Room122 » Design

Album Cover Art Completed for Kevin Myers

Nathan — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:27:11 +0000

I recently had the opportunity to work with Austin, Tx based musician Kevin Myers on his first full length album release. The title and theme of the album is Horseshoe. Kevin came to me with a basic concept. He wanted something simple to illustrate the idea and overall feel for the album. I think the result turned out well and matches the singer-songwriter / folk style of Kevin’s music. I also have to mention, that this album is truly great! If you have the chance to see Kevin play live or purchase the album… I highly recommend it!

Oh, and I’m having so much fun designing album covers, posters and t-shirts, that I am continuing my Discounted Rates for All Musicians campaign indefinitely… Spread the good word!

Featured in DigitalPHOTO Photoshop Magazine

Nathan — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:39:08 +0000

I was recently invited to be a part of the latest issue of Germany’s DigitalPHOTO Photoshop Magazine. A photo, write-up and 10 of my Photoshop brushes are included in the issue. It’s very cool to be featured in such a great looking magazine. I really wish I could speak German, so I could read it!

Album Art Completed for Cody Johnson

Nathan — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 20:01:32 +0000

I recently had the pleasure of designing the album cover and interior artwork for Cody Johnson, an Austin, Texas based musician. This project was a tremendous amount of fun for me. I love designing album art and working with musicians… It fits me like a glove, and I only came to that realization about a year ago when I announced that I would discount all of my creative services for musicians.

For this album, I had a very open client who was willing to let me run with it, and I’m extremely proud of how the final piece came together.

Below are samples of the final design.

Jeremy Miller Band CD Release Party

Nathan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:54:33 +0000

This past weekend I was invited to attend the The Jeremy Miller Band CD release party at La Zona Rosa here in Austin, Tx. I completed the album artwork for the band earlier this year. It was a long time in the making but a tremendous amount of fun to work on. This project sort of spawned my love for album cover design. Since doing the JMB cover I have taken on several album designs for other Austin, Tx musicians as well as bands from all across the country.

The CD release party for JMB was a lot of fun. I got to finally meet the band face to face, and they even gave me a nicely framed album cover and CD, which now sits on the shelf next to my desk. The band sounded great, and the the turn out of fans was awesome. I did manage to take some really bad photos with my phone (see below).

I hope that JMB continues to make great music for a long long time, and I hope to have the privilege of designing their next album cover!!

This is the framed album that the band gave me!

The Jeremy Miller Band Live at La Zona Rosa in Austin.

Inspiration Found: The Art and Photography of Pixel Peach Studio

Nathan — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:03:15 +0000

I have admired the work of Pixel Peach for many years now. In fact, I would say that they have been one of my most strongest influences. Pixel Peach is a husband and wife team of Gary (designer) and Kaysie (photographer) Dorsey. They are based near by in Austin, Tx. In recent past they have described their work as “Strangely Beautiful”… Which is a perfect description, IMO. I love the overall style, the great use of light and dark, and the sort of eerie feel of it all. A lot of the work has great texture to it as well, which gives me a feeling that real, used, and battered materials were gathered to create the designs. Viewing the gallery on their site… it’s sort of like I’m entering their world for a bit, and finding that what’s being presented feels old and weathered, yet new and modern at the same time. It’s an experience that I find myself returning to every few months for a jolt of inspiration.

I hope the work of Pixel Peach Studio has the same effect on you as it does for me.

Cinema 4D: Jonah Hex Teaser Poster

Nathan — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:01:48 +0000

So I’ve been dabbling with Cinema 4D and admiring ZBrush from a far lately. I’ve wanted to pick up 3D modeling for years now but never found the time to learn. The past couple of weeks I’ve been following some online tutorials and watching the classes at lynda.com (which I highly recommend, btw). So I decided my first attempt to model something would be Jonah Hex’s Colt .44 Dragoon Pistols. For those non-comic book readers out there Jonah Hex is a western comic currently written by Justin Gray & Jimmy Palmiotti. It’s one of my all time favorites, and a movie is currently in production for release next year.

So in the spirit of the old west below is my Jonah Hex movie teaser poster design featuring my dragoon pistol models from Cinema 4D. Let me know what you think. And if you know of any good tutorials, classes or books on 3D modeling with Cinema 4D, please feel free to share in the comments field below.

Awaken The Hero Album Design

Nathan — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:16:41 +0000

Oh the feeling of holding a finished project in your hands. It’s like a jolt of excitement that says, I’m a real designer and look what I can do!! After working on hundreds of projects, it’s the same for me every time. Especially when I loved working on the project as much as I did the Awaken The Hero album art. The guys from the band were like dream clients. They had enough of a vision to send me in the right direction, but they were open to creative input at the same time, and really were excepting of my thoughts and ideas. I think that kind of collaboration is what made this project a success.

We explored several concepts (like the one below), each one was a joy to design, but none had the resonating effect of the final artwork.

The final album cover design

Disk Art Goodness!

Holding the finished project in your hands… and the resulting Art-gasm!

Inspiration Found: The Design Work of Si Scott

Nathan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:01:57 +0000

I recently stumbled across the work of Si Scott, a graphic designer from the UK. How have I not seen his design work before now? His illustrations and type work are simply incredible. And here’s the kicker… Get ready for it! All of his work is HAND drawn. Truly Amazing! Si Scott’s work is definitely worthy of bookmarking for future inspiration!

Check out Si Scott’s website for more of his graphic design work. Be sure to watch the videos under the work section… I nearly peed my pants.

Album Cover Design in Progress for The Jeremy Miller Band

Nathan — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:08:02 +0000

I recently began work on an album cover design for The Jeremy Miller Band. These guys have been great to work with. The album is in progress now, and is planned for a November release date. Keith Davis is producing and they’re recording at Yellow Dog Studios here in Austin.

Below are some initial concepts for the cover design. I’ll share the progress as we nail down these concepts, and develop the graphics for the album insert over the next few weeks.

You can catch The Jeremy Miller Band every Wednesday at Waterloo Icehouse at Slaughter and I35, I haven’t been out there yet, but from what I’ve heard… It’s a fun show!

Album Cover Design in Progress for Astronaut Academy

Nathan — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:17:21 +0000

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been working on album cover designs for an Austin, Tx band called Astronaut Academy. The band is currently in LA recording their first album with Marck Paladino (producer, janes addiction, fleetwood mac). Below are my two most recent submissions… More to come on this as of yet uncompleted project! Stay tuned.

This project is part of my ongoing discounted graphic design services for Austin, TX musicians.