MidwestLove Art & Design

MN area band Firefight came back to me with the idea of putting together a cover image for their upcoming online only release. Since this was going to be their last release as a band, I figured we should go all out and do something fun. The title of a release is always a good place to start looking for the visual cues that direct a concept, and with this one being called “Ashes”, the direction seemed pretty obvious.

I started by printing up and cutting out a large image of their “phoenix” logo that I had previously designed for their “Natural Disaster” EP packaging. Then I went about burning some good ol’ wood and newspaper in the clay kiln out back and scooping the still hot embers into a big bowl. I then stuck the cut out of the logo on a piece of white poster board and sprayed all around it with some regular old spray adhesive. After the poster board was thoroughly sprayed, I proceeded to dump the ashes all around it, completely covering the logo. Then, I lifted away the cutout, and viola- instant logo reversal in wood ash. After a few well lit pics, some photoshop contrast adjustment, and some simple type treatment we have one (online) CD cover.

This was a great little project, and it’s always nice to get your hands dirty when making art. I kinda wish this was getting a full print run so I could do more with it, but if nothing else this was a fine way to put some punctuation on a the closing statement of a fun band’s short career. Here are some making of pics…

What’s up with my wonky wrist in that picture?

-marky

Rebeca from Betta Promotions in Chicago asked me to design a poster for her upcoming Darfur benefit show. Since this is a great benefit for a extremely worthy cause, and almost all of the bands playing are good friends of mine (including both of the bands that I play for), I wanted to do something a little bit more extravagant than I would’ve done for a regular show poster. Hopefully the subject matter isn’t too heavy handed… I was attempting some amount of subtlety in conveying the idea of relief. Hmmm…

Anyway, the background was done in watercolor at 11 x 17″ and then typeset over in Illustrator. Rebeca suggested the brilliant quote that was used at the bottom.

Here’s what that Illustration below turned into. I’m pretty stoked on this project. Click to see the whole package.

Here is an illustration that was done for rock band Fires At Night. They wanted something dark and slightly ambiguous for the cover of their new EP. I kept coming back to animals, and we all know wolves are in season. I’ve got some more plans for the actual cover, but felt like posting this piece as is today.

Cover Illustration for new Snapdragon Records band 12 Summers Old. They asked for a 50’s sci-fi horror B movie poster with a bikini clad girl, so that’s what I gave em.

Firefight art is done. It looks like this, or at least it should when it gets back from pressing -

If you check out Ace’s new webstore, you’ll see a couple MWL designs. Try and guess which ones they are!

Also, Geffen artist Charlotte Sometimes has a bunch of new apparel in her webstore based off of the “Charlotte Girl” illustration and Logo work that was done for her a while back by MWL.

-marky

I’m really proud of this one, so I’m going to talk about it a bit.

I get the opportunity to write songs and play music with my wife Heather in a band called Venna. Our debut EP was just released on Common Cloud Records and some of the songs on this disc have been working their way towards a proper release for over 5 years. Needless to say we were extremely thrilled about this release and wanted to do something extra special with the packaging to celebrate it.

With the band’s aesthetic being very DIY and personable (shows are usually played in the corners of venues, off of the stage and away from amplification of any sort) we wanted to go that direction with the visual presentation of the music, right down to the recycled, eco-friendly packaging materials and rock ‘n roll zine-style photocopied insert. Here are some photos of the assembly process and the final pieces-

Heather took on the task of running each 8 page zine/insert through a sewing machine to give them a hand-bound look.

Every leaf and vine of the cover illustration was drawn in Illustrator and took about 5 days worth of non-consecutive work to finish.

VGKids in Ypsilanti, MI did a fantastic job of hand-printing the 1 color silk screen for the exterior illustration, as well as some complimentary promo stickers.

All the printed materials were assembled by Heather and myself and then lovingly wrapped in a coordinating green twine.

I can’t help but think that this is closer to how these things should be done more often…

At the beginning of this year I said to myself that I should dust off the pens and brushes and try my hand at doing more do more “physical” art to accompany all this digital stuff. Along those lines, here are some recent watercolor paintings for a stellar little band from MI called Your Best Friend. I’m pretty pumped about how this project is turning out so I figured I’d give everyone an early look at it.

Apple & Arrow spot illustration -

Background Painting -

Tray Card design -

I’ll post the entire project soon. Thanks!

-marky

Here’s the cover for the upcoming FIREFIGHT release, titled Natural Disaster.