STORM THORGERSON

By Sophie Hales

BIOGRAPHY Storm Thorgerson was born in Potters Bar in 1944, however in 1968 Storm’s career really took of this was when he formed Hipgnosis with Aubrey Powell, Hipgnosis was a graphic design studio specialising in creative photograph which was mainly for alum covers, these included well known artist's such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, 10CC, Yes, Peter Gabriel, Black Sabbath and global superstar Paul McCartney and also many more.

CAREER In 1983 Storm along with Aubrey and Peter Christopherson formed Green Back films and embarked on producing numerous rock videos. After this is 1994 Storm Thorgerson directed six short film for Pink Floyd which were screened at concerts during the bands world your. Even to the day he died in 2013 Storm he was still designing album covers and he would also direct the occasional film, whilst writing and designing many books.

HIPGNOSIS

For many people, when they talk about great cover art, they're really talking about Hipgnosis covers. Many would say Hipgnosis' best sleeves are the embodiment of what record sleeve art really should be, this includes being iconoclastic, disturbing, and turbo-charged with psychological weirdness, which Storm really bought in his most of his designs. Hipgnosis did something completely new in sleeve design, they brought the meticulousness and technical perfection of advertising to the world of album covers for the first time ever. Hipgnosis raised the bar of cover art - and then the founders set fire to it.

STORM’S WORK Storm is most of course

most famous for his album covers designs, the circular design is a Pink Floyd cover. ‘Pulse’ This album shows almost a cycle of different elements of the earth, along with the pupil and iris of an eye working as a metaphor of the plant in the centre; the other circular object on the eye represents another planet. As you can see the colour scheme is basically and uses a consistent earthly tones and blues to contrast these, which all have a meaning to represent the earth.

In 2011 The Wombats ‘This Modern Glitch’ cover was released and is now an extremely well known album cover due to the brands escalating audience. Thorgerson was responsible for much of the artwork prints on the beach in outdoor settings. Although the album cover is basic it still represent who the band are, as it has quirky and unique feel. There is big use of Mise-En-Scene on the album epically the clothing and the props used, this use of Mise-En-Scene is really naturalist, which maybe The Wombats were trying to tell their fans, that although they are band they are still equal to their fans. This would be a image that I could take ideas from when making my own album cover.

Another famous piece Storm created was Biffy Clyro’s album cover. ‘Only Revolutions’. The album cover was recognised by most people who listen to the alternative/rock/indie genre. This was because of how symbolic the album cover is, as Biffy Clyro are a band from Scotland, Storm has carefully used colour associated with Britain, this shows the band are patriotic and still care for the country no matter how famous they become, the use of blue and red on a pale grey/blue background contrast yet compliment each other well. It’s very clear that Thorgerson’s favourite uses of colour are blue and red as they are the colour used on all three album covers.

MORE OF STORM’S WORK

Eye to eye

Chrome

Back to back

THE CREATION PROCESS

The Brief. Storm will start off by listening

to the music and reading lyrics. This

creates a ‘brain soup’ from idea can be

extracted to form the brief.

Roughs. After this he meets the band and talks about the big idea or theme they have for the album.

This leads to scribbling's and

wordplay. The best of these are then

turned into ‘roughs.

Tests. When a rough is chosen and the budget create a

phototype to ensure the design works. This can be made

from anything depending on what the design involves. Then if all goes to plan a final model

will be created.

Shoot. Then they will now research and book a location for the shoot. There could be a waiting list if the location is outdoors and will mostly likely have to be booked, in case of weather problems. The models are then built

and positioned on set. They then take photos in a range

of angles and light.

Editing. With this the choose the best shot from the collect they took, this will

be the one they put on the album. This may take a long

time depending on how many shots

there are.

Artwork. This is the final stage this is

when Storm will tidy up any last minute things on the shoot, before handing over

the final product.

BY SOPHIE HALES