|
|
Post by Nonfatman on May 29, 2010 8:58:39 GMT -5
What would a 'Tull Art & Photos' department be without a thread devoted to all of the outstanding artists who, over the years, have drawn or painted the covers to the Jethro Tull catalogue? Unfortunately, it's a dying art, but let's now take a look at those artists and see what they did after their contribution to the world of Tull. First up is Burton Silverman, the portrait artist who painted Tull's most famous cover, Aqualung. He is 82 years old, his career has spanned over 60 years, and is still going strong today. In fact he lives right here in my neighborhood! In 1971, when he did the Aqualung album, he was already well-established, and he has remained a sought-after artist ever since. He is regularly commisioned as a portrait artist, since his primary interest is in rendering the human face. In his own words: " Very early on in my life, I fell in love with the landscape of the human face, where all the emotional states of life are to be found, and the love affair has not faltered." Mr. Silverman has a fascinating biography. You can learn more about him, and see some galleries of his work, by visiting his extensive website at: www.burtonsilverman.com/index2.htmNext up: James GrashowJeff |
|
|
|
Post by Nonfatman on Jun 2, 2010 23:39:22 GMT -5
Next up here on Tull Album Cover Artists is artist who did the woodcut art for the Stand Up album, James Grashow. He is a Brooklyn-born artist who started his rise to fame in the mid-60's, just a few years before the release of Stand Up. He currently lives in Connecticut. His website includes a literally up-to-the-minute entry dated June 3, 2010, indicating that he is currently working on a 14 foot corrugated fountain, which you can actually watch a video preview of! Some biographical material from his website: " James Grashow was born in Brooklyn in 1942 and has been creating works that address themes of man, nature and mortality since the 1960's.
The scale of his work ranges from large environmental installations, through which the viewer traverses, to the delicate and contained world of his houseplants, where homes and buildings replace flowers and buds in intricately constructed bouquets.
James Grashow is also a well-known woodcut artist. His prints have appeared regularly in the New York Times and in virtually every well known periodical and publication through out the country." Here is a photo of Mr. Grashow from his website, showing him working on a project:  For more information, and to view galleries of his work, including the Stand Up cover, please visit his website at: www.jamesgrashow.com/index.cfmwww.jamesgrashow.com/calendar.cfmJeff Next up: David Gibbons |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2010 10:17:21 GMT -5
Great Post Jeff, the covers and art work were always big part of whole Tull album purchasing thing for me. I loved the covers
|
|
|
|
Post by Nonfatman on Jul 24, 2010 15:48:17 GMT -5
The design and comic illustrations on Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die, are credited to David Gibbons and Michael Farrell. Gibbons is a legendary comic artist who draws The Watchmen comic strip, Batman, Green Lantern, Dr. Who and others. He is still quite active, and has his own fansite. In an interview last year for The Comics Journal, Gibbons recalls his first comic-book strip: "I can vividly remember the first professional comic-book strip that I ever had to draw. At that time I was quite happy to draw alien space fleets or Kirbyesque monsters or superheroes — I had to draw a police inspector climbing out of a London taxi outside New Scotland Yard."A blog called "Peach Corps" recently did a feature on the ten supposed "worst album covers by comic artists" and rated TOTRNR as the seventh worst. Needless to say, I strenuously disagree with that assessment, which you can read here: www.peachcorps.com/articles.php?articleID=98&action=viewarticleI have been trying to find information on Michael Farrell, the artist who designed and helped illustrate the cover and inside sleeve with Gibbons. However, there are several artists by that name, including an Irish artist who passed away in 2000. Does anyone know anything about the artist Michael Farrell who is credited on the album? www.tcj.com/tcj-300/tcj-300-conversations-dave-gibbons-frank-quitelydavegibbonsfansite.com/cms/front_content.phpen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_GibbonsJeff |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2010 7:41:08 GMT -5
Jeff, Great thread, the Tull cover artists clearly had a big impact on the whole package of a new Tull release. Not only was the music eagerly awaited so was the whole cover and and packaging. In the main, Tull never disappointed. I didn't personally like the later 'graphic art' images which adorned ALLM and RtB, but they still had a individual styling that linked them to Tull. Good also that you've picked up on the other artists that diddn't make the Tull cover's hall of fame but equally deserve a mention, creating, adapting and interpreting Tull related artwork, people like our own Kim DeMulder and the UK pen and ink artist, Richard Kennedy, who did the fantastic "lifebelt" and "anniversary cake" pictures. In the meantime here's a couple of links to some nice images via CollectingTull.com  Michael Bennett www.collecting-tull.com/Pictures/paintings_aroundworld2.htmlMaryAnn S. Kitchell www.collecting-tull.com/Pictures/paintings_aroundworld.htmmore to come. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2010 8:06:18 GMT -5
