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 

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

The movie title stills collection

His Girl Friday (1940)

Rear Window (1954)

Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

American Graffiti (1973)

Almost Famous (2000)

The opening design of a film — the editing of the first scene, the music and title sequence — sets the mood. Here’s a web site with many title slides organized by year.