Alex Ostrowski made the cover art for our “A Good Crop”-compilation.

Alex Ostrowski is a graphic designer / illustrator working on freelance projects and interning

at various London studios. He enjoys raising a smile and splashing around plenty of colour.
Alex enjoys designing for music, including his band Kotki Dwa who are featured on the “A Good Crop”-compilation  with their track ‘Le Beau Charcutier’.

http://www.alexostrowski.com/ 

Souther Salazar made the cover art for our “A Good Crop” compilation.

Souther Salazar lives and works in Los Angeles. His artwork reinterprets the world making it
a mythical place of carnivals, lost cities, giant insects, dinosaurs, and a variety of other
animals. Souther mixes media, adding layers upon layers of storytelling making his work
something to explore for hours. Souther Salazar graduated with a BFA from Art Center in
Pasadena.

Souther Salazar’s work first began to circulate in the early 90′s, in the form of photocopied
cut-and-paste microcomics and ‘zines made in his bedroom as a young teenager in rural
Oakdale, CA. After graduating from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, he moved
to Los Angeles. Souther Salazar exhibits his collages, paintings, drawings and sculptures in
dense and frenzied installations that encourage exploration and participation by the viewer.
His work has appeared in galleries in New York, Los Angeles, Portland and Tokyo, and in
publications such as Kramers Ergot, Swindle and The Drama and a recent cover feature in
Giant Robot. (Bio from jonathanlevinegallery.com)

You can follow Souther on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Souther-Salazar/32724086671

or buy some of his art on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/southersalazar

Julia Guther made the cover-art for “A Good Crop” Volume 3. She is also 1/2 of the collaboration project “Joel & Julia” from our collaboration compilation “Between Two Waves”.

Julia Guther is an illustrator and a musician, based in Germany. She completed her studies in
Visual Communication and Illustration at UdK Berlin and UWE, Bristol (UK). Guther works as a
freelance graphic designer for various publishers, magazines, newspapers and agencies around
the globe, predominantly in Berlin and Hamburg.
Julia Guther has done several interesting cd cover projects for the German label Morr Music,
including the albums from It’s a Musical, Butcher the Bar and Bobby & Blumm. Her own
musical project is also called Guther, and here she collaborates with Berend Intelmann and
Patrick Arp . The band is also connected to Morr Music, where they have released two albums,
their debut «I Know You Know» from 2003 and «Sundet» from 2006.

You can read, look and listen more on Julia Guther’s website or on Guther’s Myspace-site:
http://www.juliaguther.de | http://www.myspace.com/morrmusicguther

Alex Noriega made the cover-art for our first compilation “Summer’s Here!”. This is what he writes on his website “Stuff No One Told Me”:

“I´m Alex Noriega, a 30 years old fella from Barcelona. I was born and raised there, but I’m currently living in Maputo, Mozambique, where I spend my days drawing, reading and drawing even more.

When I finished high school, I went to an arts and illustration school in Barcelona named Llotja. Picasso’s father was a teacher there for a few years… and even Joan Miró studied there (he was actually born two blocks away from the school)

I lived in Holland for two years after I got my illustration degree. I worked as a janitor in a couple goverment buildings. It was a pretty interesting experience. I had tons of time to think and draw and I eventually started to work more and more as a freelance illustrator.

I went back to Barcelona and after a year I realized that the amount of illustration work that I was getting wouldn´t be enough to live by my own so I started to look for standard office jobs. I found one in a fashion company… I had no idea what I was getting into.

At the beginning it was tough because I had no idea of fashion nor interest in it, but after a while I found that I could actually do the work pretty well. I designed prints for t-shirts and underwear… they had to be very cute and I learned a lot about what sells and why.

At some point in 2010 I was going through a crisis due to some issues at work, so I decided to start this blog as a way of trying to find what I was doing wrong. I wanted to put on paper all that I had learned in life as simple as possible and try to see if what was happening around me made sense. It didn´t.

