"HOW A SLEEVE IS DONE"
The Work of Hipgnosis: Walk Away René (1978) pp. 52-56

By Storm Thorgerson
ISBN 0-905895-09-6 (Hardback)
0-905895-08-8 (Soft Cover)

The stages of doing the sleeve for 10cc's 'Deceptive Bends' were basically the same as for most jobs though slightly more involved because of the complexity of the final artwork. These stages are as follows: - a) Commission; b) Brief and first meeting with the band; c) Roughs and second meeting with the band; d) Shooting; e) Artwork; f) Finishing.

The Commission

When 10cc were with Jonathan King, it was he, rather than them, who first came to us for 'Street Music'. By the time 'Deceptive Bends' was being recorded we had come to know 10cc and had designed three previous sleeves. They rang us up and said come round to listen to four songs that had been recorded and to chat about the sleeve.

The Brief

At the time (December 1976) 10cc had just split in half. Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman were continuing 10cc and the record was their first attempt alone. They felt that a positive and romantic image was appropriate. They'd decided on the title, taken from some road signs on the way to their studio in Dorking and they'd composed four tracks which they played me. Included was 'Good Morning Judge' and 'The Things We Do for Love' so it sounded not totally unlike the 10cc we had known. They had no specific notions of their own, either about the visuals or about the packaging. There was serious talk about whether their faces should be on the front of the sleeve (the Americans had been pressing for this) but they considered that this was too egocentric, especially since they had just lost half the band. It hadn't been a feature before so it didn't seem worth pursuing now.

The Roughs

On the way home from the studio the first night that I'd seen Eric and Graham, I got to thinking about 'Deceptive Bends' as a phrase. I began to free associate and make simple connections and deductions. I cast aside anything to do with bends and curves in the road as too obvious. I rejected any ideas about deceiving the viewer with things that were bent but looked straight as idle trickery. As a result of this I considered the other possible meanings of bends . . . and the bends of a diver came easily to mind. I thought immediately of those diver's suits from the 20's or 30's and how amazing they look, not only for their bizarre metallic helmets but also for the whole 'monster' feeling that they evoke. Since you can't see either the face or the body you've no idea what the occupant really looks like. And then it wasn't long before I felt that the deception of 'Deceptive Bends' referred to the person in the picture, not to the person looking at it. The diver is deceived by his own bends and so fantasizes freely. Since the band wanted a positive design it had to be an up-lifting fantasy - such as emerging from the waters of the deep with his arms full of treasure. Perhaps he'd imagined himself rescuing the girl of his dreams from a watery death. I felt that this image would possess an heroic myth quality. Privately we may see ourselves as heroes, rescuing our sweethearts from fires, earthquakes and any number of terrible fates and it was this mythic feeling that appealed to me most. When I 'saw' it I visualised it in a circular frame (like the diver's mask). The border around it on the sleeve might well be illustrated but the central image had to be photographic, otherwise it would be too cliched and too like a hundred comic book covers we've all seen before.

During the next month we had several meetings and came up with other possibilities, including some roads! They were drawn out as pencil or paint roughs and taken back to 10cc. This second meeting with the client is a fairly nerve racking affair because if they don't like anything we either have to start over again or are given the gentle elbow. Fortunately Eric and Graham were very keen on at least two ideas, the diver and one other. They asked us how certain things might actually end up and what colours we had in mind. They removed ones they considered inappropriate until they were left with the two, and then finally the one. We hit a ticklish spot here because Eric wanted to change the jetty into a road. This debate about the road was just plain awkward for about an hour. I personally couldn't see it. Eric gracefully gave way and the word was go.

The Shooting

Having agreed a budget with Phonogram (10cc's record company) we began to organise the actual photography. We decided against staging the idea as one complete event because there would be too many uncontrollable variables. Instead we would do it in bits and join them together later. As far as the shooting of covers is concerned 'Deceptive Bends' was relatively straightforward, though lengthy. We had decided to hire a studio specially, rather than use our own, so that we would have enough space to set up lights, dress and make-up models, organise diving apparatus and keep the boys comfortable and happy. At about 11 a.m. Peter picked up the diver and met with Po at the studio. The next hour or so was spent setting up the basic shooting configuration, grey backdrop, position and intensity of lights etc. After a short argument we settled on a large 'fishfryer' pointing down and slightly forward behind the diver's head and a smaller but stronger light in front and to the right of the camera. At this stage we usually take numerous polaroid test shots to see what it looks like on paper (often very different to what one thinks one sees in real life!) As a result of seeing these we added a couple of large white reflector boards to the left of camera to lighten up the shadows.

Once the diver was in his suit it was discovered that although he was no weakling the suit was so heavy that he could only lift and hold the lady with a lot of difficulty. Since we usually take ages faffing about with the camera it was consequently necessary to support the girl in some way. We rigged a bar just in front of him upon which to rest his arms. (Even with this he was pretty tired by the end of the day). The pictures were shot using a Hasselblad 2¼" format camera.

