When they sent me the reference for the masks I got really excited because the masks are so wild looking.
The band
My plan was to make a single illustration that would wrap around from the front to back. So the composition would have two reads and be split down the middle. On the front of the CD would be the characters in hero shot poses and as you panned to the left (to the back of the packaging) you would see traffic jumbling behind them. I wanted to try and make the traffic look crammed and illogical like the features of each mask.
It looked like this:
Before - Watercolor toned drawing
After - Digital Color pass
I did a full tone study using Windsor Newton Neutral Tone watercolor, that I planned on coloring digitally so I could have more control over revisions. Everything was going great, except mid project the band changed directions and decided they didn’t want the characters on the cover.
That sort of thing happens sometimes, and it’s best to just go with the flow rather than kick up a huge fuss. Luckily they really liked the city and traffic so they decided that I could use that as the cover, but I still had to come up with something for the back cover.
I really loved the masks, and selfishly just wanted to paint them as portraits since they were so engaging. If your subject matter is compelling I think it is best to just get out of it’s way and not try and make things more complicated conceptually. So while the switcheroo was happening I had already started my portraits of the masks.
I don’t get to do a whole ton of watercolor work these days so these were a real blast to paint.
Out of the whole project I was most happy with how the mask portraits came out. It was nice being able to just focus on the execution of the painting rather than my usual concept heavy work.
There were five masks in total, so with them all completed and a long night of photoshop trickery I was able to put together the full cover and an Interior spread too.
Part of the project was to design them a logo and title treatment, but having my hands full with the illustrations I couldn’t focus on it. So I ended up reaching out to my friend Diana Kwok for help on the logo design ( which she did a bang up job on like usual).
Front Cover
Back Cover
Interior Spread
What’s funny is that at the end of the day I think they went back to my original design with a different layout and also some added texture to Diana’s logo.
FInal Album Art
Again that happens sometimes, and in the end I got to paint some crazy looking masks ( so I can’t complain).
I am happy the band is doing well and let me contribute to their album, good luck Fellas! Follow their Tumblr
Big thanks to my cousin Andrew Perea for hooking me up with the band!
