WOW! El Mac has posted HQ images of his extraordinary Push And Shove album artwork on his blog,along with some studio photos and his thoughts on the project. We love how he praises the band for being so cool and down to earth,adding that he worked on the individual portraits for six weeks and that it was hard work but super exciting. The cover looks absolutely incredible-El Mac is such a brilliant artist!
It’s been a long time coming, but here’s the artwork I finished recently for the new No Doubt album cover….
I’m proud to say that the lead singer, Gwen (& her husband Gavin) are fans of my work and have been collecting my paintings for the last couple years…and Gwen contacted me last year about painting the next No Doubt album cover. This would be the first album they’ve put out in over ten years, huge opportunity. I remember having a crush on Gwen back when I first heard of No Doubt back in the mid-90’s…so she could’ve asked for just about anything and I would’ve said yes. When I first met with her I kind of felt like some humble servant being summoned to the royal palace…but honestly, Gwen and the rest of the band are really, really cool. Down to earth humans. They’re the real deal. After a few meetings with Gwen and then the whole band, we worked out a look for the cover, did a photoshoot for reference images (styling by Danilo), and I got to work. I pretty much locked myself in my studio for about six weeks working on these four separate acrylic wood panel portraits. It’s a challenge to get these lines to work both up close as abstract shapes that work harmoniously, and from a distance so that they form an accurate realistic image. Hard work but I love it.
This was a super exciting project, looking forward to seeing the album come out at the end of September..
Many thanks to Gwen, Gavin, Tony, Adrian, Tom, Danilo, Kim & Katherine Cone Gallery