Bob Dylan cover project, the 70s
For my project, reenvisioning all of Bob Dylan’s album covers, I listened to each album before I started drawing. I approached this project as if it was an assignment to create an album cover for music I hadn’t heard before. For Bob’s 1960s output it was interesting to listen to albums I’d heard dozens, if not hundreds, of times before with fresh ears. His 1970s output was a slightly different experience. Sure, there are a few albums I know intimately: Blood on the Tracks and Desire. But there are also albums I had forgotten or, in the case of Slow Train Coming, hadn’t ever heard all the way through.
With these albums I began veering dramatically from the official album cover. For Dylan, an album widely assumed to be a retaliation from Bob’s ex-record company after Bob left, I used the original photo from the album cover but created an entirely new composition and color palette. Self Portrait and Planet Waves, two albums Bob painted covers for originally, I created entirely new illustrations. For the soundtrack to Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, I took inspiration from the movie poster but changed the gun to a guitar. The Basement Tapes turned out to be one of my favorite illustrations in this project.
