Project Review: The Album Design of Jeff Blaney's Go Now, Don't Look Back

I've done several album design projects over the years, the most recent being for Jeff Blaney for his latest EP Go Now, Don't Look Back. I take care to do every project well, but this one had an extra little string attached to my heart: Jeff used one of my Horse Trail -> Highways images for his album cover!

The original photo used for the cover

When Jeff asked me to handle the cover and disc layouts, I was so excited. Not only was he using my photo, but I was getting creative control over how the image would appear when printed.
When we met to discuss his ideas, I was pleasantly surprised by Jeff's excellent notes and mock-ups. It made the entire process much easier.

Notes and mock-ups. Jeff became a dream client for bringing these.

The first time I ever did an album and disc layout, the templates totally threw me for a loop. Was it all the colors? The layers? I'm not sure why it was so difficult. As I've gained experience, though, the process has gotten much easier.

A few small changes were made to this layout before printing

The final product looks exactly how Jeff planned. It's a thrill every time a client, especially when that client is a friend, has that "YES!" moment. I couldn't have asked for a more rewarding experience! 

The final product

The other awesome bonus of this project is that Jeff is using this image for a lot of his marketing and PR materials. Seeing my work peppered around the internet has been exciting and humbling. 

A couple of Jeff's promotional pieces

It's wonderful to live in a city where there is such a solid arts scene, and being part of my friends' successes is one of the best parts about living and working in Nashville. 

Interested in catching one of Jeff's shows? Details here. 

Back In The Game

It's been a while since I've posted, which I apologize for, but I have been both busy as heck and suffering from a case of writer's block.

The good stuff is still happening! I've been singing plenty with The One and Only Bill Davis; he is finishing the cleaning up of his Omnichord X-mas album, and sending it out to be mastered within the next day or two. I was lucky enough to be asked to sing on one of the tracks AND do the layout of the album cover. It's coming along well so far - it definitely helps to work with a person who knows what he wants.

Screen shot of the work in progress

Bill is not only a great singer/composer/arranger, but he's been flexing his design muscles on his last two albums. The Up To Something! artwork was entirely his concept - I just did the layout design. He created the drawings for the Omnichord record ages ago in a Paint program on an old PC laptop, and, again, I'm just laying it out. I love that I married a man who likes to cross creative genres!

Front and back covers-do you see the faint drawing of Bill in the background of the back cover?

I recently reconnected with a client I had worked with in late 2012/early 2013, and she gave me a copy of a postcard/pamphlet cover that I had laid out months ago. She just sent it out to 200 people, so I'm pleased it came out so well.

My next project with these wonderfully creative folks is designing Rob's website

Here are another couple of ads I've contributed to this year:

I did the photography, post-production, and layout for this Frames By U ad, featured in the
Nashville Arts Magazine Gift Guide

I took the photograph used in the ad for Bennett Galleries, also found in the
Nashville Arts Holiday Gift Guide

Even with writer's block, I'm so grateful to have all of these great opportunities to work on so many creative projects!