Now I don´t work in fashion anymore. I’m actually working on a graphic novel about what happened in that weird crisis. It’s going to be called “Anosmic”.

You can contact me through alx_noriega(at)hotmail(dot)com… please, write!

Thanks!”

Read Alex’ comics here: http://www.snotm.com/

Alex is also on Facebook, here: https://www.facebook.com/snotm
And he also has his own Sketch-blog, here: http://alexnoriegasketchblog.blogspot.com/

Simon Williams/ drinkmilk designed the cover art for “Birdsongs, Beesongs” volume C, and here follows a short email-interview with the artist. Williams a.k.a. Crayola is also a musician, and will release both a solo-album and an album by his band Sarandon this year.  The image below is his cover-art for his own solo-cd, released on Odd Box records 2010. The logo for the Odd Box label is also Williams’ creation. All illustrations shown in this presentation is made by drinkmilk/Williams.

1. Can you give me a short presentation of yourself and your art?

I have been drawing and designing seriously since the 1980s when I trained as a Screen Printer.
Currently I work as a Freelance Graphic Designer specialising in artwork for the music industry.
I also perform in the band Sarandon.

2. What are you working on right now?

I’m currently finishing off writing the new Sarandon album ready for recording in the late summer.

3. What are your favourite tools?

I couldn’t live without my Wacom tablet.

4. How do you begin / conceptualise a project?

If it’s a poster I’m designing then it’s simply a case starting to draw and seeing what happens.
If it’s a record cover or suchlike I will either be given a brief by the customer or I will work with any titles I’m given.

5. Who / what are your greatest Visual Inspirations?

I don’t have any particular inspirational figures.

6. Is music or other forms of art an inspiration? If so, what do you listen to?

Of course music is very important.
I suppose I listen to a wide range of things – anybody reading my blogs will know kind of where I come from musically.
A short list of favourites would include:
bIG fLAME, The Shrubs, Faust, Genesis, Gary Numan, Adam & The Ants, Status Quo, The Cannanes, The June Brides, DeSalvo, Dawson, The Dog Faced Hermans, The Nightingales, Woflhounds, ZZ Top, AC/DC, Napalm Death, The Ex, The Fall, Julian Cope, Thee Headcoats/Mighty Caesars/Etc.

7. Describe an average working day.

I have a day job that I do 9 to 5, so if I have any design work to do I will get up at around 4:30 to 5am and work before the children wake up.
Then it’s off to work, get home and play with the kids, put them to bed, eat food and watch TV.

8. What are your future plans? Any exciting things you are looking forward to?

As I mentioned above there is a new Sarandon album in progress.
Other than that I take one day at a time.

9. How would you like to end this interview?

I don’t really understand that question. Sorry.

You can learn more about Simon Williams/Crayola/drinkmilk from these websites:

http://drink-milk.net
http://sarandon.net
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarandon/6894447258
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crayola/119240587555?ref=ts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Williams_%28musician%29

(Some questions are stolen with permission from Jamie Ball’s interview series on his Visual journal).

Costa Rica-based illustrator Seniorita Polyester collaborated with Roller Monkey on making the cover for  “Between Two Waves” volume A.
Here is our interview with her.

1. Can you give me a short presentation of yourself and your art?
I’m seniorita polyester and i like to make illustrations and collages. Also i love scissors and knives.

2. What are you working on right now?
I’m working on some drawings for an upcoming exhibition and on some stuff for my etsy store. At the same time i’m working with my boyfriend (Roller Monkey) on our studio project and also we have a button factory called “Fábrica de Pines”

3. What are your favorite tools?
Mind and hands. Sometimes Photoshop.

4. How do you begin / conceptualize a project?
I don’t know. Every project is different, but generally i like make illustrations about personal feelings.

5. Who / what are your greatest Visual Inspirations?
Everything is a visual inspiration but i really like the work of Eduardo Recife, Richard Colman, Mark Ryden and some others.

