I hope they end up in the booklet, too. It's such good stuff ... so ... "bandlike." :P You've got a great vision for stuff like this! I'm impressed, but unsurprised. :)

Fantastic work on this great imae my friend.

Excellent idea! Well produced. The priestess is balancing a bouncing bomb on her head too - An idea later stolen by barnes Wallis.

Agreeing with auntietk-- this is perfect liner note material!

Hehehehe... wonderfully done! :)

Great done ! Love it.

Creative and excellent render as a hieroglyph, very well done !

Excellent!

I've been watching your Lancaster pieces with keen delight, partly because it's great to see how you realize client work, and partly because of the delight and play you show as you do so. (The da Vinci was delightful, with all that aged yellow and brown, the da Vinci misty peaks, etc. Must be a lot of fun when you can do that kind of referential work so well.) I can't comment on them all, due to time, so I had to choose. I chose this simply because it's representative of the fun you must have had, and the meticulous detail and skill you put into these. You have the flat style of ancient Egyptian art. And the front-or-side postures. And the simple line style---outlining, with strong hues inside. And the mix of animal and human forms in each being. You also did a fine job of emulating the surface---it looks like papyrus laid on stone, though it could also be a stone layer laid on stone: The age-lines, mold, cracks, etc etc, are all done with a conservator's care. And your actual figures and glyphs are delightful. I wouldn't have known, until reading Peter's (ebrink's) comment, that that was a bouncing bomb on the priestess's head. It looks very egyptian, in any case. And you've got the flat neck-wear, and head dress/curls/braids, etc. The subtle humor---so right for an album cover---is terrific. The left-side creature is handing the other creature a plane (a Lancaster), with one of those egyptian eyes above it. And your glyphs have plane parts in them, including one coming at us head on: Wonderful concepts, Craig! You even allowed the backing to intrude on the drawing---in the priestess and in the glyphs---showing the realistic fact of decay. Typical of how you've handled this with tongue-in-cheek, subtly rather than "in one's face," with humor and also fidelity to every style you've taken on. (A native american glyph is in the bevy too---the image with the plane and the hand prints against that reddish stone...) All very finely done. And yes, as Tara says, so "bandlike". Terrific. A fav for the whole collection. It's just marvelous the time, finesse and love you put into these pieces. (Two PS's. One, album illustration---originally LP's, of course---were often drawings, and nothing of the graphic and deft syntheses of styles that you've done beautifully here. Warhol started as such an illustrator, illustrating some great jazz albums with his characteristic curly-cue lines---so different from his later iconic work. The lines moved like jazz lines themselves. If you google Warhol early illustration, album art---whatever words will get you there---you'll see. It shows how much album art has changed. And two...Craig, your response to my birthday image for you was deeply moving and so kind. But by all means know that my words truly were for you; and the few people I know here who've known you or had contact with you feel the same way. Certainly Tara and Cathy---novelist (who's been offline, but still remembers you vividly)---feel that way. I too hope we meet one day in person. Tara has been fantasizing some joint overseas trips: Maybe I'll urge her to consider one to S.Africa, and some of us can descend on your home, and do a tara-bill-style visit and publicize it all over RR. (Lotta comedy potential there---I could post shots of you devouring a live deer, with a sinister look and blood dripping down your face, with the description "he's not NEARLY as nice as you think!") It would be wonderful (my dumb jokes aside). But thank you so much, I deeply appreciated all that you wrote. And I still owe you a letter. But in the meantime, accept this session as my bow to all you share with us here, and to the love, humor, and wonderful articulation you bring to it all. I think I've been here 2 hours---yes, I checked, it's that---so even though I've only done 6 or 7 images, at least you know I've spent time with them. Wonderful work as always! I wish you and your loved ones a beautiful fall, it's a pleasure to walk in your world...)