1,000 Words
A picture is worth a thousand words — so with An Ape’s Progress going so well musically, I knew we had to raise the bar visually and beat that word count! We needed a strong album cover, but I was also imagining extra artwork to convey the album’s themes and emotions.
I asked one of our favorite artists — the amazing Igor Koutsenko — if he’d be willing to translate the new album and its songs into visual form, and he agreed! Libby and I already had quite a few pieces of Igor’s art on our walls, so we were familiar with his unique talent. But which of his many visual styles should we employ? What color palette should we use? In the end we chose acrylic paint on paper, in a large 15 x 15-inch format, using a limited color palette centered around red, ochre, and Payne’s grey.
The first step was for Igor to develop sketches of each song image. Over the course of two weeks, Igor created color-pencil drafts for each song, based solely upon reading the lyrics. Igor would email each sketch to me, we would discuss, make any changes, and move on to the next song. Once all the song sketches were in place, we turned our attention to the all-important album cover. This was going to be the image that would represent the album in every context: CDs, downloads, streaming, advertisements, etc. The cover had to be a very strong image that captured the album’s interrelated themes, and had the right “vibe” for both of us — a tall order indeed! On the second sketch, Igor nailed it: a slightly surreal “human” ape staring deep into the viewer’s soul, with an abstract cityscape on one side and symbolic evolutionary profiles on the other. All using our same color palette and overall style. Our sketches were complete. Now it was time to paint!
Painting took about a month, starting with The Fool and concluding with the album cover. After all the paintings were complete, Igor framed and delivered them to us in person. During Igor’s visit, we had a delightful “socially-distanced” dinner party — and impromptu neighborhood art show — on our back patio. It was an evening to remember, and the album art was finally complete — or so we thought!
Shortly after Igor’s visit, I realized the album had no image of the musical artist — me! While it’s not an absolute necessity to include a picture of the artist, a singer-songwriter is his/her own “brand,” so some kind of image is helpful. I thought a photo would seem awkward amidst Igor’s family of painted characters, but what about a portrait of me painted by Igor, in the style of the album art? Igor agreed, and we were back to work with sketches and another painting! The result was a brilliantly surreal portrait incorporating visual references to the rest of the album’s artwork. Perfect.
Lastly, I had an idea for a fun graphic that could be hidden behind the disc inside the deluxe CD package, only visible after the disc is removed — a little “easter egg” to reward the listener. For this, Igor conceived, sketched, and painted a variation on our album-cover ape, this time playing an acoustic guitar and striking a dramatic stage pose. Once again, perfection. Now the artwork was complete! All that remained was for me to finalize the titles / lettering, CD package design, booklet layout, disc printing, and prep all the graphics files for production.
I was fortunate enough to collaborate with a genius whom I now count as a good friend. Working with the great Igor Koutsenko was an honor, a privilege, and an artistic experience that I will cherish forever.
I hope you love all the artwork!
-Pawlie.
Proud American — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Nickel and Dime — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Opposable Thumb — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
All’s Right with the World — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
All for Nothing — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Man in the Sky — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Ship of Fools — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Smile — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
The Fool — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Crazy Crow (for Joni) — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
An Ape’s Progress (Cover Art) — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Surreal Portrait — original sketch (left), final painting (right).
Guitar Ape — original sketch (left), final painting (right).