6. Is music or other forms of art an inspiration? If so, what do you listen to?
Music is always an inspiration, i love to work with music on. My favourite singer is John Frusciante, i love him. Some of the genres i listen are screamo, folk, americana.

7. Describe an average working day.
I wake up late, i can’t wake up early! It’s a curse hahaha. Then i have my breakfast (tea and sometimes cereal) in front of the computer (near my boyfriend) and check my emails, reader, orders in the button factory. It takes me a lot of time to start to work, i’m lazy.

8. What are your future plans? Any exciting things you are looking forward to?
Finish the website of our studio project is one of the most important things to do right now. Also i want to travel and try to be more organized with my work. In some years I would love to have a bakery and a house in the woods.

9. How would you like to end this interview?
Espero que les haya gustadooooo… Chau!

You can see more of Seniorita Polyester’s work here:
http://www.senioritapolyester.com.ar
http://www.facebook.com/pages/seniorita-polyester/49814791802?ref=ts
http://scissorsandknives.wordpress.com/

Sathya Ranjana has made the cover for Baffin Island’s single on EardrumsPop.
She has her background from studies in Graphic Design and Fashion at Designschule München in Germany followed by Illustration studies at Designskolen Kolding in Denmark. Since then, she has been working on different projects and commissioned work as a freelance Illustrator and Artist. Her designs do not only concentrate on the  paper-medium, since she finds it interesting to combine different mediums and get tactile creations.
Here is our illustrator interview with her:

Can you give us a short presentation of yourself and your art?

- I grew up in a tiny village between meadows and woods and I think that influenced me and my art a lot. I still get my main inspiration through nature – no matter if that is a shape, colour or a feeling.

How did you get started in the illustration field?

- Hm, actually I started when I was a child. I loved to collect the impressions from the day and night and showed them in short stories, drawings and tiny selfmade books.
Later, after I didn´t feel satisfied with my Design studies in Munich I went to Denmark with the aim to focus on illustration. These studies in Denmark gave me a lot of power and new passion for my work.

What are you working on right now?

-Right now I´m working on a commissioned graphic design project and doing some free work for my exhibition in Munich.

What are your favourite tools?

-I love to work with card board and a lot of colours, I also often use ink on it.. I always have the feeling the illustrations start to live when they are on card board.
But the thing I like best is that you have the possibility to mix different tools as you want to.

Please tell us about the process of making the EardrumsPop-cover! Is this the way you usually work?

-I was thinking about a small mystical and colourful island that I don´t know, about the nature, the people and animals on this island and how they would live like… and then I just started. Oh and I listened to Baffin Island music to get a better feeling of the band.
Yes, I think that´s the way I often work.

Who / what are your greatest Visual Inspirations?

- A lot of things. And as I already mentioned, nature is one of my greatest visual inspiration. It´s always changing and you never have seen it all- always find something new, it´s powerful! I love the colours which are just `lying there´.
But also small things from everday life, like people on the street, houses, animals, cars..

Is music or other forms of art an inspiration? If so, what do you listen to?

-Yes music is inspiration as well, I listen a lot to Kim Hiorthøy when I´m working. And also any kind of text and books is a form of inspiration to me.

Describe an average working day.

- It´s never really the same.

How did you develop your style? Is it different now than when you started?

- I´m sure I developed my style but it´s hard to say how or why. I think it´s just a process of experimentation and on this way you will carry some things and detach yourself from other things.

What’s your favorite color?

- I can´t choose for one. I love colours and the combination of them – and the fact that your choice decides in which way the whole illustration affects people.

What are your future plans? Any exciting things you are looking forward to?

- I will work a lot with fashion the next time – that´s quite exciting I think.

What question and answer would you like to end this interview with?

- What did you believe in when you were a child?
- That everybody can fly!

Learn more about Sathya and her art on her website:

http://sathyaranjana.blogspot.com/

Sarah Lippet has made the cover art for Laura K’s single on EardrumsPop.

