESIGN MANHATTOE!!!!

It definitely looks like a lot of time went into your creation, but it was all certainly well worth it!! What an outstanding and VERY UNIQUE design you have put together!!

KUDOS TO YOU MY FRIEND FOR YOUR LATEST MASTERPIECE!!!
TCB!
Mike

[spinout-designs]

Well, I'll start by saying this is a very impressive and original design and layout.

At the time this disc came out it seemed to me the title you have chosen here 'Enter The Dragon' would have been a better (and more obvious) choice than 'Dragonheart', although perhaps given the Bruce Lee motion picture, the use of the former title may not have been a straightforward matter (I don't know).

In any event, the way you have emulated the movie poster style for elements in this design I really do enjoy a lot - stylish and original.

The font work, the colour scheme and the composition all blend beautifully.

The dragon and fire elements certainly work well on screen (though I do wonder to an extent just how clearly these lowered opacity blended elements would appear on a printed version).

I also find some inconsistency in the tracklisting between words beginning in lower and upper case (for example you have 'Bridge over Troubled Water', 'Trying to Get to You')

Lastly, the black of the clear tray inlay has a hex number of #070506 wheras the Elvis photo which you have overlayed has a black backround of #000000 - resulting in a noticable outline where you have erased the background around the photo in order to blend it in (at least on my monitor).

It may well be this would not be noticable in a printed version, yet it would be remiss of me not to mention it. A slight adjustment would of course make the blend seamless.

Nevertheless, overall an impressive piece of design

[Manhattoe]

EXCELLENT DESIGN MANHATTOE!!!!

It definitely looks like a lot of time went into your creation, but it was all certainly well worth it!! What an outstanding and VERY UNIQUE design you have put together!!

KUDOS TO YOU MY FRIEND FOR YOUR LATEST MASTERPIECE!!!
TCB!
Mike

Thanks for this encomium, Mike.
A good read for a lazy sunday morning.

[Manhattoe]

Thanks for your laudatory comments and, in particular, for your detailed and helpful remarks. All of them are very appreciated.

The dragon and fire elements certainly work well on screen (though I do wonder to an extent just how clearly these lowered opacity blended elements would appear on a printed version).

Yep, that may become a problem. It looks fine on my ink jet printer (HP DeskJet 1200c) on glossy paper. I will also do a printout on a Splash next Thursday.

I also find some inconsistency in the tracklisting between words beginning in lower and upper case (for example you have 'Bridge over Troubled Water', 'Trying to Get to You')

Well, this is done deliberately, using so-called title caps here, that is all words are written with capital letters except prepositions, conjunctions and articles. If I remember well, this is an American typographic tradition.

Lastly, the black of the clear tray inlay has a hex number of #070506 wheras the Elvis photo which you have overlayed has a black backround of #000000 - resulting in a noticable outline where you have erased the background around the photo in order to blend it in (at least on my monitor).

Uuuh, I will have to check and correct that. As yet, I have no idea how such a mistake could creep into the dragonhole. But it is good to get to know how carefully you inspected my design.

[Manhattoe]

Mark pointed out some color inconsistency on the inlay. I checked that and inspected all other parts of the cover. I did a bit color correction on the front and the foldout, and some more on the inlay.

I would advise you to download the inlay once again (if you want to print it). It may well be that the changes on the cover and the foldout won't be visible on any printer and 95% percent of all monitors, but if you want to be sure to get a clean file, you should download those two, too.

Sorry, for the inconvenience, and thanks to Mark.

[michu]

Wow!I admit it looks great! Very good job
Hey guys,this show isnt so bad!

[Manhattoe]

Wow!I admit it looks great! Very good job
Hey guys,this show isnt so bad!

Thanks, Michu.

Whether this show is bad or not is a matter of discussion.

But I can tell you what is really bad, without doubt, and that is the management of my files in this thread.
I received a PM telling me that the left dragon is missing on the poster foldout. I don't know when it crept away. Anyway, I have recaptured it and now it is where it belongs.

Sorry, sorry, sorry for that messy presentation of my files here. I don not know where I have my head these days.

I promise to do better when I upload my design for the On Tour Rehearsals this weekend.

[U.S. Male]

I must be losing my mind - I can't believe I let this one slip by me

I think you've put together a very fine and flashy peice of work . I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of the red dragons in the background - I'd like to see a version w/o them just to compare, but the overall concept is amazingly effective; it has that 70's Bruce Lee appearance.

I am also impressed with the mini poster you put together. I could just see it hanging in stores and record shops advertising the release of the cd. I tell you, the more I see material like this it makes me realize just how often RCA dropped the ball when it came to marketing Elvis' material. With all the fine photographs of this suit, RCA/BMG/FTD could have really made this title a showcase piece, but as it usually has been in the past - they chose not to.

A fine effort on your part Manhattoe....congratulations on the outstanding results

[Manhattoe]

I must be losing my mind - I can't believe I let this one slip by me

I think you've put together a very fine and flashy peice of work . I'll admit that I'm not a big fan of the red dragons in the background - I'd like to see a version w/o them just to compare, but the overall concept is amazingly effective; it has that 70's Bruce Lee appearance.

A fine effort on your part Manhattoe....congratulations on the outstanding results

Thank you, for your kind words, Big Boss.

As it is, I have a version without dragons, and here it is. For my taste, the version with the dragons is much better.