{"id":13943,"date":"2016-12-14T14:01:11","date_gmt":"2016-12-14T14:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=13943"},"modified":"2016-12-14T14:01:11","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T14:01:11","slug":"behind-the-camera-album-cover-artists-with-dana-washington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/behind-the-camera-album-cover-artists-with-dana-washington\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind the camera: Album Cover Artists with Dana Washington"},"content":{"rendered":"

The past couple of years have been fairly good to the music industry, with talent bursting through from Garageband tracks made in bedrooms, to crews of producers, rappers, singers and visual artists being formed all over.<\/h3>\n

Reporter: Emily Fortune | Sub-Editor: Anisha Chowdhury<\/h3>\n
\"Washington's

Washington’s artwork for Versis’ ‘Copaesthetic EP’ \u00a0| (Dana Washington)<\/p><\/div>\n

Artists have become far more reachable via social media, leading to constant collaborating, especially for album artwork. From photographers, graphic designers and even painters, album cover artists have a wealth of talent to create for, in return leading to some of the most influential art. <\/span><\/p>\n

The last few years have seen album cover art take on issues such as police brutality with Denis Rouvre\u2019s <\/a>image for Kendrick Lamar\u2019s<\/a> \u2018To Pimp A Butterfly\u2019, or even Santigold\u2019s<\/a> \u201899\u00a2\u2019 which shows her shrink-wrapped with her personal belongings in a Barbie-esque fashion, representing the cold side to the music business.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, in order to learn a little bit more about the process of creating album artwork, Voice of London talked to photographer and writer Dana Washington<\/a>. The LA-based creative answered some questions about her own work and what she thinks of the current scene:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Album

Album artwork for Tiffany Gouche’s ‘Pillow Talk’ | (Dana Washington)<\/p><\/div>\n

Q: How did you get into shooting for album artwork?<\/b> <\/span><\/p>\n

Social media. In 2015, I was approached to shoot promotional portraits for SiR<\/a>. It was tricky because he preferred to keep his identity discreet, I was shooting on a film medium format, and I honestly wasn\u2019t trying to be experimental with it. One of the images was used for his Seven Sunday\u2019s project. That was the start of photographing album covers. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What\u2019s your favourite cover you\u2019ve done so far and why? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

My favourite album cover has to be Tiffany Gouch\u00e9\u2019s<\/a> Pillow Talk. During that shoot, she was extremely self-secure and confident, I didn\u2019t have to take twenty shots to get the right photograph. If I remember correctly, I took two shots and told her, \u201cThis is the cover\u2026That was easy!\u201d She trusted me, and that makes the process much less drawn out. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What kind of musicians do you like to work with? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

If the music is good and their intentions are pure, then I\u2019m open to work. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: How can the genre of music you\u2019re making the artwork for inspire your work? Any examples? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

In 2015, I was working on Versis\u2019<\/a> cop\u00e6sthetic EP. We had the idea to have black and white portraits interpret the story and emotion of each song. The entire project is very reflective, slowed down, and melancholic. Interestingly enough, I was going through my own dark period during that time, I found it easy to connect and produce the images. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What are your top 3 favourite album\/EP etc covers? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m a big fan of Blue Note Record<\/a> album covers. Everything that Mati Klarwein<\/a> has done, and I love the simplicity of Janet Jackson\u2019s <\/a>The Velvet Rope. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What kind of music do you usually create artwork for? <\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

As of now, I\u2019ve only worked with R&B\/Soul and Hip-Hop artists. <\/span><\/p>\n

Q: What was, in your opinion, the best album artwork to come out of 2016? Why?\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

My personal favourite is Jory Lee Cordy\u2019s portrait for Ty Dolla $ign\u2019s<\/a> Free TC. It\u2019s matter of fact. It makes me feel. I understand the magnitude of having a family member imprisoned \u2013 both literal and figurative.<\/span><\/p>\n

@thevoiceofLDNarts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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