Sarah Lippett is a London based freelance illustrator and together with fellow illustrator Duncan Barrett created crayonlegs.com after they graduated from the University of Brighton.
She has worked with Los Campesinos!, The New York Times, Time Out New York, The Guardian, and The Radio Times amongst others.

This is our illustrator Interview with Sarah Lippett:

What are you working on right now?

I’m just finishing working on an exhibition all about Space.  It’s called Vostok 5 as there are five artists contributing.  My contribution is a series of images illustrating the story of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s flight, the preparation he went through, and pressures of stardom after he became a worldwide hero for being the first man in space.  Comic books will be available to buy on my website very soon as well as at the gallery (The Outside World Gallery) in Shoreditch from the 1st -7th September.  More info here: http://vostok5.tumblr.com/

Quite simply pencils and a good sketchbook!  They’re all you really need.

It is very similar to the way I work when I’m not given a specific theme.  The making of the cover was quite random, I just let my thoughts wander and listened to Laura’s songs and out it came, which is similar to other record covers I’ve worked on before, like Los Campesino’s Hold On Now Youngster.

Who / what are your greatest visual inspirations?

I just kept drawing and drawing and letting it happen on its own.  My style is different from what it was when I started 5 years ago. I think I’m better at using colour, I have more confidence with line, and I’ve started working less digitally over the past year – drawing in pencil is something I’ve come back to quite recently and I’m really enjoying it.  I’ve learnt that its good to be inspired by other artists, but dont try and be them, it’s important to find your own voice.


 

I’d like to see more of your work, whats your website called?
www.crayonlegs.com.

Why is that?
Because I had a dream about a man who had crayons as legs and everywhere he went, he drew.

Paperfangs have a very visual profile, – why is this important to you?
- We think of Paperfangs as a collective with three people and three different aspects supporting each other. We are audial, visual and audiovisual. Therefore our visual adventures are just as important as our music.

What are the key elements in the visual side of Paperfangs?
- Designing and creating things for Paperfangs is a time and a space, a feeling, a place. Key elements of Paperfangs are simplicity and contrasts, both in our music and our visuals. Contrast of forms and colors, of geometric, modern and futuristic against natural, organic and tender-hearted.

Your lo-fi photographs often include “headless people”, feet and unusual perspectives. The words on your sites are short, cryptic and poetic, but they rarely say anything about who Paperfangs are. Why so mystical?
- It’s not our purpose to be mystical, we just want to put our work in the foreground and let it describe us instead. We think our work is more important than the people behind it.

What are your favourite tools?
- A pencil, a ruler and a moleskine. MacBooks and analog synthesizers.

Please tell us about the process of making the EardrumsPop-cover! Is this the way you usually work?
- We start by listening to the music and to ourselves. We share our thoughts and let our ideas sprout. The creating process includes a lot of coffee, cigarettes and wine.

Who / what are your greatest Visual Inspirations?
- Old movies: especially westerns, film noir, science fiction and musicals. Wes Anderson, Jim Jarmusch and John Hughes. Early 20th century suprematism. Italian futurists, Bauhaus, modernism, minimalism. European architecture. Dancing.

Is music or other forms of art an inspiration? If so, what do you listen to?
- Music is definitely a big inspiration. 60′s baroque pop, 80′s new wave and post-punk, 90′s twee, 00′s shoegaze and especially Gothenburg’s indie bands influence us a lot. Pop culture in general.

What’s your favorite color?
- Violet. Black and white.

What are your future plans? Any exciting things you are looking forward to?
- We’re currently planning a cassette release for this winter. We’re also doing some new videos, t-shirts and badges and we’re hoping to do some live performances next year.

What question and answer would you like to end this interview with?
Cats or dogs?
- Cats. They are fluffy.

Learn more about Paperfangs here:

http://myspace.com/paperfangs
http://paperfangs.tumblr.com/
http://soundcloud.com/paperfangs