Innermachine

I had the great honor of illustrating The Terrapin's latest album Innermachine.  If you haven't heard of The Terrapin you should really go and check them out.  They make some amazing interstellar pan galactic sounds.  I'm not sure if you can still buy a hard copy of the album, and my artwork :).  But you can listen to them online here   Click the link and explore your innermachine.

Below I have included some of the roughs I went through to create the final cover design.  My process entailed listening to the album in a loop and sketching images that came into my mind.

While listening I kept having this vision of a beautiful cyborg woman encased in a mechanized shell gazing upward.  She is both empowered by the machine and held captive by it.  What is she gazing at? I cannot guess.  Perhaps the future?  A distant star?   I'm not sure, but I think the music will take you there.

Thanks Terrapin for giving me the opportunity to share in your creativity.

Click image to see larger.

Please notice that the text is different in the final version.  It should read The Terrapin Innermachine.  I don't have a copy of the final version!

The pencil rough.  Notice the Terry the Turtle hologram projector in front of her eyes.  I felt like this was a little too much and the space should be left open.  I was looking for every excuse to include The Terrapin's mascot Terry.

A very early rough drawing.  For a while I saw the cyborg woman in my mind staring directly at me.  I decided against this idea, I felt this was too direct and she was actually looking beyond me.

An unfinished color version.  Perhaps someday this will be completed for a limited edition release of the album.  Only time will tell.

And finally, for fun, a hologram of Terry giving you the thumbs up.