The Cover

While still being tweaked here and there, and the release date isnt official for another week or so, here's the cover for Vol. 2!

The Web Page Skin Is The Album Cover (sort of)

I was putting together a skin for an artists new album, and the thought dawned on me. Since we've long lost the 12 vinyl sleeve as as a means of visually communicating the album, and CD's booklets never seemed to much of a successor, the web page skin is the latest step in that evolution, and I think it's a positive one.

When the new Rakim LP showed up, and I'd hear it , the skin I'd seen is what came to mind. It was the visual reference I'd immediatley associated with the music, and I think that association is a lot more important than most think.

One of the most popular LP's of all time is Sgt. Peppers. The music on that album, as classic as it was, was only part of the picture. I'd argue that that album cover is one the most easily recognizable images in popular culture. If the LP had no cover at all, I'm not sure it would have made the same impact. While it'll never replace that experience that vinyl shoppers like myself one had of rummaging in the record bin, I think the 'web skin' is a promising new tool in the art of music visuals.

Zipatone®

As I'm inking and shading in the latest issue of 1985, I'm noticing how different and relatively simple the process of shading is. Line art that was once shaded by hand, or, used the luxury of being printed full color, usually involved something called 'Zipatone'.

Basically, it was a refined graphic element in the form of dots or lines to apply graytones to a page. It came in big sticker sheets, and you'd cut out the area with an exactoknife and lay it onto the area. Painstakingly tedious it could be, and some regarded it as cheating, but I like the even tones you'd end up getting.

Luv Deluxe- Cinammon Chasers

Really cool and creative music video:

Titles

Attached are some screen shots of some title work I did for a movie a friend and I made. It was a somewhat low-budget affair, but, had some great creative control. The movie was for an 'Extreme Sports' channel, so we wanted the titles to be as 'extreme' as possible... Jeff had asked that the credits be a simple sequence of drawings, and this is what we came up with:

All City

Great early 1980's documentary (looks like it was made by Henry Chalfont?). All sort of folks in this one including Cold Crush Brothers etc. Take a peek and disregard the annoying 'JiveRock' embedded in frame.