It’s Not Always A Success…

I have had a few successes, working with/for artists and musicians that most would consider famous or have achieved the right amount of respectable attention, though it’s not always been pure sailing. For the small amount of projects I could brag about and get your attention, there have also been a multitude of designs that haven’t gone exactly as planned. I thought I should feature some of these below, to show you that you should never give up. You will be ignored and rejected a lot (well… I am), but sometimes you’ll get it just right and art is all about the little wins.

Above is a never used cover for the indie band ‘Language of Flowers‘. I spent a long time creating the right feel. The root system lettering alone took around three days, though Shelf Life Records ended up going with this atrocity. A lot of the time, good designs will be pushed out just to feature a picture of the artist, it’s always a safe move for the record company, but it’s incredibly boring. Below you’ll see a completely rejected redesign of Vic Rattlehead for Megadeth. It was developed for a competition ran on Deviant Art, getting into the shortlisted stage I was able to get a comment from Dave Mustaine (singer, lead guitarist) stating that ‘it was incredibly cute but way off for the branding of the band’ [paraphrased, I can't remember the exact comment, but that's the jist of it].

The cover below was for Fiona Apple‘s 2005 comeback album. She had been incredibly big, especially with her single ‘Fast as you can’, then took some time out to re-invent herself. Her ‘Extraordinary Machine’ album was very quirky, slightly Tom Waits, very unusual. I thought this modern cover would have been a great addition to her lyrical intention. Focusing on computers, analog machines, humanity and her. I worked hard to get an image of Fiona onto the cover and then Epic Records went all left field and chose this?

I really liked the logo below for the band ‘armaeda‘. I decided that it would be interesting to make a typeface out of the exact same character. If you look closely, all the letters are the same character, rotated and faded. Unfortunately for me, the band quit before they had even begun and the logo was never used. The same thing happened to ‘Son of Shrimp‘ below. I am usually quite proud of the work I pass on, so it’s a shame to never see it getting used.

The NIN (Nine Inch Nails) cover below was for the album ‘With Teeth’. There had been a call out on 99designs and I thought I’d give it a go. I don’t really like this cover at all, though I feel it is very NIN. They ended up going with this idea, which is a lot better than mine…

I am a huge fan of Karl Pilkington and have followed him since the first podcast with Gervais and Merchant.  I had emailed them a few times and got some replies, so when I heard that he was getting a book together I thought I’d try my luck at sending them this idea (not finished, it’s just a low res. thumbnail) for the book cover. I never got a reply and they ended up going with some photo of Karl sitting down… so safe, so boring.

So there you go. Just some of the tries and fails that I have experienced in my long and torturous career. I’m slightly depressed now… What was my point again? Oh yeah… Don’t give up… Get frustrated and go demented over rejections and endless workloads… like me.

Animalware

This week’s Artwork of the Week comes from Eilidh G (S3, OLSP). I have never seen any of Eilidh’s work before, but after seeing her tiger fur drawing and machine cog sketch for a CD design she is currently working on, I’m yearning to see more. Eilidh’s sketching style is both intense, but on the side of freedom drawing (drawing carefree). I don’t know how she manages it, but I love her stylistic approach. This can only be achieved through very keen observations and great focus. You can’t fake this talent. Great stuff Eilidh! I’m sure we’ll see a lot more of her work on here.

Burning Books

Laura O checks the first prints of the Ode to Robert Burns book that she designed the cover illustration for.

Artwork For Friends

Becoming A Professional Designer – Part One

I’ve recently been working on a friend’s band album art and t-shirt design. It’s always incredibly difficult to work for friends, deciding if you should charge them, what you should charge and if you give away a freebie, will you be stuck providing freebies for the rest of your life. As an ex-freelance designer, I used to find it difficult to say ‘no’ to work, no matter if it was free work or paid. Every job is an opportunity to sell yourself, every job is another step closer to getting the perfect job. Though I have learned to say ‘no’, I can now pick and choose the design jobs I want to get involved in. I don’t need to prove myself, I don’t even need to do them anymore financially, teaching pays my mortgage.

As an ex-freelance designer, I always have time for my friends. Lots of the artists turned professional, that I know, forget about their friends awfully quickly after they’ve had a little bit of success or fame. They start to believe the hype pushed onto them and when that dies down, the fall is so much greater and without your friends there, there’s no one to catch you on the way down. I always have time for my friends, for their ideas, for their trust and for their loyalty in asking me for my talents.

Always make time for your friends, do the best job you can for them, if they are a friend, they’ll see the work and they’ll pay you in whatever way they can. If you’re wondering what to charge, I’d always charge a friend rate of £80 (usually for around £20 an hour for 4 hours work), it’s not a lot, but it’s a little gauge of the work that you have put into it, especially in your spare time. Most of my friends who I have invoiced end up paying more for the work anyway, they don’t want to offend you for paying you pittance for your talents. Friends are friends and time is money, you’ll have to find your own compromise.

If you do the work and you’re not happy with the feedback or payment, next time, just say ‘no’. You can’t feel forced to involve your talents for something that annoys you.

I have been doing these Clay covers on and off for over ten years now, I enjoy pleasing my friends and giving them what they what, while staying true to myself and producing something I’m still proud to attach my name to. It’s a tough thing to do in design. It’s a very fine balance to keep.

This week I’ll upload some forms to help you handle your design work professionally. Tomorrow I will start the whole thing off by featuring an invoice form for claiming your cash.

They’ve Got It Covered

S1 (OLSP), under the supervision of Miss Kusch, are devising a new cover for Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’. It looks really interesting at the minute. More photos to come as the unit progresses. Below: they plan in groups what things they’ll need for their covers.