The design and comic illustrations on Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die, are credited to David Gibbons and Michael Farrell. Gibbons is a legendary comic artist who draws The Watchmen comic strip, Batman, Green Lantern, Dr. Who and others. He is still quite active, and has his own fansite. In an interview last year for The Comics Journal, Gibbons recalls his first comic-book strip: "I can vividly remember the first professional comic-book strip that I ever had to draw. At that time I was quite happy to draw alien space fleets or Kirbyesque monsters or superheroes — I had to draw a police inspector climbing out of a London taxi outside New Scotland Yard."A blog called "Peach Corps" recently did a feature on the ten supposed "worst album covers by comic artists" and rated TOTRNR as the seventh worst. Needless to say, I strenuously disagree with that assessment, which you can read here: www.peachcorps.com/articles.php?articleID=98&action=viewarticleI have been trying to find information on Michael Farrell, the artist who designed and helped illustrate the cover and inside sleeve with Gibbons. However, there are several artists by that name, including an Irish artist who passed away in 2000. Does anyone know anything about the artist Michael Farrell who is credited on the album? www.tcj.com/tcj-300/tcj-300-conversations-dave-gibbons-frank-quitelydavegibbonsfansite.com/cms/front_content.phpen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_GibbonsJeff Blue might be interested to know that Dave was also the original artist on the Dr Who comic series and, like her, had a preference for Tom Baker..... www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2004/12/08/15937.shtml |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Aug 3, 2010 9:15:02 GMT -5
The design and comic illustrations on Too Old To Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die, are credited to David Gibbons and Michael Farrell. Gibbons is a legendary comic artist who draws The Watchmen comic strip, Batman, Green Lantern, Dr. Who and others. He is still quite active, and has his own fansite. In an interview last year for The Comics Journal, Gibbons recalls his first comic-book strip: "I can vividly remember the first professional comic-book strip that I ever had to draw. At that time I was quite happy to draw alien space fleets or Kirbyesque monsters or superheroes — I had to draw a police inspector climbing out of a London taxi outside New Scotland Yard."A blog called "Peach Corps" recently did a feature on the ten supposed "worst album covers by comic artists" and rated TOTRNR as the seventh worst. Needless to say, I strenuously disagree with that assessment, which you can read here: www.peachcorps.com/articles.php?articleID=98&action=viewarticleI have been trying to find information on Michael Farrell, the artist who designed and helped illustrate the cover and inside sleeve with Gibbons. However, there are several artists by that name, including an Irish artist who passed away in 2000. Does anyone know anything about the artist Michael Farrell who is credited on the album? www.tcj.com/tcj-300/tcj-300-conversations-dave-gibbons-frank-quitelydavegibbonsfansite.com/cms/front_content.phpen.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_GibbonsJeff TOTRNR might have led Dave to dig deeper into the 'rocker' culture, he later went on to produce a self penned graphic novel loosely based around the Mods and Rockers culture called "The Originals". I've ordered a copy and any simililarities with a certain Mr Lomas will be reported!   |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2010 8:35:12 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Nonfatman on Jan 7, 2011 14:09:53 GMT -5
Continuing now with this Tull Album Cover Artists thread, Royal College of Art alumni John Pasche was the creative director of Chrysalis Records from 1981-1991, and was credited for the art direction of all Tull album covers during that period. In addition, and of particular interest to us here, is the fact that he designed the cover of the Steel Monkey single in 1987:  Pasche also designed the cover of the 1985 Best of Steeleye Span album (not the best reproduction here, as it's too dark, but an excellent cover nonetheless):  But, as many here probably know, Pasche is best known for his iconic "tongue and lips" logo for The Rolling Stones, which first made it's appearance on the Sticky Fingers album, which also featured the art of Andy Warhol, with the male jeans and the actual functioning zipper:  Here, from the Rock and Roll Report website, Pasche discusses the logo: " The design concept for the Tongue was to represent the band’s anti-authoritarian attitude, Mick’s mouth and the obvious sexual connotations. I designed it in such a way that it was easily reproduced and in a style which I thought could stand the test of time.......The simplicity of the design lent itself to many variations which were done by other designers and not myself. Due to it’s immediate popularity, the Stones kept with it over the years and I believe that it represents one of the strongest and most recognizable logos worldwide. And of course I’m proud of that. " See full cover story and interview here: rockandrollreport.com/cover-story-rolling-stones-tongue-lips-by-john-pasche/And for more information on John Pasche, and more examples of his work, you can go to his website, John Pasche Design, or Wikipedia page. www.johnpasche.com/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_PascheJeff |
|
Sparty
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 73
|
Post by Sparty on Feb 23, 2011 11:19:39 GMT -5
So who is credited for the front cover artwork on Minstrel? I've since placed my MITG album cover in a shadow frame posted in my neighbor's garage, so no access to it just at the moment. But the front cover artwork always appeared to me to be strongly influenced by the work of Bruegel The Elder, especially 'The Wedding Dance' (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wedding_Dance.JPG). In any event, I would be very interested to hear the story behind the MITG front cover artwork. Do tell... |
|
|
|
Post by tootull on Feb 23, 2011 12:34:31 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by Nonfatman on Feb 23, 2011 12:44:11 GMT -5
So who is credited for the front cover artwork on Minstrel? I've since placed my MITG album cover in a shadow frame posted in my neighbor's garage, so no access to it just at the moment. But the front cover artwork always appeared to me to be strongly influenced by the work of Bruegel The Elder, especially 'The Wedding Dance' (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Wedding_Dance.JPG). In any event, I would be very interested to hear the story behind the MITG front cover artwork. Do tell...  Hi, "Sparty," and welcome to The Jethro Tull Board and thanks for your interesting first post! I am really not sure of the answer to your question, but it is one that will be fun to research, and find out more about the artist and the cover art. This is a thread that needs a lot of development, because so far I think we've featured only four or five of the Tull cover artists, but there are many more, and Minstrel is one we haven't done yet. Let's go see what we can find out! I look forward to chatting with you here in the future. Jeff |
|
|
|
Post by Nonfatman on Feb 23, 2011 12:47:18 GMT -5
Oh, I didn't even see tootull's post before posting my response to Sparty, so let me thank John for providing the informative response and links identifying the artists. Very interesting stuff. We will have to find out a little more about these fellows!
Jeff
|
|
Sparty
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 73
|
Post by Sparty on Feb 23, 2011 14:44:14 GMT -5
Oh, I didn't even see tootull's post before posting my response to Sparty, so let me thank John for providing the informative response and links identifying the artists. Very interesting stuff. We will have to find out a little more about these fellows! Jeff Excellent. Thanks, everyone. I just knew I could turn to you in my time of cover-art-need... I may just have to buy that print to post in my office (not to mention begin celebrating Twelfth Day next holiday season). This adds a whole new depth of meaning for MITG... the minstrel has an epiphany, sees face in everyone... epiphany falls on Twelfth Day, everyone celebrrates... Twelfth day serves as cover art backdrop, we celebrate the MITG in all of us... |
|
|
|
Post by janu on Feb 24, 2011 13:00:39 GMT -5
|
|
Illoman
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 50
|
Post by Illoman on Mar 24, 2011 20:27:40 GMT -5
Greetings, fellow Tullies!! I just joined this board, and lo and behold I see my painting of Ian from 1980!!! A very nice surprise indeed! I wanted to post a mural my folks graciously allowed me to paint on my bedroom wall circa 1978-9. It was painted using acrylics. When my folks sold the house in the mid 80's my dad told me it took many coats of paint to cover Aqualung up! I still drive by that house ever now and then, and laugh when i think of him sleeping on that wall under all that paint! Looking forward to some good conversation here. Mike  |
|
|
|
Post by TM on Mar 24, 2011 21:09:44 GMT -5
Greetings, fellow Tullies!! I just joined this board, and lo and behold I see my painting of Ian from 1980!!! A very nice surprise indeed! I wanted to post a mural my folks graciously allowed me to paint on my bedroom wall circa 1978-9. It was painted using acrylics. When my folks sold the house in the mid 80's my dad told me it took many coats of paint to cover Aqualung up! I still drive by that house ever now and then, and laugh when i think of him sleeping on that wall under all that paint! Looking forward to some good conversation here. Mike I would have paid extra to have a house with that painted on the wall! Welcome Mike! |
|
|
|
Post by Nonfatman on Mar 24, 2011 21:23:31 GMT -5
