Word of the Day
Debunk (v., dee-BUNK)
To expose falsehood or show the hollowness ot something. There's a really interesting origin of the word. Well, we think it's interesting, but you'll have to judge for yourself.
Gif of the Day
AnimalsDogsBathRelaxingSpa dayA watched pot never washes?
Link of the Day
Sam Spratt's cover for Logic - Everybody
For the "Everybody" album by the musician Logic, designer Sam Spratt created the graphic above. It's incredibly detailed and complex, with easter eggs galore. What's even better is that Spratt outlined his process on his website, including trips to Rome to scout architecture for inspiration.
One of the earliest questions that came up when working on the cover was: what are all these people gonna wear? Logic and I bounced around having all classical or all contemporary clothing, but eventually, I figured if I was gonna spend so many months making the painting, might as well make up the clothes too. Now, I'm far from a fashion designer, but I set a low bar for myself to just accomplish one goal: As long as the clothing on the cover read from a distance as classical and when you look closer, had a more futuristic vibe, I'd be happy. I drew from the Renaissance era: the color palette, elements of drapery, color-specific layers, weird vest-like shirt cuts, etc. Then tried to fuse it together with something more practical/modern that felt like scrappy sci-fi streetwear. Tight overlapping folds, big sneaker-esque boots, high-waisted pants/skirts, bold blocks of colored shapes, holster-style belts, head bands, patches, badges, and flight jackets tying the visuals all together..
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The technique is iconic and I knew I'd never get close to the mastery of the source material, still, I did what I could to do right by it as I adapted the lessons learned with modern tools. In the sample section above showing some my favorite people in the VMG family, Lenbo, Christian , and the too-built to fit in the crop torso of Jordan , you can see this process develop. You'll see the technique build-up, but also the subtle shifts in placement and scaling that were made over time. This is largely because the longer I spent with the painting as the months dragged on, the more of my errors in early anatomy, proportion, and scaling started to surface. Lots of mistakes made over the course of the cover, so I probably spent just as much time painting as I did revising my own errors along the way. Still, in the end: the final details are always the most fun: Little texture flourishes with the brushwork, outfit detailing, space-food, symbols, getting just the right golden material highlights on the cups, and if you swipe all the way over: even designing a RattPack tattoo that several people throughout the painting are rockin.
You can see more photos of the artwork and the graphic design based on the artwork (which we purposefully have left for you to find out) over at Spratt's website.
Graphic designArtSam SprattThe long, hard, stupid wayPerfectoA big, big table with lots and lots of food?