To give us more of a choice later on we shot the front picture twice over with different girls wearing different dresses. Then the band arrived about 3 p.m. After a little make-up and appropriate hair wetting they were photographed for the back of the sleeve. Then we shot the lone diver who appears behind them. At the same time, we were filming the front picture of the diver and the girl on 35 mm. movie film in case it should be needed for a TV commercial. It takes a lot of time trying to make sure that for each different picture everything is how you want it, from the basic camera angle down to how wet the girl's legs are. We finished the whole of this session about 10.30 p.m. The jetty was photographed a couple of days later on location - by the Thames in Hammersmith. (The sea and sky pictures were procured from photo libraries but only after a long and arduous search, and only after we'd seen prints of the studio session).

The Artwork

When all the transparencies came back from processing there was a sigh of relief. But then there were furious debates as to which pictures should actually be used. Some of the alternatives are shown here.) Using reversal prints, small scale mock-ups of the finished thing were made to give us a better idea of how it was looking. Eric and Graham popped in to select their own photos and to cast their votes on the front cover. By a lengthy process of elimination, by identifying the different faults with different pictures, we eventually chose the final ones. This is often a compromise because one sees good points in one photograph that are simply missing from another. Primarily, I think, we looked for a clearly stepping forward pose for the diver and a good curved (deceptive bend) shape to the girl, so that she looked really limp. Of secondary importance was the way the girl's dress fell, how her legs, shoulders and breasts looked and how her head hung. Lastly, we examined the head of the diver, searching for one which was looking very definitely toward the viewer. In addition, the lighting and focus needed to be spot on. When you consider all these points you can appreciate the necessity for shooting a lot of film.

By using black and white negative prints taken from the actual transparencies we plan to use, we montaged a finished composition, oversized, in order to preserve the quality when the artwork came to be separated. This terminal composition could either be montaged or stripped-in finally using the selected colour pictures. Montage often requires copying on to one print and then retouching in order to prevent the overlapping elements causing shadows when the artwork is separated for the actual cover. Strip-in, however, gives a first generation combined print on a single surface and so avoids copying and the risk of unwanted colour variance and loss of focus. This advantage is partially offset by the composition being fixed - once decided and stripped-in for real it cannot be altered other than by going right back to the beginning.

Strip-ins involve dye transfer prints and are consequently bright and strong but very expensive. Initially the chosen transparency is separated into three black and white negative films which correspond to three colours (the dyes) namely magenta, yellow and cyan which when recombined give the full colour range of the original.

Each negative bears the photographic image in relation to the proportion of its colour in the original; the cyan negative represents in black and white the amount of cyan in the transparency. The image on the negative is photographic or silver based. The next stage is to contact the negatives on to positive films or masts which are gelatin based and bear the image in relief. The individual masts are soaked in the three dyes and then rolled on to the printed paper one after the other in exact register depositing their proportion of dye. A strip-in is achieved by contacting two sets of negatives from two transparencies on to a single set of masts whilst masking out the areas not required. Thus the masts will carry the required combination of images and the resultant print only needs the join or strip marks to be retouched. 'Deceptive Bends' is a four part strip - sky, sea, jetty, and diver and girl - and it called for some very careful retouching work by Richard Manning.

The complete pictures was given the thumbs up by 10cc. But the border remained a problem, mostly because it was virtually impossible to see it with the finished picture in the middle of it. We tried all sorts of colours and types of illustration. A plain border didn't work nor would a photographic one. It didn't want to be too colourful or too dull. In the end Colin suggested a pen and ink line drawing. It was executed in black and white and then requested to be printed in pale green. (Although it may seem odd we've chosen to show the poster large here rather than the sleeve. It was, of course, done at the same time and in the same way).

The Finish

The end is in sight. The record company is clamouring for the artwork, when suddenly we notice some blemish, or some minute piece of retouching that still needs to be done. At this juncture, the cover artwork is in many pieces - the pictures, front and back, the border, the lettering and the mechanical. This last piece indicates how the other pieces are to fit together on the final sleeve. In addition, there are some credits, logos and record numbers which are pasted down on this mechanical. The several pieces are labelled and covered with protective paper. Each item carries copious notes which inform the separator and printer about how it all Joins up. Since this 'mark-up' is detailed and potentially confusing we endeavour to speak to the printer personally.

The separation of the artwork and the printing of the actual sleeve are vital to us in so much as if these processes are not performed as efficiently as possible, our work can look terrible when it reaches the public. And we don't want that if we can possibly avoid it. The first proof of 'Deceptive Bends' was awful. It was done again and the border colour altered from green to a maroon. The second proof was alright and the printing got under way. But then another calamity befell us - the red printing plate was weak in density. The over inking of the other plates, in order to compensate for this weakness, produced a dreadfully lurid result. Horrors. But 50,000 copies had to be done to meet shipping schedules after which the record company agreed to change plates and start over again. All this takes up time and destroys valuable brain cells. 'Deceptive Bends' began at the end of December 1976 and the printed sleeve appeared in April 1977.

Click to subscribe

© 2008 by Minestrone. All rights reserved.