Bear the Astronot – Back Home Album Cover Design

Back-Home-Album-Cover-Bear-the-Astronot

Bear Cole is a Web Designer, Graphic Designer, and Web Developer.  He lives in Flagstaff Arizona.  If you need a website, graphics, mobile application, or audio work please visit freetheline.com and contact us right now.

I’m Gonna Come Back Home to You

As some people are aware I am also a musician. I have been taking a short hiatus from recording, but am currently in the process of finishing up another full-length album which will be called “Back Home”. The album  will feature all performance, production, recording, and artwork by myself. Back Home is the title track and is a contemplative explanation of a want for the comforts of home. The song is meant to draw comparisons between people wanting to enter heaven, spirit worlds, and even be abducted by aliens. Back Home as a song tries to show how all of this is a wanting for peace and comfort. The album is different than previous Bear the Astronot albums in that it is slightly more minimalistic and controlled. I tried to capture all of this with the cover image.

The background is actually a black puffy brush, close to a spray brush, which I canvased on so that it depleted near the corners. I think this creates a neat effect, especially near the lower right where the spray looks almost like shrubbery. The entire piece was done in photoshop, and the cabin was created using a model image I had and tweaked from there. I created the light effect with a filter and wanted the rest of the piece to be just barely visible to add to the appearance of a dark night. The tips of the trees just barely set apart from the background, and the fence falls back behind the cabin. All in all I am very happy with this cover, and feel that the black and white colors with thick san-serif type are very fitting for the style of music on the album.

The original concept was going to be me being pulled up by a beam of light into a space craft. The craft of course would be transporting me back home. However, this didn’t capture the whole meaning of what I was going for with the idea for Back Home. I decided to keep it more up to the viewer to interpret. The cabin and towering pine trees are meant to symbolize my growing up in Grand Canyon National Park. A separated home among the trees invokes my wanting to escape back to the simplicity of that life from time to time. The bursting of bright light from behind the house can be interpreted as the viewer pleases. The light could be a tunnel to heaven, an opening to the spirit world, a cosmic event, enlightenment, approaching vehicles, or a space craft. All people have an idea of what home is to the them, and a belief in how they will be taken to their ultimate home afterlife. The symbolism of that moment will hopefully bring out contemplation from anyone viewing and listening.

All artwork and logos are copyright protected and are the property of Bear Cole and Free the Line LLC.  Unapproved usage of any of this artwork will result in legal action.  Plus, trust me, you don’t want to mess with a guy named Bear.