September 1st, 2010
I’ve recently been invited to take part in a very special project, organized by Iranian-German Musician Amos and his lable Sounds of Subterrania. The project consisted in about 400 whitelable LPs handed out to artists, illustrators and designers from all over the world. Each of us could customize the cover to our likes. These objects now are beingn exibited in different galleries in Germany and Switzerland and online (on the Showtime website)
I really enjoyed to participate, especially because having to create a unique, orginal piece of art, I had to work completely by hand, without resorting to computer aided stuff. The more time passes, the less I like using a computer. Maybe I’m getting old, or maybe it’s just that I miss the direct contact with the paper, the colours, the real world…
Anyway, back to the cover design, here’s the official description I provided for it:
A surreal parade of creatures, memories and objects entwined in an energetic flow. It’s showtime, and everybody acts in sync, their minds linked together by invisible bonds, as if they were one giant organism. The idea was more to represent the (retro) mood and the drive of the album, than to be an illustration to it’s verbal content.
The album (which you can stream for free on the Amos Soundcloud page) is a fun mix of rock ‘n roll, 80’s vibes, Brian May guitars and the good ol’Amos style. Which made me think about when I was young and how I experienced the 80s. So basically the cover is a collage of my memories and images that popped up in my mind while listening to the tracks.
Should you want to buy it (and thus look very smart and hip with your friends, who will secretly plan on stealing it from you), you can find it on the online store here:
http://www.amos-showtime.com/… hannes-pasqualini/
August 30th, 2010
No this is not Rome, this is somewhere near Bolzano at 2500m height. The day before we started our trip to Rome, we went up the mountain with the guys from helios, ate a lot of knödels (yummy, good knödels!) walked back, long after dark, got lost in the dark… but this is another story.
The day after we were in Rome!
We saw a book presentation by Luca Russo and Christiano Silvi, but I don’t have a picture of the authors so I’ll post one of the two musicians playing at the presentation.
The day after I was at Odio L’estate, held a little speech about Giètz! and had the pleasure to meet Alessandra Umiliani (daughter of Piero Umiliani, one of the musicians appearing in the book) and Francesco Argento, who manages the official Umiliani website.
A tourist’s round to see some churches and roman ruins, several glasses of wine, a trip to the Tunué headquarters, a Sunday at the lake playing games and watching buffalos ruminate and we were back on out way home!
It’s been an intense but beautiful weekend.
August 17th, 2010
I’ve recently created this little illustration, which I would call “A surreal view of my studio desk” for a blog called disquiet. It’s a very interesting an well written blog, especially if you’re into music and field recording, so go check it out here: disquiet.com
more about the illustration here: disquiet.com
August 14th, 2010
As I told you before, more music related works are coiming! This is another chiptune EP cover I’ve recently done, for a guy called Futurnari. The album (which you can freely download here: www.beepcity.com) is clearly inspired by the game soundtracks of past times, but adds some nice variations to it. Be sure to check it out. The cover takes the 4 elements contained in the titles of the tracks (mushrooms, fire, bricks and toadstools) and combines them in one picture. The idea was to convey the spirit of the tracks, and suggest a somehow gamey athmosphere.
And now for something completely different… it’s saturday, and I haven’t been posting sketches in a while, so here is one that somehow goes well with the above illustration (though, there no kind of relation between the two).
August 12th, 2010
I recently found this anthology named Pirat in my mailbox. It’s a project by Polish comic artist Mikolaj Spionek, who ask me for a contrubution some time ago. It’s really fun to see one’s creations translated into a foreign language…
August 10th, 2010
It’s been a hot summer so far. Not only because of the climate we had here in the region, but also because I’ve been on fire with work! The consequence is that I have become a bit “lazy” in relation to this blog. On the other hand, now that things are cooling down a bit, I have a lot of stuff to talk about, so let’s start!
Giètz! is not the only music related work I’ve done in the last year. In fact as I had forseen, it’s been a very “musical” year so far!
I had the pleasure to create an illustration dedicated to the great band Pere Ubu for the venue Il circolo degli artisti in Rome. Pere Ubu is really a very inspiring band for my work.
Being a fan of 80s darkwave tunes and retro horror aesthetics I was more than pleased when the Italian fanzine group Lamette gave me the opportunity to create a comic about Bauhaus. This comic was also a great chance to test my “parasite” techniques on a black&white format. I chose to work with a style that takes a lot from old horror movies (like those starring Bela Lugosi), which works perfectly in b/w.
The last one, is also the oldes of the three. Its a comic inspired by the song Spiracle by Soap&Skin. To quote myself earlier:
Spiracle is a wonderful song by Austrian songwriter Anja Plaschg aka Soap&Skin,contained in her first (and still only) album Lovetune for Vacuum. Andrea Provinciali, one of the editors of Il Mucchio, asked me several months ago to participate in this project called Pencil Song, where comic artists are asked to reinterpret a song of their choice in comic form. It was around that time that I discovered Soap&Skin and her sound just made me want to draw something to it.
As a funny side note, the issue in which this comic appears, is fittingly numbered #666.
I’ve got several other music related project which I’m currently working on, so there’s more coming soon!
July 26th, 2010
As you probably know I recently got more and more involved in the wonderful world of chipmusic. Until now it was mainly something related to my musical activity (as a listener and producer), but recently this has started to involve also my activity as an illustrator and designer. Actually I have been longing more and more to close the gap between these two worlds, creating illustrations for musicians, and making music inspired by illustrations and comics… somehow things are starting to work out!
I’m proud to announce that the album Hexadecimator: Chipmusic in G Minor by PlainFlavored, for which I’ve designed the cover, has finally been released! You can grab it at Calmdownkidder.com or check out the first track of the album right here.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
More about the realease:
Adam Schackart may be PlainFlavored by name, but his music certainly isn’t! Hexadecimator includes five tracks of DMG music influenced by a dream that took place in the summer of 2009, as well as eight years of previously abandoned works. This creates a work that is both somehow fractured and complete at the same time, turning from underclocked churning to high powered energetic music instantaneously.
With cover art by Hannes Pasqualini (click album art for larger image) and vocal and acoustic guitar intro by Andrew Winzenburg.
July 16th, 2010
June 23rd, 2010
If you’re reading this in your office, envy me! Because I’m in the most beautiful place in Italy, in Sardinia! If you’re on vacation yourself, shame on you, what are you doing in front of the computer!
Anyway… I’ll be back in a couple of weeks!
And now… let’s jump back into the water…
June 18th, 2010
Sorry, this entry is only available in Italiano.
