Sunday, December 1, 2013

Comics on Album Covers


[THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - Last updated 17-11-09]

Were all of these intended to be read sequentially? I don't know but they're art and I read them so I consider them to be "comics".

A lot of people have been using the term "comic art" to mean "a style of art that is for comics". Well guess what, fools? There's no such thing! ANY style of art can be used for comics.

There is a greater variety of storytelling, as well as impressionistic or rhythmic intensions, that can be expressed with comics than what we find within the most popular genres.

I hope that this post encourages anyone with a limited view of what "comic art" can be, as well as what a comic can say and how it says it, to look beyond to the full range of possibilities.

Anyway, enough of my yakkin'. Let's boogie...


1960 - Don Luis Quintero & The Madrid Festival Orchestra ‎- Sizzling Strings, Castanets & Percussion
Design by Sam Suliman


1965 - The Beatles - Help!
Robert Freeman - photography
From Wikipedia: The album cover features the group with their arms positioned to spell out a word in flag semaphore. According to cover photographer Robert Freeman, "I had the idea of semaphore spelling out the letters "H E L P". But when we came to do the shot the arrangement of the arms with those letters didn't look good. So we decided to improvise and ended up with the best graphic positioning of the arms." (On the British Parlophone release, the letters formed by The Beatles appear to be 'NUJV', whilst the slightly re-arranged U. S. release on Capitol Records appeared to feature the letters 'NVUJ'.)


1972 - Jamming With Edward
Artwork by Nicky Hopkins
(Sent in by Jim Woodring)


1972 - Marcos Valle - Vento Sul
Artwork by Juarez Machado
(Sent in by Matt Madden)


1974 - Genesis - The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
Design by Hipgnosis


1979 - Gang Of Four - Entertainment!
Design – Andy Gill, Jon King


1981 - Van Halen - Fair Warning
Painting by William Kurelik
There are panels in the selection used for the cover but looking at the complete painting - The Maze, it's more apparent.


1983 - Talking Heads - Speaking In Tongues
Cover by David Byrne


1984 - Laurie Anderson - United States I-IV Live (album sleeve art)
Art and film direction by Laurie Anderson
These are breakdowns or keyframes of animations she used in the stage show but printed on the album sleeve, I read them as comics.


1984 - Thomas Dolby - The Flat Earth
Cover by Assorted iMaGes (Design by Baker Dave, Malcolm Garrett and Thomas Dolby)
Version #1:
Version #2: 


1985 - Squeeze - Cosi Fan Tutti Fruitti
Art Direction: Michael Ross, Rob O'Connor / 
Design: Rob O'Connor / 
Illustrations: Simon Fell.


1986 - R.E.M. - Lifes Rich Pageant 
(This is the correct title. For some reason they didn't place an apostrophe in "Lifes".)
Sandra Lee Phipps – photography / R. O. Scarelli – packaging


1993 - New Order - Republic
Art direction by Peter Saville (designed at Pentagram)


2003 - The Strokes - Room on Fire
Peter Phillips - cover art / Colin Lane - photography / Brett Kilroe - art direction


2006 - Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics
Cover by Adrian Tomine 

2016 - Yo La Tengo - Murder in the Second Degree
Cover by Adrian Tomine


2016 - Pez – Rock Nacional
Art by Gerardo Canelo


2016 - $uicideBoy$ - Radical $uicide
Art by (still searching) 


2016 - Tom’s Story - Tom’s Story
Photos by Karen De La Fuente / Art by D.j. Dumapit


2016 - Wilco - Schmilco
Art by Joan Cornellà


2017 - Melkbelly - Nothing Valley
Cover by Dave Krueger / Ben Marcus


Also see the Abstract Comics on Album Covers series
by clicking on the following links:



Bonus album liner notes comics:

 "The Point!" by Gary Lund (included inside vinyl record Nilsson, 1971)








"Ivan Meets G.I. Joe" by Steve Bell (from the liner notes for The Clash album Sandinista!, 1980)
(When I was in Jr. High, my brother had this album and I remember loving the comic so much that one day I actually ran home from school to put on the record and read it again, over and over.)

So hey, I hope you're enjoying this post. It's a lot of fun to put together. Check back for more...

INVITATION TO CONTRIBUTE:
If you (yes, YOU) have any "comics on album covers" you'd like to send, you can e-mail me at: contact(at)getsivizion(dot)com and I will post them here with your name (or anonymously, if you wish). Feel free to include any personal anecdotes or theoretical type jazz.

Please title your e-mail "Comics on Album Covers". Thanks!

Monday, November 12, 2012

mini comics!


Sunday, November 11, 2012

44 U.S. Presidents

Since it's still relevant after this last election, here's a comic I drew in 1 hour of all 44 U.S. Presidents for the Presidents Inspired Art Show back in 2009:

Friday, November 9, 2012

Impossible Eyeball


Thursday, November 8, 2012

Radio interview!

My interview with S.W. Conser for Words and Pictures airs Thursday November 8 at 11:30 am on KBOO 90.7fm in Portland Oregon. You can also listen to it on their website streaming or in the archive. I fear that I sound like a pretentious idiot. Please be kind... Read comic books, they're good for you! http://kboo.fm/WordsandPictures

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Sparrow and Crowe #3 is in the November Diamond Previews




































My friends, please pre order Sparrow and Crowe #3 at a comic shop asap.
Page 300 of Previews, in the Hermes Press section. If you can't find issues 1 and 2,
ask your retailer to order it from Hermes Press!

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Friday, April 20, 2012

Sparrow and Crowe in Previews this Wednesday 4/25

Hello my comic book friends! The first issue of  my mini series Sparrow and Crowe is going to be available for pre-order in Diamond Previews this coming Wednesday (4/25) and will be on the shelves no later than July. Please order a copy. I will love you forever! Be advised there are some pretty violent parts. Cheers, Jared

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Impossible Eyeball

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Cosmic Function page 4

Here is page 4 (of 6) from Cosmic Function:

Sunday, December 18, 2011

The Park-A Poster Sized Comic

I've recently finished a one shot comic that functions as both a single image, as well as 20 separate moments in time, each time the characters age 5 years.
Here are the details from the poster:




















The final poster:


All of this comic are included in the poster, which is available for sale at Society 6. I highly suggest purchasing the extra large poster print, however, have included smaller sized options for folks like me who can't quite pay the full price. The prints are available here: