CASE STUDY: Anitsiskwa's Album Art
Project: Album art for Anitsiskwa's digital album
Recently a couple friends of mine approached me to work on the album art for their digitally released noise album.
Background research about the name Anitsiskwa:
Anitsiskwa, also known as the Bird Clan, were known as messengers. They believe that birds are messengers between earth and heaven, or the People and Creator. This belief gave the members of this clan the responsibility of caring for the birds. The main subdivisions of these clans were Raven, Turtledove, and Eagle.
Background about Anitsiskwa the band:
Kirby and Raleigh are both residents of Philadelphia who share the love for this city and also experimenting and creating drone music.
Their passion and excitement for what they create is evident in conversations with them and also in their creation itself. They created the album in almost a improv fashion. Creating on the fly and working off of each other. Everything was in the moment. They allowed themselves to be sucked into, not only the music and soundscapes they were creating, but also into the act of creating. Which, as you all know, is something that I consider really important.
The Feathers [Study and research]
Each of these feathers, like the birds, had their own characteristics. Below I have some pictures pulled from the internet that I used to study and reference.
The Raven's feathers were all black and had a certain shiny quality to them.
The Eagles' feather had more color and variations to it. There were also brown spots that added beauty and character to them.
The Turtledoves' feathers, like the Eagles', had what seemed like a brown-ish tinge.
Process:
During my initial conversations with Kirby and Raleigh from Anitsiskwa, they had mentioned to me that they wanted the feathers to be grouped. Maybe even tied. I decided against tying them as that would distract from the natural beauty of the feathers, itself.
The images you see below are drawn using micron pens of various weights and colors on watercolor paper.
[Process] The Raven feather is on the left and Turtledove feather on the right
[Process] This picture was taken after I added the eagle feather to the composition
The Final product:
I decided that to add depth and definition that I needed to cut the feathers so that they sat agains something else other than the white background of the watercolor paper.
A huge thank you to Kirby and Raleigh for picking me to create their album cover!
THE MUSIC:
After talking to Kirby and Raleigh, they agreed that I could share with you guys the music that they created. They classify their sound under experimental, drone and noise. I find their sound interesting and kind of meditative when I try to bring myself to be in the headspace they were in while they were making it. It may not be for you, and that is okay.