kristy cameron

Debut of my Pony Song!

2011-12-13T22:44:00.000-08:00

Preview my upcoming debut album with 2 free songs!
Download them here:

*Just hover over the songs and it will give you the option to download, share or buy. Click "download" for your free songs. Enjoy!

Pony Illustration by Diane Toepfer at ferdinandhomestore.com
Produced by Johnny Sangster at cracklepopstudio.com

star anna CD design

2011-09-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: star anna and the laughing dogs / local 638 records
PROJECT: alone in this together CD package design
The images of Star are all self-portraits. I was totally diggin' the polaroid vibe and carried that throughout the package, so it opens from the bottom and the images fall down like a wallet photo-album. The disk is printed with a matte black ink, the roses are shiny and the background is flat, which makes for a pretty cool printing technique. I found that amazing photo of the wolf by photographer Nathan Kostegian. Wolves are so rad! So is Star, the band and Rachel at Local 638 Records. This was such a fun one to get to work on. Best of luck to the band on their tour and launching the new album.
Check out Star Anna here: http://staranna.com

star anna t-shirt

2011-09-05T12:34:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: star anna / local 638 records
PROJECT: t-shirt concept
I designed their CD packaging to look like a polaroid photo album, so I thought a camera illustration would be a great concept in support of the album release and their upcoming tour.

sticker design

2011-09-05T11:52:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: spoonshine
PROJECT: sticker concepts and final design

Will Cook, the kick-ass bassist and vocalist from the band Spoonshine, asked me to work on a new sticker design for their upcoming shows. The typography is inspired by some vintage sheet music I came across. We went through a couple rounds of concepts, but the arrow just seemed the right image for the band.
You can check out their music here: http://www.spoonshine.com/

visqueen

2011-03-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: local 638 records
PROJECT: CD packaging, e-promo, web-site and t-shirt design
supporting launch of Visqueen's new album Message to Garcia.
Cheetah illustration by Ryan Berkley, Berkley Illustration, Portland.

Visqueen LP

2011-03-22T21:21:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: local 638 records
PROJECT: album design for Visqueen's Message to Garcia
Cheetah illustration by Ryan Berkley, Berkley Illustration, Portland

Local 638 Records

2011-03-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: local 638 records

PROJECT: logos, brand identity, web design and t-shirt concepts.

Rachel Flotard and I met in that "six degrees of separation" kind of way and have been mad creative cohorts ever since! We've spent many late nights at local coffee shops, huddled around our glowing laptop screens, shooting ideas back and forth and laughing. a lot. I was honored to get to develop the identity for her record label.

Rachel lost her dad in 2008. I never got to meet him, but I feel like I got to know him through her memories and let me tell you, that man was a character. He was also a New York City Steamfitter in Local 638.

"Welcome to Local 638 Records. The place where I woik. Where I ride the bus at daybreak, for better or for worse. This place is where my two home states meet, bridging that ever-pesky strip of land between Jersey and Washington. The music I help create with amazing people is showcased here. Something that drives me, and that I am compelled to do because I can. This is our Union. I look forward to many years of making people laugh, and singing along with the Jukebox."
Love,

Rachel Flotard
Steamfitter’s Daughter.
Owner, Local 638 Records LLC.

ever been in an abandoned missile silo?

2011-03-20T23:57:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: Visqueen
PROJECT: Band photography and t-shirt design
for a show at an abandoned missile silo.

ToorCamp: which is basically the hacker's version of burning man, was held at a missile silo in eastern Washington. Rachel Flotard, the fire-cracker lead lady of Visqueen and Local 638 Records, asked me if I would design a shirt for the show and come take some pics of the band before they played - on the missile launch doors!!!
The camp-site above the silo had a Mad Max vibe goin' with train containers, plenty of dust and themed tent cities. The silo was unreal, I still dream about it sometimes. As we descended into the dark it got colder and colder, which was strange coming from the hot air above. The main tunnel seemed to go on forever and staring into that blackness is like looking into another world. I started to imagine movement in the shadows down that tunnel and was thinking that this is the perfect set-up for a horror flick. Just when I had myself properly freaked out, I remembered to hum Josh Ritter's "The Temptation of Adam" (it's a brilliant song set in a missile silo) and it kept me sane enough to snap some shots with my trusty ole' 35mm Canon A-E1. The local high school kids have made their mark over the years with some killer tagging. Random stuff: Visqueen blasting "Lamar's rap" from Revenge of the Nerds before the show started, my brother came along as the photo assistant and got to live out his "ambassador of the geeks" fantasy, Rachel's dead-on impression of Will Ferrell - dart in the neck, a hackers-in-hard hats conga line that was the. best. thing. ever, laying on warm concrete beneath stars you could almost touch and an experience I will never forget.
I can't thank Rachel and the band enough for letting me tag along on their adventure!