Greetings, fellow Tullies!! I just joined this board, and lo and behold I see my painting of Ian from 1980!!! A very nice surprise indeed! I wanted to post a mural my folks graciously allowed me to paint on my bedroom wall circa 1978-9. It was painted using acrylics. When my folks sold the house in the mid 80's my dad told me it took many coats of paint to cover Aqualung up! I still drive by that house ever now and then, and laugh when i think of him sleeping on that wall under all that paint! Looking forward to some good conversation here. Mike  Welcome, Mike, thanks for joining and you've come to the right place for Tull-inspired artists, as we have many creative people on the board who have shared their music and artwork with us. In fact, one of the reasons this board was started was to give free rein to fans who want to express themselves through their stories, ideas, opinions, artwork, etc. I've checked out your Peel the Paint blog and artwork, very cool stuff you've got there, so please feel free to post your link so others here can have a look! Make yourself at home while you check out the varied content here on the board, and I'm sure we'll be chatting again soon!  Jeff |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2011 7:47:33 GMT -5
Greetings, fellow Tullies!! I just joined this board, and lo and behold I see my painting of Ian from 1980!!! A very nice surprise indeed! I wanted to post a mural my folks graciously allowed me to paint on my bedroom wall circa 1978-9. It was painted using acrylics. When my folks sold the house in the mid 80's my dad told me it took many coats of paint to cover Aqualung up! I still drive by that house ever now and then, and laugh when i think of him sleeping on that wall under all that paint! Looking forward to some good conversation here. Mike Mike Great mural and I presume you're the Michael Bennett who did the great image of Ian further up this thread, welcome aboard, I'm sure you'll enjoy it here. Please take the opportunity and feel free to share some of your other work with us. Pat |
|
Illoman
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 50
|
Post by Illoman on Mar 25, 2011 10:47:52 GMT -5
Thanks, I appreciate the warm welcome.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2011 1:01:51 GMT -5
Welcome to the community Mike! Glad to have you here--hope to see you around on the forums.
And my God! That painting is amazing! It rivals the original. Did you ever get any publicity for it from a local newspaper or anything? I suppose that could have raised the value of the house considerably if a die-hard Tull fan happened to be house shopping in the area.
The detail on the poster in the background is great! It must have been hard to replicate such an already vague part of the painting.
|
|
Illoman
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 50
|
Post by Illoman on Mar 28, 2011 16:32:43 GMT -5
Welcome to the community Mike! Glad to have you here--hope to see you around on the forums. And my God! That painting is amazing! It rivals the original. Did you ever get any publicity for it from a local newspaper or anything? I suppose that could have raised the value of the house considerably if a die-hard Tull fan happened to be house shopping in the area. The detail on the poster in the background is great! It must have been hard to replicate such an already vague part of the painting. Thanks, I appreciate it. I had such a blast doing that painting while Tull blared out of my stereo! I don't recall any of it really being more difficult than any other part. I was a big fan (still am!) of Burt Silverman, and duplicating his artwork was a complete rush for me. I have a couple of his art books, and he sent me a signature once. I never told the press about it or anything like that. Would you believe I don't have a color photograph of it finished? I have a small color Polaroid of it when it was about half way finished. Sigh.... |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2011 16:51:05 GMT -5
Mike
Is your avatar one of your pieces? If so it would be great to see a larger version.
What's your preferred medium for working, and do you do many of your artworks at such a large scale?
Pat
|
|
Illoman
One of the Youngest of the Family
Posts: 50
|
Post by Illoman on Mar 29, 2011 17:16:43 GMT -5
Mike Is your avatar one of your pieces? If so it would be great to see a larger version. What's your preferred medium for working, and do you do many of your artworks at such a large scale? Pat Pat, I wish it was!! Actually it's a watercolor drawing of Ian that Burt Silverman did. It was in one of his painting books. I generally paint in oils on canvas, usually around 16"x20". It's rare that I work that large. I appreciate your interest. More of my work can be found here: peelthepaint-mike.blogspot.com/Thanks! Mike |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 9:20:05 GMT -5
Mike Is your avatar one of your pieces? If so it would be great to see a larger version. What's your preferred medium for working, and do you do many of your artworks at such a large scale? Pat Pat, I wish it was!! Actually it's a watercolor drawing of Ian that Burt Silverman did. It was in one of his painting books. I generally paint in oils on canvas, usually around 16"x20". It's rare that I work that large. I appreciate your interest. More of my work can be found here: peelthepaint-mike.blogspot.com/Thanks! Mike Mike Fantastic work! Frankensein revisited is great, I loved bernie wrightson's Frankenstein portfolio in vlack and white and never enjoyed color interpretations of 'Frank] images I suppoe becaise of the old B&W films, but hat it pretty nice. I must try and track down that book, are there anyother IA/JT images in there? I've just taken up acrylics, never really worked in colour in any medium before, and finding it difficult and frustrating but strangely relaxing! I've bookmarked your page and will drop by regulalry, very nice work. Pat |
|
