I was delighted when composer and pianist, Kieran Morley commissioned me to create the artwork for his first music EP release of original compositions.
![illustration art for ep album cd cover for solo piano music artist](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/morley_album_art_800w.jpg)
Case Study
Client Kieran, described his music as emotive, atmospheric and full of imagery, and he always hopes that it creates imagery in the audience’s mind; though he’s very open to their own interpretations of it. He also said that he would love an element of surrealism—liking the stream of consciousness idea; but he was completely open to my own ideas. Kieran proved this to be very much the case. He’s a dream client to work with.
I mentioned the film ‘Spellbound’ by Hitchcock, for which Salvador Dali designed the dream sequences, and that gave me the running man; and I composed around many of Dali’s and the surrealist’s ideas. I think it’ll be fun for fans of Kieran’s music—and fans of surrealism—to spot the many little relevant elements.
Kieran pitched in a nice idea after seeing how I’d put in a telegraph or power cable, suspended on those Dali like forks and connected it to the moon. He suggested that the cable be connected to the piano. I love that: Is the piano—and Kieran’s music powering the moon, or is it the other way around?
The name of the track ‘Libran’ made a visual connection for me—his wife is a Libran, she encouraged his creative exploits all the way, and he’s dedicating the EP to her—and I thought it’d be great to put the Libra constellation into the composition—along with a sprinkling of stars on the piano. As astronaut Bowman gasps in 2001: “My God… it’s full of stars!” I then thought that LIBRAN would be a great title for the EP, so I worked it into the sketches: et voila—it became the title.
I created and hand-brushed the typography, with a little Art Nouveau influence. Kieran and I both like that period of Parisian music and art, sharing a love of Claude Debussy’s music. It’s funny that even though Dali and Surrealism aren’t top of my list in art by any means, when I was last at Tate Modern art museum in London, I found the Surrealism section to be the most fun. Just pure fun.
I loved working on this, and Kieran’s delighted with the outcome. It’ll also be used on concert posters.
Progress/Process Images
![b&w illustration art for ep album cd cover for solo piano music artist](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/morley_paint_800w.jpg)
![sketch for album cover art piano dali surrealism](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/morley-sktch-11_GREY_600w.jpg)
![sketch for album cover art piano dali surrealism](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/morley-sktch-6_600w.jpg)
![sketch for album cover art piano dali surrealism](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/morley-sktch-5_600w.jpg)
![hand-painted lettering libran](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/lettering_001.jpg)
![illustration art for ep album cd cover for solo piano music artist](http://johnwhiteillustrator.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/morley_album_art_800w.jpg)
Illustrator: John White
Painting: Goauche, ink, pencil, on board
Colouring: Photoshop