Since sometime late last year I’ve been doing a series of book cover illustrations for Dover’s ‘Evergreen Classics’ series of reprints. Fourteen covers so far, and I received a package of four sample books in the mail yesterday, and it was interesting to see how they made use of my black and white artwork with a limited color palate. I especially liked how the Amistad cover turned out.
I’m currently in a ‘between jobs’ state here in the week before Labor Day, but I have a sneaking suspicion that the closing months of the year are going to be ridiculously busy. The above illustration was a ‘sample’ illustration for a book project for Baker that will be one book project out of possibly 3 more that I’ll be working on over the next four months. I have a feeling that this week is the ‘calm before the storm’.
After working on this album now since spring (and the planning for it has stretched back over the two years since our last release), the new Jukejoint Handmedowns album is nearly ready to go to the manufacturers. We’ve got one more song to record this week, and a few tweaks to a few other tunes, and we’ve still got to shoot a band photo for the interior (the one that is shown is a place holder for now). I’m hoping to place the order for the first batch the day after Labor Day, with a lot of production work to finish up over the weekend. This is our fourth album, and the songs are all about our home state of Michigan, covering various topics from notorious tourist traps to urban legends to the growth of the craft beer movement, the decline of the auto industry, the state’s generous bottle return policy to its natural wonders (and several famous and not so famous local ‘characters’ round out the mix). Above, you can see the exterior CD cover, and below is the interior, featuring a cartoon map that pays homage to every one of the songs in one way or another. Further down, is the artwork for the CD itself, and two sides of a trifold ‘lyric booklet’ that will be inserted opposite the CD.
As always, like our previous albums, these will be available at our live shows, on iTunes, CDBaby, Amazon and other online music outlets.
Also, in conjunction with the CD release, we’ll be printing up some new tee shirt designs, which is pictured below (likely these will be offered on grey shirts with blue ink).
Cover illustration for another Dover ‘Evergreen Classics’ book. This one was for ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’. I also did a wedding ‘save the date’ announcement illustration for my son and his fiance. These crazy kids will be getting hitched next August, and they wanted something in the same style as my ‘Western Heroes’ scratchboards that I had been doing last month.
An illustration I finished up this morning for Hudson Valley of Hilarie Burton and her husband who were involved in a children’s home renovation project. (was really fighting the urge to put a barbed wire wrapped baseball bat in the husband’s other hand, but didn’t think it would fly, especially with the subject matter).