Hand lettered album art and glass panels

Pencil sketches

Close up of the pencil sketch

The digital art

The final cover

Adding gold leaf to glass

Round glass panel

David A. Smith is a traditional sign-maker/designer. He created the covers for the ‘Born & Raised’ album and ‘Queen of California’ single by singer/songwriter John Mayer.  He also created two decorative reverse glass panels for Mayer’s company. Smith is a true craftsman — it is fun to see his design process.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/60647216]

David Smith Traditional Ornamental Glass Artist 

Music I’m listening to… Walk

Walk— Foo Fighters

“I’m learning to walk again, I believe I’ve waited long enough. Where do I begin? I’m learning to talk again. Can’t you see I’ve waited long enough Where do I begin?”

Music I’m listening to… My Body

My Body — Young the Giant

“Hey, is it my fault that the fallen embers burn down in a spiral, Round your crown of thieves”

The Tadpole

The tadpole

This is a cute animation short with a stylized  graphic style. I like the watercolor look of it and the simple humor. The audio design is nice too, great sound effects and a jazzy sound track. It was created by Passion Pictures, a London-based production company. Passion Pictures is better known for  their work for the animated rock band Gorillaz and the opening and closing animation for The Beatles: Rock Band video game. This year, their film The Lost Thing has been nominated for best animated short film Oscar.

The Beatles: Rock Band

 

 

Beatles: Rock Band

The Lost Thing

Passion Pictures

Gorillaz

A sexy song and beautiful type design

The sublime type foundry House Industries has a new video that’s a visual treat. You’ll see many of the fine fonts, books, posters and other products by their designers. There are scenes of the designers in action. All the visuals are timed to the catchy, slightly 1960s sounding Polite Dance Song by the duo of Inara George and Greg Kurstin — better known as The Bird and the Bee. Kurstin, is a music producer and keyboardist that has worked with Lily Allen, Barenaked Ladies, The Flaming Lips and Beck.

The fonts in action

Hand lettering

Book design

Ink work

Thought of You

Thought of You is a lovely animated short by Ryan Woodward.  Figure drawing, 2d animation, contemporary dance and music are combined into a thoughtful animation. The drawings are simple and beautiful with fluid, natural movement. 

Short documentary “Influencers: How Trends & Creativity Becomes Contagious”

The short documentary Influencers: How Trends & Creativity Becomes Contagious looks at people who have influenced music, fashion design trends, and pop culture over the years. It’s interesting take on how creative people are inspired by creative work in different fields.

Music I’m listening to… “Getting Higher”

Getting Higher — Paper Tongues

“Get higher, and higher, and higher
When my back’s against the wall
You’re the hand that breaks my fall”

Music I’m listening to… “Magpie To The Morning”

"Magpie To The Morning" (ArtStudio & Photoshop)

Magpie To The Morning
— Neko Case

“Magpie comes a calling, drops a marble from the sky
Tin roof sounds alarming, wake up child
“Let this be a warning” says the magpie to the morning, “Don’t let this fading summer pass you by””

Arcade Fire’s amazing interactive HTML5 music video

Arcade Fire

I had a lot of fun putting in different addresses and watching this amazing interactive HTML5/music video/Google maps mash-up for the indie band Arcade Fire. There is so much going on I had to watch it a few times. Windows pop open and shut, maps spin, photos of streets that you may know appear.

You have to use a HTML5 compliant browser, and be warned the film is processor intensive. You’ll want to shut down other programs first. It will take a while to load, but it’s worth the wait. I was able to view it with Safari 4 and 5.

“The Wilderness Downtown” page

Arcade Fire’s The Wilderness Downtown

More about the video

[UPDATE 9/6/10] NPR: The Secret Ingredient Of Arcade Fire’s New Video? You

Arcade Fire: Using social media to score a number-one album
Much like the now-fabled Old Spice Guy campaign, Arcade Fire and Merge Record’s use of social media is sure to be a model for album releases to come.

Official Google Blog: Arcade Fire meets HTML5

Google Chrome Experiment page
Choreographed windows, interactive flocking, custom rendered maps, real-time compositing, procedural drawing, 3D canvas rendering… this Chrome Experiment has them all.

Windows pop open and shut, showing video and Google maps all timed to the song “We Used to Wait” off of the new album