How I Go About Working With Bands

This post was originally published on my now inactive Patreon on May 2nd, 2018

Hello Moonbeams

I am currently working on two pieces of album art for a wonderful client with a project called Yūrei 

Concept sketch of the fox spirit present in one of the covers.  My client wanted a few sketches to include with the album.

I thought I would take you briefly through my process of working with bands because it is something I get a lot of questions about. 

How I Got Started. 

I began doing album covers in about 2015 and I think I have done over 30 of them.  It had been a dream of mine for a while but I had not pursued it much until I stopped being so afraid and decided to email a musician who was one of my biggest inspirations at the time with the offer of doing some art for him.  This led to the birth of my two first covers for the artist David Maxim Micic 

Those first two covers were done for free.  I very often advise against doing projects for "exposure" but that was not what this was about.  I was so genuinely in love with the musician's work and I wanted to somehow be a part of it.  I felt so honored to be able to work with someone I looked up to that much.  I just never dreamed what would happen as a result! Because of those covers, I found a career, made friends around the world, deeply improved my confidence, and even met my partner  (Willow and I would not have met if not for getting to work on these covers) That might not be everyone's story, but it goes to show how some projects can spiral into so much more, and there are occasions where working for free can bring incredible things, often when you do not even expect them :) 

How Does Album Art Fit Into My Career? 

A lot of my career involves selling work independently and through galleries.  As such I will not take on projects that do not fit into the rest of my body of work.  Meaning that if a band contacts me asking me to draw a sexy lady riding a rocket that is flying out of the devil’s butt, I will politely decline (no this has not actually happened but I can vividly imagine the image)  Most bands are absolutely okay with this and contact me because they like my existing style.  For years I fought with the idea of having to be able to embrace all styles and draw everything under the sun.   And that is absolutely okay for the artists who thrive within that method, but for me, it was draining and miserable.  Once I started to fully embrace my personal voice and stop feeling so guilty about it, that was when I received proof that you can make it as an artist doing your own style and it can sometimes build a stronger audience and career.  This was so amazing to me because I had long heard otherwise.  

Doing my own thing of course does not mean drawing the same thing over and over, it also means getting to challenge myself by adding new things to my universe and stepping out of my comfort zone.  The piece above was a challenging experience for me because of the architectural aspects and the many characters but it was such an amazing experience for learning.  I have yet to post this full piece online by the way ;)   

Process With Client from Beginning to End.

It usually starts with an email.  I will often ask my client to send me a sample of their music so I can get an idea and some initial inspiration.  I also ask them if there is a theme or specific story or emotion to their work that they wish me to incorporate.  Overall, I try to keep things from getting too specific.  I would rather hear key words like “Owl, rain, melancholy” than, “I want a blue and black owl sitting on a tree in the rain and the owl should be looking slightly over its shoulder with wings raised and I want the tree to be an oak” things that get so specific leave me far less room to add in my own touches and while not impossible to create, I can tell from experience that I personally produce my strongest work when given more freedom.  Once I know that my client and I will be a good match, I will take a 50% deposit of the total price of the work which will hold their spot on my list of clients until I can work with them. I learned from a lot of negative experiences how important it was for me to get a deposit before I begin working with someone.  Along with the deposit I also send out a contract detailing pricing, policies, rights of use and deadlines.  This contract is absolutely essential to me and I highly recommend never working with clients without contracts.  Even if the client is somewhat of a “friend”

Detail of album art I did for the gorgeous music of Kubbi which I actually listen to regularly now.

After this, I will come up with a concept for the art.  I really love hearing the music for inspiration as I mentioned because it allows me to sometimes incorporate elements of synesthesia into the work (using visuals based on the sounds I hear) I will then draw up some thumbnails and send over the best ideas to my client.

Often the thumbnails might come with colour ideas and photos for inspiration to help further illustrate my plans.  I usually create a Pinterest board for myself as well that I can pin references and inspirations to.  Often, the art ends up getting pretty far from what I pin though, haha!

I then proceed with a more finalized sketch that I will transfer to my painting surface and begin work.  Updating my clients as I go along.  

This work in progress comes from the thumbnail on the right a couple posts above.  The colours have drastically changed (after running it by my client). 

How I Handle Rights of Use.

Another thing I do which has been, for me, a big part of being able to make a living while doing so much album art independent musicians who might not be able to pay as much as bigger labels, has been to retain all my rights.  For instance, while the musician has the right to make posters, vinyl, t-shirts, etc. With the artwork, I also retain the right to make fine art prints and merchandise using the art.  So long as I never transfer those rights to another musician or band.  This allows me to continue selling galleries and independently while still getting to work with bands.  All of this is detailed in the contracts I send out so that my clients know this from the start.

I am always evolving my career and what works for me now will very likely change in the coming years.  This is just what I am doing currently but I am in the process of making a lot of career changes overall, so my album art process will inevitably change as well. 

I hope this might be useful to some of you if you are considering working with bands!  Feel free to ask me questions because I am sure I have not answered everything.  <3 

P.S.  This monkey is such a good example of how album covers push me to think of new ideas.  I almost never draw monkeys, and it has been years since I did much with anthropomorphism in animals despite wanting to.  This album was just the push I needed to find some new inspirations and challenge myself.  

While absolutely not necessary, donations help me in creating these articles and resources!