Design Drafts - Album Cover

I drew up some initial ideas for the album cover and they are shown below. I will be discussing them by number with the top left being 1, top right being 2, bottom left being 3 and bottom right being 4. I will also be going around asking people for their thoughts in school.

1

This design is rather reminiscent of Weird Sky and as a result I've decided to include a sky in the background to maintain that key image. The one thing I've tried to do is include some Dada style with the potential for manipulating a real image of Jack and having the head open up to reveal some goo exploding from it with Weird Sky written in the goo as it is also sailing through the air. It's quite imaginative and surreal but I am hesitant to include Jack's head as the primary image in another album. I do actually like it a lot and think it's the most developed idea, but I am still open to feedback and will soon see which design is best. My one issue is the text, the Weird Sky is perfect in terms of the style as it is based on the design I used in the music video, however the placement of the Elsewhere Head seems off to me - perhaps centering it would be better.

2

This idea has Jack on the album but as a silhouette, more of a call back to the original idea I had awhile back when we initially thought about creating the Weird Sky album. Notably I chose to keep the lenses of his glasses white as to make his silhouette distinguishable. However, I think it's too lazy and doesn't feel as trippy as the other ideas. Sure editing the sky to be psychedelic and abstract might work but I feel there are better ways of following psychedelic convention.

3

This image is just a goblin, it is extremely unrelated to the album but I think it looks cool. This is effectively the style Thee Oh Sees would follow in having their cover not relate to the content or title of the album, it's just effectively a random illustration that is psychedelic in its detail and abstract concept. This is perhaps similar to the fish design I made for Shit Music but clearly that had some possible symbolism behind it whereas this is an irrelevant image. One thing to note however is the position of the text, the position is similar to that of Tame Impala's album. Typically the artist leaves his name on a circular sticker over the front cover but on the cover shown below the text is in the top corner - a possible placement I have considered as he is a psychedelic artist.

4

This is a design that I am conflicted about, it could certainly be improved by adding the text from design number 1 but at least it has centered text. I am unsure about the placement of the clouds actually, I might just have it oozing some goo as to relate to the lyrics in Mystic Optician along with the art for that album. Also in terms of the clouds, I am not sure whether or not to include them so prominently, would I have to illustrate them and add them to the cover or would a simple photo image do? I am unsure but there is definitely potential in this design.