I was commissioned by Sony Music/columbia records, New York to design an album cover for John Mayer, the American pop and blues rock musician. The album is called Born and Raised. John as you know, is a singer-songwriter, recording artist and music producer.
Working with John on the brief of the artwork, he asked me to include coins, watches, flowers, and ribbons. I had a great start because of his direction and experience in graphic design and knew this would go smoothly. He also has a great eye for detail and design.
The artwork took roughly one month to complete, drawings were made separately in this time, but most of the artwork from Vectoring and finishing in Photoshop took just short of 28 days. This has without a doubt been one of the most enjoyable projects I have been involved with due to the person I was working for.
The album is out now on iTunes and has also been made as a traditional LP with full cover jacket and internal artwork. The work was commissioned by Sony Music and Columbia Records, New York at the beginning of 2012.
It appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show on the 14th May 2012 in Chicago and David Letterman Show on the 17th May in New York 2012. and many more international shows. The images below show step by step artwork of the cover along with other ideas presented to John back in December 2011
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- Born and Raised. on ITunes
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- Born and Raised posters Reed store ,New York
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- Born and Raised posters Reed store ,New York
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- Born and Raised store
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- Born and Raised store
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- Born and Raised store
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- Born and Raised store
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- Born and Raised store
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- Window display Born and Raised
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- Born and Raised store
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- Trade card designed for John Mayer merchandise
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- john signing at Reed store
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- John Mayer.at the opening of the Born and Raised store New York
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- posters in reed store New York
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- posters in reed store New York
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- Trade card artwork
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- John Mayer
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- back cover artwork
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- finished work in LP format
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- New York- Manhatton. large posters in shops promoting Born and Raised
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- Born-and-Raised-Sketch
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- Queen-of-California artwork
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- John’s l idea that he sketched in his hotel room
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- Duane sketch
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- Fans of John Mayer with my artwork
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- ellen degeneres show 2012. John Mayer Interview with my artwork in the background
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- Artwork made it into the main NewsPapers of New Zealand.
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- clock detail.
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- British Airways on board music
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- Band members on the coins
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- Born and Raised Song titles in the Mayer Font
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- Born and Raised Song titles in the Mayer Font
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- Iphone case JCM&Co go to www.johnmayer.com to purchase this item
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- Embossed Moleskine Notebooks
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- custom notebook design for Born and Raised
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- hand crafted design
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- Embossed Moleskine design
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- Born and Raised thumbnail sketch
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- Thumbnail Original design.
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- Born and Raised detail
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- Born and Raised idea 4
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- second idea for Born and Raised
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- John Mayer sketch Original artwork
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- black and white drawing
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- coins and medal detail
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- Hand drawn artwork
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- Hand drawn details
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- Born and Raised album original drawing
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- Artwork detail
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- Black and White version. Born and Raised.
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- Colour version of the original design
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- Album Cover Born and Raised, muted colours
Tags: Album Cover, album covers, artwork, band, Born and Raised, columbia records, crossroads, design, Embossed, famous, flowers, graphic, graphic design, guitarist, heritage, John Mayer, lyrics, Moleskine, Music, Queen of California, rock star, Something called olivia, sony music, steampunk, trade card. ephemera, victorian
You’re definitely a great source of inspiration, David. I really enjoy the small details that go into your works. You see something new each time you look. Your step by step photos are also a great way to see your meticulous process.
Thank You,
Mx
Thank you Mx
Wow,
What an AWE-inspiring piece of exquisite art! Like Mx, I, too, enjoyed every single detail in its entirety on every single picture that was shared. What an honor and blessing to have the opportunity to share work with other geniuses like yourself, John and Chad.
A beautiful talented you have, Mr. Smith.
<3 Heather
Hey David, I absolutely am in love with your work here, and I’m so happy that John Mayer has introduced me to you. I remember the first time I saw the artwork on his blog about 3 or so months ago, and I was just in shock. The detail in every square millimetre just astounds me! Thank for giving Mr. Mayer this beautiful creation and blessing us all with an unforgettable album cover. You should be extremely, extremely proud!
-Jake
gotta say, the album artwork is fantastic, the album itself is a great listen, brill songs but you’ve done it justice with this cover…just great work.
Very good of you Lee thanks!
Thanks Heather. amazing comment, very kind of you…
It was fun working with John ,thanks Jake for the email..
You’re so talented! I’m just amazed by this work!
Love it David! I know how long and hard you worked on this and it is absolutely breathtaking.
Thankyou very much Sandra ,it was fun working on this album cover. John Mayer was great to work with. Dave did an amazing job on your work, glad it worked out great for you, he’s so talented and taught me alot over the years..
I take it the clock and the time it shows is not random, why was that exact time chosen?
I can’t remember when was the last time I actually took time to carefully see and pay attention to graphic artwork to the degree I did viewing this 30 pictures.
This is just fantastic. Thank you.
Stunned by the artwork. As a designer & long-time Mayer fan, I’m delighted that John continues his tradition of involvement (sometimes designing himself) in the design of his album covers–this time, commissioning a pro. Truly amazing results.
Your work and lettering is amazing!!! Could you do some tutorials for people that are starting in this craft? Would really appreciate.
cheers!
Gus.
How do you transfer your drawings to vector?
Do you have to do a lot of tweaking at the vector level.
Do you do the color version on the computer? Do you colorize in PS or Illustrator?
It would be great if you could show samples of your transfer techniques to go from lead to vector.
Thanks for showing the steps and detail. Especially the close ups. You truly are a Rock Star with a pencil and glass. Thank you for sharing your gift. Album will be in my mail box on 5.23.12 along with a poster of your cover art.