Rockabilly CD & Tattoo

2011-03-19T10:15:00.000-07:00

CLIENT: starbucks
PROJECT: design for the Let's Go! compilation.

The best part about working on a project like this is the photo research. Wanda Jackson, Eddie Cochran and the Ray Campi photos were amazing - it was so hard to narrow it down - i always feel like i'm leaving orphans behind in the photo archives. Cars (and hair) are such a huge part of the rockabilly culture, I didn't think this package could be complete with out a roadster thrown in there. The tattoo came inside the CD as a little bonus - my pal Jason posed for the tattoo shot - thanks Jason!

Heading West CD

2011-03-12T21:32:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: starbucks
PROJECT: photography & design for the Heading West compilation.

I had an amazing opportunity to capture the desert i grew up in for this project. We lived about 40 min. out of "town" and music was such a part of that drive, loosing yourself in the wide open sky, the turn of a song and the yellow lines. This CD was such a perfect one for me, every time I see it I get nostalgic for the purple & red mountains and glowing sunsets of my childhood. The layout and cropping of the images was inspired by film, the booklet was cut longer than usual to resemble the ratio of a movie screen. More pictures from the shoot to come soon!

AWARD!

2011-03-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

WHAT: Consumer Outstanding Award
HOW magazine In-Howse Design Awards

Looks like the nice folks over at HOW magazine picked some work again for their "In-Howse Design Awards" yay!

"Handmade nostalgia took center stage in the 2009 Starbucks holiday promotion...Although the theme was universally loved by the creative team, it left one Starbucks designer with perma-indents on her fingers from hand-cutting all the original artwork with an X-ACTO knife for weeks on end. As the song goes, "Tis the season." –excerpt from HOW magazine

It takes a village of talented Creatives to pull off such a huge promotion. I'd like to thank the whole starbucks creative team for their inspiration, vision and mad design skills in bringing this thing to life and for giving me a chance to try on my illustration hat on this one. fa la la la la la la la la!

Illustration for Starbucks Holiday Promotion

2011-03-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: Starbucks
PROJECT: Illustration for Holiday Promotion 09.

I hand-cut the illustrations out of paper with an x-acto knife (including a font we named "kristymas samurai")! I've always loved christmas and it was a joy to think of the rich, iconic elements from years past that make the holidays such a wonderful time of year. I heart christmas carols, so I listened to my favorite songs for inspiration while cutting away (like in July :)
The whole team of Starbucks Creatives involved in designing the many pieces of the campaign, from coffee bags to cups and merchandise, did an amazing job bringing my illustrations to life!

Cameron Family Reunion

2011-03-06T17:32:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post this for a long time; it's a little break from my usual music graphics, but it was such a fun project I just had to share.

My family has always been a bit over the top when it comes to themed parties. I blame/revere my mother (a wedding coordinator and florist) who has the uncanny ability to turn any event into the equivalent of the circus coming to town! She came to me with the idea of a turn-of-the-century theme for our reunion at our family cabin in Utah. I was inspired by vintage sheet music for the invitation and used an image of my grandmother as a young women on the invite (she passed away about a month after the reunion, it turned out to be very poignant). I made fans & mustaches on sticks to put in the picnic baskets, brought in vintage umbrellas (from Bella Umbrella in Seattle), we put up the tent my dad designed and hung lace from the sides, we spread blankets & quilts out with picnic baskets and vintage books of poetry and played croquet. My mother pulled together and made ALL the costumes. I never thought I would be a Mad Hatter - but it can get pretty obsessive - just one more feather, button or bow. We are a pretty musical family, so the men serenaded grandma, barbershop quartet style. My mother, true to form, found a horse and buggy to take the family on jaunts through the meadow; the driver and his boys stayed after for some homemade ice-cream and pie and I managed to snap my favorite picture, which I like to call cowboys and lace). So enjoy the madness that is my family!

AWARDS!

