Final album cover

This is my final album cover design for Rihanna's album, 'Talk That Talk':

To make this album artwork I used two different images that I layered up in Photoshop. The first layer is my drawing of smashed glass, along with the typography that I live traced over in Illustrator. I did this so the lines are more defined, making it look more professional and so I could edit the colour if needed. I decided to make the writing red as it add's a hint of colour to the design, keeping it from looking dull, this also means the writing will easily stand out. The writing also gives the impression that it has been scratched into the glass. This along with the smashed effect link in with the urban side and attitude of the artist. 

The second layer is one of the photographs that I took during the photo shoot of a girl from behind. I wanted to use this image as she could resemble the artist of the album. I erased the background from the image and used a grey brush to colour in around her outline and at the same time giving a smoky effect to it. I then changed the blend mode of the first layer to darken to get this final design.