Treasure In A Jewel Case

So I’ve posted a few examples of S1 CD design previously, though I’ve never actually posted the finished article.

A while back I took two S1 classes on a journey. We travelled through time exploring the history of music packaging and ended up staring at a future without any music packaging at all. We decided that it was an important aspect to music and that losing it only devalues music. By looking at the importance of music packaging and how it’s made, these few S1 pupils can see the effort and thought put into something that they took completely for granted.

The unit existed in three parts. The first part was the common animal pattern design. Pupils looked at four skin types; tiger fur, snake skin, fish scales and peacock feathers. These patterns would end up being the cover of the booklet, the back of the CD jewel case and the actual disc pattern.

The second section evolves around font selecting, cutting and and colouring. To keep a professional look, pupils worked with computer printed fonts and elements such as barcodes to make their design look more like a professional product. The pupils learned the reason for ‘bleeds’ and how a booklet and a case is made up.

The third part is slightly tougher to teach in Art class. Pupils had to come up with lyrics for an imaginary song on the album. Most pupils put words to a song they already knew, or they wrote a poem or rhyme. Some, like the ever talented Heather M even wrote a full song and sung it in front of the entire class. Her voice and ability to write melodies was absolutely amazing.

This four page lyric sheet was then placed inside the pupils’ animal pattern cover and folded to create a CD booklet. The booklet was stapled by pupils, then the title was added. The back and spines were  scored, cut and placed inside the jewel case. The booklet was guillotined and the CD disc pattern was cut with a compass cutter (an actual CD was used as a stencil) . All this was done by the pupils themselves, some of them received help at cutting or stapling, though most can say that the work is 100% theirs (I typed the lyrics, though typeface choice and words were the pupils’ own) .

Emma’s Focus

The pupil spotlight focuses on the work of Emma F (now S3 from Glennifer). Emma’s work has always been extremely delicate and thoughtful. Her efforts are always pushed into finding detail and seeking perfection, though she somehow manages to speed through tasks.

Above Emma shows that she can get work done quickly and effectively with an expressive self portrait batik. This was early research for her ‘Jekyll & Hyde’ book cover. While below, Emma show’s her clean and intricate style for a Timorous Beasties inspired Dragonfly Wallpaper.

Emma is a very energetic artist. She has to be busy and really involved for the work to succeed. It can be incredibly tough to stay focused in a work and this type of intensity can lead to frustration or giving up when things don’t go as planned. Though usually she will step back, take some time out and then get straight back into meeting her own high expectations of herself.

I often say to pupils that drawing is very like swimming. When you put your head down and focus on your work you can often forget to breathe, an S1 pupil had mentioned this once in class and others in the class laughed. I totally understand what they mean though. When I focus on a piece of artwork, it’s like playing that game with the hoop around a piece of electrified long snaking wire, if the hoop touches the wire, it buzzes and you need to start all over again. The intense concentration you need to win that game is the same that you need to succeed at art.

Emma starts a drawing of a flower on artpad. Click to see a clear example of Emma’s focus and planning over at art.com’s artpad.

A lovely example of pattern that has been made with Mr Picassohead.

The Jekyll & Hyde book cover below was a favourite of mine. I really like the mixed fonts in the type, the expressive and surreal pastel and the fine graphic style of the pencil work.

These few S2 examples give an insight into the style and diversity of Emma’s talents. Unfortunately I am no longer teaching her, though I’m sure she is creating more artworks to a high standard for her Intermediate Qualification in S3.

Pretty / Ugly

It’s been very strange that Beth W has not had an Artwork of the Week yet, she made an amazing sports collage that was exhibited in Paisley Museum, she created a great Skeleton Bride for the Day of the Dead and never seems to do any wrong, her work is flawless. It is for this reason that I have had to acknowledge Beth now, even if it is a little late.

Beth decided not to keep her artwork which has been very beneficial to the school and myself. Her sports collage and skeleton sculpture are decorating the art corridor wall, while her Jekyll and Hyde book (above) is now part of my own growing collection of strong pupil work.

So why do I like this cover so much? The pencil side is beautifully sketched, in fact it almost made Beth and I cry when we had to cut it in half for the cover. The depth of the eye along with the shadowing around the nose makes the portrait very intense. Although the drawing looks at lot older than Beth, its resemblance is accurate. The monster side is disturbingly simplistic, its stretched nose and bloodshot eye show a diseased and unhappy Hyde rather than a strong, cliched one. The type is also cleanly cut after many attempts.

I don’t understand why Beth chooses not to keep her own work, though I’m glad, for my benefit, that that is her choice.

Book Publishing

S2 completed their Jekyll and Hyde Book Cover unit with over 150 books being produced. Almost all pupils decided to keep their books, those that didn’t, gave their books over for donation to the Gleniffer High School library (6 in total), I then kept 4 that I really liked including Beth W‘s and Ainsley G‘s.

Above Hannah and David C show the variety of choice that was allowed when creating the cover. Choice was the important factor in this project, as pupil decisions helped to benefit or disadvantage the success of their cover.

Pupils where given the task to write a quote and the blurb for the back cover. Ben, Bronwyn, Courtney and Heather where the talented winners. Each pupil had to add colour with colouring pencil to the back cover that didn’t interfere with the type, though married itself with the front cover.

Pupils had to combine the collage cover, using scalpels and spray glue, they planned out the cover, the spine and the back. Each element had to be a perfect fit or the cover would not have worked. The covers were laminated and scored by the pupils and attached to a free Jekyll and Hyde book that had been given away at the Edinburgh book festival.

Peek-A-BOO! Too

Danielle, Konor, Heather and Sean show off their Jekyll and Hyde Book Covers.