Because I’ve been extremely pluggy¹ these past few weeks months, I thought I’d be educational for once and post a new “What’s the Story Morning Glory” entry. Since there hasn’t been time to leaf through my archives of sleeping projects², it was best to go the easy route and reprise my presentation at this year’s MBD – the one that started this whole “What’s the Story” thingy to begin with.

Presenting, ta-dah, the UltraelectromagneticJam album design and the story behind it.

SonyBMG called up to say that they want us to design for a yet-untitled all-star Eraserheads tribute album. All we knew was that different bands were gonna perform the music of the Heads. Because it didn’t have a title yet, I thought of the following visuals:

1. Legs of a couple of guitar-playing rocker chicks with the cord forming the name of the band. The idea I was trying to convey is that the album is all about other people playing Eraserheads music.
2. A “pop machine”, which also happens to be the title of one of the Heads’ hits. It’s supposed to be a vending machine that churns out, well, their hit songs but I wasn’t able to figure out how to visualize it, which explains why the visual is empty.³
I know I know, they were somewhat flimsy. Thankfully I didn’t have to submit them because Sony calls just in time to say that they already have a title for the album, “UltraelectromagneticJam” – derived from the title of the Heads’ very first album “UltraelectromagneticPop“.
And then in a Eureka! Moment I saw in my head what “look” this album is meant to have: a 70’s hippie, all-night party-in-Sunken-Garden feel.

3. I developed a quick, rough study. They liked it so…
4. I made a cleaner version, hoping it would be the final study already because, dear oh dear, hand-lettering all the bands and artists names ain’t no picnic.
Sony then informed us that we can’t use photos. Ack! Relayout!⁴ I then had to seek the help of my dear husband for an illustration that will go with the look.

And in the end, I’m quite happy with how it came out. 😀⁵

Related entry: The story behind the Blow-up Babies website.

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In case you haven’t noticed, the titles/subjects of my last six blog entries are from various songs I happened to be playing in my head at the time I posted them. Anyone who can give me the titles (and artists too, if you like) of the songs they were derived from wins a…er… plug on this blog. 😀

1. Yes, proof that you can take the girl out of advertising but you can’t take the advertising out of the girl![ back]
2. read: projects that have already been put to bed. Ahehe.[ back]
3. Another idea was to have a landscape of guitar picks signed with the names of the participating bands and artists but it was hard to execute as I didn’t have the lineup of artists yet so I eventually junked it.[ back]
4. You think I would have learned my lesson but no, I still insisted on having everything hand-written even if it had to go through numerous revisions because the lineup only got finalized a week or so before its release. Imagine having to rewrite the names of the bands and songs in every possible order until we the sequence got finalized.[ back]
5. And even if Budz, Raimund, Marc and Ely think that it’s not yet time for a tribute album, Arn and I were able to thank them for their music in our own way.[ back]

A couple of years ago, I made a mom-and-baby cat illustration for a book that never happened for some reason or other. I found it again while spring-cleaning my hard drive and thought, why not put it to good use?

So if you love cats, red tabbies in particular, and [a] you live in the US where Cafepress is based¹ or [b] you have tons of disposable cash anyway and want to contribute to a good cause², it would mean so much if you can support my latest entrepreneurial endeavor. 😀

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Our favorite fashion designer Tippi‘s Pret-a-Party and Lounge Lizard lines are now also available at Backstage, located at the 2/F, San Lorenzo Arcade, Pasay Road, Makati (behind New World Hotel), hope you can take a look sometime! Stay up to date with her collections and shows by visiting their respective sites as well as her journal.

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I’m quite pleased with the choice of judges for Philippine Idol. In the beginning I was afraid it was gonna be one of those Regine, Ogie -or worse, Kris-hosted affairs but the moment they announced that Mr. C was gonna be part of it, I was completely won over.³. If, like me, you’re curious about how the auditions are going, FrancisM just so happens to be chronicling the judging process in his journal.

1. ergo shipping won’t cost too much[ back]
2. our cat Abby‘s food and play fund[ back]
3. There’s just no one else who’s as credible. Pilita’s okay, I grew up seeing her all over TV and she’s definitely an icon. As for FrancisM, well I’ve been a fan since “Yo” came out hehe. [ back]

Here’s the next six in the 2-in-1 series we designed for Sony BMG. As in the first four, my Arn‘s art graces the covers. 😉

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Nothing but small talk for now, friends. We’re wrapping up work on the next issue of Wedding Essentials and if there are brides-to-be out there reading this, please watch out for it because it’s even thicker than the last one¹. Of course that translates to more helpful features, tips, resources, and other “bride ideas”.
… Wait, there’s more! Because there are just so many weddings that are too beautiful and inspiring to keep to ourselves, we’re coming out with a special, separate issue focusing on exactly that: WE Beautiful Weddings.

And yes, there are a few familiar (co-blogger!) faces in it. Please stay tuned for details. 🙂

1. the “thickest issue ever”. Or so we thought haha[ back]