2011-03-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Looks like the folks at HOW magazine picked some Starbucks CD packaging for their "In-Howse Design awards" yay!

Sweetheart & Winter Wonderland are mine (see previous posts) and the amazing Daniel Petrezelka did the When Blues Met Rock CD design (which opens up like a match book) wicked cool. congrats Dan.

thank you HOW.

sweetheart 09

2009-01-29T22:15:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: starbucks
PROJECT: design & illustration for the Sweetheart compilation.

while illustrating this CD i found inspiration in taking old fashioned things (like canoeing with your darling) and illustrating them a modern way. I've also been obsessed with Japanese prints, they are so simple with a pop of color and I've always been in love with vintage sheet music (i HEART hand-crafted typography). The parasol also seemed like an old fashioned thing that could be very flirty if used the right way ;)
Musically, this is one of my favorite projects we have gotten to do over the years: the music is all about asking great artists (like she & him, deathcab for cutie, kate tucker and jessica lea mayfield) to cover their favorite love song - brilliant! i really wanted to tie that basic idea of taking something that's been done before and reinventing it. it's all about the little details; the disk comes in a record sleeve - i found these great, vintage LP sleeves and i've been dying to design one - this CD seemed like the perfect fit. The book cover is designed to look like a lost receipt from the canoe rental, the records in the illustration are the some of the musicians that are covered on this album. i really love the music and the concept and wanted to make sure it was played out throughout the packaging. i also want to give a shout out to the music and creative teams at starbucks - everyone really believed in this project - and i wouldn't get to do such creative work without their support.

check out a review and the full track listing on Three Imaginary Girls:
http://www.threeimaginarygirls.com/blogentry/2009jan/starbucksreleasesvalentinesdaycompdetails

cheers!
kc

golden age of song (radio) cd

2009-01-29T21:52:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: starbucks entertainment.
PROJECT: CD design for a vintage radio compilation.

As i was researching for this project i came across some gorgeous vintage radios (i wish they still looked like that) and was amazed at how each one was little work of art. at that point i sketched out how a CD could be formed to resemble a radio - the cover has die-cuts to revel the book and CD. The booklet was cut a third of the size (toaster shaped) and printed to look like speaker fabric. The disk was designed to look like the stations - no matter which way it turned in the packaging...i think i gave the print production and packaging engineers a head-ache on this one ;)
It was amazing to see a little sketch come to life with the help of my team. everyone was in love with this packaging idea and rallied to make it happen.

bass truck reactive t-shirt design

2009-01-29T21:42:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: Bass Truck Reactive
PROJECT: design for our t-shirt of the month club

CD pancakes, coming right up! I had this drawing in my sketchbook for the longest time and when it was my turn to design the t-shirt, I knew exactly what to do. My friend Lauren suggested adding the "mmm, music" - thanks Lauren!

winter wonderland cd

2009-01-29T20:47:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: starbucks entertainment.
PROJECT: CD design for the holiday compilation.

Illustrating this CD was a huge undertaking for me. I've never really considered myself a true illustrator, so it was intimidating to think of what to do for the whole package. But as i started working on it, it just keep getting easier and almost creating itself from my imagination. It was so much fun to work on, everyday was like living in a cartoon. The lil' forest critters all have sweaters or scarfs and i totally WANTED all village folks cloths for myself ;)

2009-01-29T20:35:00.000-08:00

client: hear music & concord records
project: new logo design for label

I designed this logo to invoke the roots of a tree and the tuning keys on a guitar. it started out as a little painting, with much rougher, organic edges and morphed into a cleaner, more graphic, vector expression.

songs of the siren

2009-01-29T20:10:00.000-08:00

client: starbucks entertainment
project: CD design for songs of the siren, irresistible voices

i illustrated this with a mermaid or siren in mind. it's all about female singers and songwriters and i wanted her to have a little attitude, like she is calling out to you from the cover, but set in a in a very beautiful and delicate environment. i took inspiration from the the natural forms and life of the sea. I love coral, there are so many different shapes and types and it was also really fun to draw the seahorses and urchins and things.
i wish i could make the coral into wallpaper for my room ;)

john coltrane opus

2009-01-29T19:49:00.000-08:00

client: starbucks entertainment.
project: CD design for john coltrane opus collection.