Hi Brian. At this time I am so busy I have not had chance to post, I will put a step-by-step up at some point but in the mean time thankyou for your kind words. Nice to hear you are buying a poster of my work. Thanks!
Thanks. will do at some point.
Thanks Alex.
Thanks Marco. thanks for taking the time to view the work here.
I’m in awe! Beautiful work that fits the music of the new album perfectly! Wow!
Great work, David! I already bought the wall poster because I love the album cover so much
But I was just wondering…have you listened to some songs of the record before you started working? Because it fits so perfect to the music and even if he asked for flowers, ribbons, etc. I think the big picture must have been built in your head.
David, this is stunning workmanship, and you must have the patience of a saint! As an artist who does 90% of her work plein air in a single sitting while out sitting on some boulder in the wilderness, I can truly appreciate all the effort and fine craftsmanship that goes into a multi-stage, detailed and finely crafted piece such as this. Many thanks for images of the various stages. They are all a pleasure to look at. Love your font designs too.
Men, your work is amazing, really, I still can´t figure if you do it all hand made or you also use photosop.
Congrats
srge.
PD: have you considered a manicure?
Great job, how was it working with john and do you have plans to work with him agian in the future?
Nice of you Jamie. Thanks.
Hand made to start with then designed by vector and then Photoshop. no effects all hand worked Lithographic dots are all hand done also.
Alot of people saying it fits the music well Thomas, appreciate that.
Hi Andre. I never listened to any of the music, John gave me a brief on most of the artwork, I designed it around a look of an old trade card from the turn of the century. The coins and clock etc were Johns ideas. I designed the cover with his brief. I put the monogramme idea in the top part for B&R which has a nice clean look. were pleased how it all flows nicely Thanks very much Andre.
You know it was a great experience working direct with the artist. He was very easy to work with and a real nice down to earth person. Yes I have already been working with John on other projects and plan to do more with him in the future. Very intelligent young man, certainly has his head screwed on the right way. he would make a killer designer!
I am awe struck. This has to be the most incredibly detailed pieces of artwork I have ever seen, let alone my favourite! Well done Sir, it is no wonder that John Mayer chose you for this task! True art.
What does the time on the clock symbolize?
Cheers Warwick. your too kind.
So impressed by the album cover for Born and Raised. I’m actually going to buy it in LP form just because of the artwork. It brings back memories of album covers from 30 years ago. Great job on this cover.
David,
I am absolutely blown away by this. I’m so glad I came across this documentation of your design process with this project. Looks like it’s way more in depth than you could ever express to all of us. I’m sure Mr. Mayer had a vision with this album artwork, and I’m confident you didn’t let one of his desires go by the wayside. Incredibly appropriate style for the album. I hope I see a lot more of your work.
Bought the album for the artwork, the disc inside is just a bonus!
Hi David — like some others have commented, I discovered your amazing talent through John Mayer. I am absolutely in love with the B&R album cover art & purchased the wall poster version to frame & hang in my home. The QofC single cover art is phenomenal as well. Thanks, & I look forward to learning more about your previous work! ~Sue
When I first opened my copy of ‘Born and Raised’ to pore over every word, I actually shouted out loud about the fact that a genius artist from Devon, my home county, designed the artwork for my absolute favourite musician in the whole world. What a collaboration!
Congratulations on an amazing piece of work, David and I look forward to seeing much more in connection with this album. I love the fact that John Mayer had to look all the way over to the English Riviera to find what he was looking for.
One request, do you think you could ask him to pop down to Devon and perform once he is back in action, please? I think it’s the least he could do after all your hard work…
Best, Kate
Hi Kate. Great to hear you are from my neck-of-the woods here in Devon, are you from Torquay? Thanks very much for your kind words. If ever your down this way I don’t mind showing you some of the originals that were used to create the front and back covers. I’ll ask him tonight!
Thanks Dave
Awesome work David..your sure to win the Grammy for Best Album !!!
great songs, great album, great artwork, fantastic! greetings from indonesia, please say hello to john, there’s a ton of fans want to see him play in here
Thanks Russ. Not sure if it’s good enough for that but would’nt it be great if it did. appreciate my friend. hope your busy and making some incredible looking pub signs .
I am in total awe! I dont think words can describe just how incredible this and all your artwork is! You are truely gifted! Your work is by far the most beautiful and inspirational I have ever seen! I am speechless!
I had always wanted to know who the artist was for the letterhead font site (my favorite)
[...] DC: I have a number of projects on the pipeline, but the most recent one might be a making of film for Dave A Smith, who designed and created John Mayer’s new album cover ‘Born and Raised’. [...]
Thanks Raychel. Pleased you like the site and the work.
Dave
Thanks Geoffrey. John was very pleased with the outcome of the artwork. Thankyou for these lovely comments , it’s appreciated very much.
You’re a genious
[...] Whether or not you’re a fan of John Mayer’s music, the album art for his newest record (Born & Raised) is definitely worth noticing – especially after you see the detailed sketches in progress. [...]
The attention to detail is beyond amazing, you’re extremely talented David, and I’m thankful John chose you, as many have said, it fits perfectly with the album (I’m sure you’ve noticed as well) … Love the cover, but this post made me love it even more !
Thanks for sharing !
Mr. Smith-
Just got the LP, and count me among the JM fans simply blown away by your work! The cover art transports you to a different time and sets the mood for the music in the perfect way. As a designer, I am equally floored by the custom typeface and cohesive branding continued throughout the website and merchandise. Brilliant.
Add me to the list dying to see your workflow from sketch to final digital product.
Cheers,
Brandon Tussy
Great work reminds me of the old marshal tucker band album covers.