Cocked N' Loaded "You Are The Summer (I Want To Party In You)" Streaming Now π΄ππ΄βοΈ
Art by Me! π¨βπ¨
βLife is so richβ - Scott Galloway, No Mercy/No Malice
Iβm quoting Prof. Gallowayβs signoff because Iβm stealing it. I work many hours daily, and sometimes it seems like the Lucy and the chocolate factory problem keeps sending βDeep Workβ my way. And Iβm happy about it.
I graduated from Massachusetts College of Art in 1998 with a degree in SIM. Video Minor.
The Studio for Interrelated Media (SIM) undergraduate major is designed for student artists interested in a curriculum that supports idea-centered, interdisciplinary, and non-media speciο¬c artistic practice, alongside autonomous and collaborative working strategies and self-governance.
This artistic discipline taught me was similar to what Prof. G teaches about finance. Diversify efforts or investments for success. My life since then has been an overarching SIM project, and thankfully I donβt have to take a break from it and live in my hometown with my parents over the summer to continue.
For the past couple of years, Iβve drawn every day (most recently on my neglected iPad, with an app called Procreate) for an October event called Inktober. You are given a prompt every day, and the goal is to draw your prompt every day in October. Sometimes I would draw with Sharpie or pencil but recently, drawn on an iPad with Apple Pencil.
Iβm not a great artist. But I try. Mostly I do things in Photoshop, create flyers for shows, and fool around in graphic design for practical reasons, but Inktober lets me flex the drawing muscle a bit.
When my friends in Cocked Nβ Loaded asked me to draw up something for their latest single, I was honored! Our bands had βgrown upβ together (wildzerorock.bandcamp.com), but they have been around longer and have a bigger following than my band ever did.
I also watch many YouTube videos about Photoshop techniques and like to try them out.
They sent me the song and immediately wrote down a bunch of ideas before settling in on some elements I wanted to play with, most notably the Font I chose, the little white border that surrounds the text and is βerasedβ in a particular way. I took inspiration from bands like The Hellacopters Turbonegro and other people's art for the boys. And obviously, skulls are important for Rock and Roll.
This art for "You Are The Summer (I Want To Party In You)" was created collage style with some clipart and some drawings in Procreate in multiple layers. I added some dot pitch to the coconut and orange peel coloring.
I redrew a skull created in a 3D modeling program to get my style of black line over the thing. And then I offered some sketches to the band.
I wanted to present at least two very different options but ended up giving them just a variant on the one cover idea, asking if they liked the βCoconut onlyβ version or the βPalm tree only versionβ. They were equally split on a band vote, and I offered the combined version (I didnβt even think of this!) that you see made it to the final art.
Is my drawing perfect? Are there honest critiques I would give myself if I had more time to do it? Sure. Anything can be improved; maybe collaborating with someone else would have improved it. I think I would simplify the color palette overall if I could go back, but I very much think this βWorks,β and I am happy with it, and so are the boys! Maybe Iβd have someone teach me how to draw and color the sunglass frames to make them more reflective. Iβm either overthinking it or hoping they come back to me for a box set remix. Or maybe Daft Punk will come out of retirement and do a remix of this, and we can make this all neon! βGood Enough For Rock and Roll,β they say.
Life is so rich that I somehow have been asked to create important album art for my friendβs awesome new single in the heat of the summer on top of the many jobs, podcasts, and other βthingsβ I have going on. Dursin says I have βa lot in the hopper,β which I agree with, but I only use this term in conversation after a night with Late Night Taco Bell. And usually, I donβt have time to say this to anyone.
This led me to my hubris, replying to a random stranger that had another Photoshop project to dig into last week. I had to move on from that one, not because I didnβt want to help, but because I realized I was over my head. I do that with projects sometimes. It happens, and I get out before I cause any damage or delays to the potential client. But life is so rich that I can also offer myself opportunities to fail and dust myself off.
FINAL / Hi-Res: My Procreate and Inktober drawings are at instagram.com/creaturesbydesign
Please go and listen on Spotify! The streams help more people know about the band and the song!
P.S. Also, not for nothing but #RIPMikeGill. A friend and supporter of Star Wars, Cocked Nβ Loaded, and Wild Zero.
P.S.S. Check out our dumb band Wild Zero - you can see how much we suck by this BossTones ripoff photoshop job included herein to keep me humble.