I designed this CD with the notion that a line would flow throughout the package - starting out straight - and then going all crazy, circling and weaving throughout, visually representing the way he played. It's hard to capture in photos of the product, but i think you get the idea.

bob marley live cd

2009-01-28T20:52:00.000-08:00

client: starbucks entertainment
project: CD design for bob marley & the wailers live
i actually painted the brights colors and scanned them in to bring the reggae vibe to the packaging. there were amazing photos to choose from, i think that was the hardest part, deciding what photos i had to leave out! since this was a compilation of live music the tracks are laid out to look like tickets from the shows, dates, venue and song.

clem snide - photos

2009-01-28T20:31:00.000-08:00

i got some nice shots of Eef and the tuba was really cool. the show was killer!

funk cd

2009-01-28T20:11:00.000-08:00

super-funky!

client: starbucks entertainment
project: CD design for a funk compilation

willie nelson opus cd

2009-01-28T19:57:00.000-08:00

i've been listening to willie nelson since i was a little girl and it was an honor to get to design this cd. the photo-research was a blast, there are so many great photos of willie to pick from - i tried to focus on images i hadn't seen before. i used a beautiful glossy varnish to create a paisley bandanna pattern that printed on the book cover and little detail areas throughout the package.

client: starbucks entertainment
project: CD design for willie nelson opus collection

ali marcus - poster

2009-01-28T19:50:00.001-08:00

ali needed a poster for her CD release show for The Other Side. i took inspiration from the title.

seth martin poster

2009-01-28T19:13:00.000-08:00

Seth asked me to open for him at the Rendezvous in Seattle; we needed a poster fast, so i threw this together - it is extremely random - but that's what i like about it!

classic country - patsy cline

2009-01-28T18:45:00.001-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: country music feature
i heart patsy.
i'm a huge fan of vintage country and i was so excited to get to do photo research for this project.

beach house

2009-01-28T18:41:00.001-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: beach house music feature

americana

2009-01-28T00:29:00.000-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: americana music feature
i took inspiration from old sheet music typography and added an illustration i did of sweet little camp-fire guitar.

BBQ

2009-01-28T00:11:00.000-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: bbq music feature
The idea was all around the perfect soundtrack for your BBQ. I came up with the idea of wrapping CDs like meat, and took a bunch of disk to my local market and asked them to wrap them, so they would look authentic. it was a really fun photo-shoot, followed by a real BBQ.

black history month

2009-01-28T00:07:00.000-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: black history month music feature

african music

2009-01-28T00:05:00.000-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: african music feature

stacked with soul

2009-01-28T00:00:00.001-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: soul music feature
i took this picture in the basement of my favorite old record store, it was a really fun and dusty photo-shoot!

rainy day music

2009-01-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: music for a rainy day feature

electronica

2009-01-27T23:01:00.000-08:00

client: hear music retail store
project: electronica mural

gift certificate

2009-01-27T22:15:00.001-08:00

client: hear music retail stores
project: gift certificate design

other instruments

2009-01-27T21:57:00.001-08:00

client: hear music retail store
project: classical music feature art

alphabetical order

2009-01-27T21:51:00.000-08:00

josh ritter - photography

2009-01-27T21:22:00.000-08:00

I try to capture that space between the cracks of a smile and around the curve of a note. Josh is easy to shoot because he truly loves what he is doing and it shows.

josh ritter t-shirt

2009-01-26T23:02:00.000-08:00

client: josh ritter
project: t-shirt design for ireland tour. inspired by the song "snow is gone" from the album hello starling.

Ray Charles, Grammy®

2009-01-26T22:54:00.000-08:00

Client: Hear Music & Concord Records
Project: Design for Ray Charles CD, a compilation of duets.
His last album before he passed away and a Grammy winning cd.

mozart

2009-01-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: Hear Music Retail Store
PROJECT: Feature art for mozart

smithsonian folkways

2009-01-17T18:18:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: Hear Music & Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
POJECT: CD sampler of music

bluegrass

2009-01-17T14:54:00.000-08:00

CLIENT: Hear Music Retail Stores
PROJECT: Bluegrass Feature art
i took this photo in northern California on a photo-shoot with my friend maria loduca. we saw these horses in a field by this old abandoned house and freaked out - climbing over fences and fields to get the shot. Years later i was able to use it as part of a Bluegrass feature.

yay i now have a blog!!!!

2008-10-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

la la la la la i have a blog! weeeeeeee!