It was DJSE who had the idea of running a cover contest. We weren't sure we would get any submissions at all. But thanks to Instagram, thanks to Twitter, and thanks to IndieNation putting the contest on their front page, we wound up getting 8 submissions, including some really nice ones that we had trouble choosing between.
And the winner is...
Artist: Carlie Reilly
Carlie submitted an early version of this concept as a slightly blurry photo in black in white. After reading our feedback, she added color, manipulated the drawing digitally, and submitted a new version with a sharper photo. The art plays like an homage to 1960s psychedelia, and we were knocked out by the detail and especially the hand-drawn version of our logo. The overall style is bold and it looks right at home next to the rest of our covers. CONGRATULATIONS, CARLIE!
But we had 7 other submissions which deserve to be seen and celebrated, so here are the 7 submissions that did not make the final cut:
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Artist: Sergei Nitchenko Sergei's submission was simple and striking, with strong colors, and a really nice integration of our logo. We liked the way the text in the title fades in and out of visibility. |
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Artist: DJSE and Salome Ann DJSE and his wife spent an evening creating inkblots, and this striking and delicate blot was the best of the lot. This one was a strong contender (but we liked the winning entry even better.) |
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Artist: Ajesh Palelil The detail in Ajesh's black and white line art is really striking, and we felt some connection in this shot to our track "Diablita". Cropping it square and adding a vignette helped to make it more like an album cover. |
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Artist: Brett Tiff Brett's entry is stunning, and this execution reminds us of some of the early Wyndham Hill records. We love the art at the top, and enjoy the way our logo balances nicely in the middle. |
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Artist: Daniel Burkert Daniel's spare line drawing nicely captures the idea of being seen and unseen, and plays on the latin character of many of our tracks, especially the title cut. |
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Artist: Dustin Simpson This cover concept captured the album theme very well - the lava lamps, hidden buddha and partially obscured logo really nailed it. |
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Artist: Lianna Langkamp Lianna took one of the photos from our Jack in the Bucket album release party, and made it into line art. We loved the cartoon versions of ourselves, the yowling cat, and her responsiveness to feedback - she produced three versions of this in response to requests. |
In the end, everybody wins.
We were very pleased with all of the submissions we received, and everybody who entered will receive a free download code for the album once it's available. Carlie will get 5 download codes for Seen and Unseen, plus a video interview, plus we'll spam her name all over twitter and instagram - all very well deserved. And of course, her art will grace the cover of our all-digital album in every digital marketplace and streaming service. A great big THANK YOU to all of the artists who participated!
-DJSE and Snake.
