In the course of my employ in the wsj.com art department I recently had the opportunity to design their Olympic pin. Pin trading is a long tradition at the Olympics so it was an honor to do it. Editor Adam Thompson had requested I do something fun that perhaps included a beaver or perhaps a mountie. So I came up with these designs and naturally the beaver-on-snowboard look won out. I delivered the vector version (top right) and it was cool to see how the final product came out (top left). One of these just sold on ebay for $52.75!

Here are some photos of the One Fell Swoop CD I’ve been posting about (by the Amsterdam based duo Rara Avis). It’s nice to see the finished product, and for a change, it’s an object people will keep around rather than something someone will throw out after they are done reading the article…Thanks to Terri for bringing me the CD’s, and hope you get well soon!
Click to see a larger version.

Another drawing from the “One Fell Swoop” album artwork I posted about last week. This regal bird is printed on the CD.

I recently had the pleasure of collaborating with the musical duo Rara Avis(Terri Hron and Robbert van Hulzen) on the illustration and design for their new album, One Fell Swoop. They are based in Amsterdam, and make strange, mysterious music that spans many centuries and many cultures. You will hear dissonant medieval sounds coming from a hand-carved recorder, traditional South Indian passages, a home made toobophone and electronic rhythms to complete the collage.
The title of their album is from a great line in MacBeth:

“All the pretty ones?
Did you say all? O hell-kite! All?
What, all my pretty chickens and their dam
At one fell swoop?”

So I ran with that dark imagery for the cover. I also had the fun task of designing the whole package for the CD case. I enjoy deign projects like this from time to time, and I had secretly always wanted to design someone’s album. Unfortunately I don’t have the final package in my hands yet, but I will post some photos in a few weeks when I get my mitts on one.
Click on the image for a larger view.