Pure Comedy Father John Misty Pure Comedy Cover Art Father John Misty
The cover art for Male parent John Misty'south Pure Comedy is a contemporary vision of a medieval nightmare — a wildly detailed cartoon illustration depicting fools, sadists, zealots and charlatans engaged in all manner of debauchery and nihilistic backlog. Josh Tillman (Father John Misty) personally reached out to New Yorker cartoonist Edward Steed to draw the piece, every bit his characteristic doodled illustrations and wry blackness sense of humour served a perfect complement to the record's sardonic meditation on the mod condition.
Steed began contributing to the New Yorker about five years agone after responding to the magazine'southward open call for submissions. At the fourth dimension, he had no professional feel as an illustrator and says he had to develop his unique style and technique on the fly.
"At first, my drawings weren't specially practiced," said Steed. "But it's more nigh having ideas anyway, so I try to send a lot of ideas. That'southward what impresses the New Yorker editors. And then I learned to draw gradually over the years."
He shortly became a favorite among editors and readers, selling dozens of pieces to the mag each year. One time able to support himself as a cartoonist, Steed quit his job as an architect and recently moved to New York from the U.k.. In Nov, Steed, along with Tillman and Sub Popular Art Director Sasha Barr, was nominated for a Grammy for all-time recording package for Pure Comedy. A condensed and edited conversation with him nearly the nomination is beneath.
How did the projection come virtually?
I call back Josh must take showtime seen my piece of work in the New Yorker. He wrote to me about a year earlier I started working on the cover. He sent I Honey You Dearest Bear and wanted to know what I thought about information technology, and we chatted back and forth on I email. About six months afterwards he told me he was working on a new record, and vi months afterwards that he sent me the kickoff runway and asked if I'd like to do the comprehend art for it.
What was it like working with Tillman? How collaborative was the process?
He began gradually sending me rough versions of the songs from the studio. I started working equally I received the songs, diddling ideas down. The idea for the cover — the mountains with the changeable background — that was Josh'due south idea from the very start. That was actually his only requirement: To have interchangeable backgrounds for the sky, so I could describe whatever kind of cluttered scene in the foreground. I sent him a couple of sketches early but he never had any notes, so I stopped sending them and I got on with it myself. It was a very easy collaboration; he was e'er very enthusiastic.
The surreal scene depicted in the album encompass reminds me of one of Bosch's paintings. Was that kind of medieval art an inspiration for the piece of work?
When I was working on the sketches for the anthology embrace, I would go to the library and expect at paintings past Hieronymus Bosch and various medieval texts and illuminated manuscripts — visions of hell and things similar that. I spent about a month doing that and doodling — getting ideas for the tone of the cover. The finished work took about three days directly of drawing to complete the forepart cover and another three or four straight for the dorsum cover.
It seems to me there are a lot of similarities betwixt your work and Tillman's. Would yous say y'all both touch the same themes or share a similar an outlook on the world?
I think so. I never fabricated any effort to illustrate the songs or reference whatsoever of the lyrics. I drew the kind of thing I'd want to describe if I was making an album. Since Josh had asked me because he liked my work, I assumed that would be alright. Manifestly, he idea at that place was some overlap in our worldviews, and I call back there is.
I don't analyze my work very closely, but I suppose we share a vision of man's fragility or the absurdness of human being'due south existence at all. I'grand sure Josh is much more than articulate on this kind of stuff than I am. I merely sort of describe what's in my head, what comes bursting out from doodling. Rather than having a concept, I just get-go drawing and see what comes out.
Do you have any favorite scenes or characters in the piece?
My favorite is the scrap with the guy with a rocket attached to his back continuing on a ping pong table. We made a set up of pretend tarot cards to accompany the tape with all of the aforementioned characters from the album embrace, and we used that character on one of the cards. I think Josh likes that one too. For his phase evidence, he animated the characters and projected them on a large screen behind the stage. He made quite a beautiful little animation of that rocket man flying through the sky.
How does information technology feel to be nominated for a Grammy? Is this something you lot ever expected?
I didn't know at that place was such a thing as a Grammy for a tape cover. I call up it's funny. I must be one of the least musically talented people to ever be nominated for a Grammy, which is alright with me.
Source: https://uproxx.com/music/ed-steed-father-john-misty-pure-comedy-artwork-grammy-nomination/