In case you were worried that the art of making album covers had been entirely relegated to the land of Photoshop, Parkway Drive and multi-talented Melburnian artist Callum Preston are here to soothe your furrowed brow with this incredible behind-the-scenes look at how the album art for the band's acclaimed recent LP Ire was created.
If you haven't looked closely, you'd be forgiven for missing the fact that Ire's cover is a very physical labour of love and skill that goes well beyond clicking 'stroke' or 'bevel' with a mouse. In fact, Preston created the cover entirely by hand over one square metre of timber, ceramic, compressed concrete and Australian native gum branches, using more wood to create the Ire text at the piece's centre. According to the artist's Instagram page, "the only thing Photoshopped is the Parkway Drive logo".
The video might have distilled the entire process into less than a minute, but it's plain to see the sheer levels of artistry and dedication that went into crafting this piece of album art, so we say without reservation: Callum Preston, we salute you.
As for what's happened to the original work since — well, Preston's made sure that it found a good home with people who are guaranteed to love the hell out of it. As the artist notes, Ire is a solid chance at netting Parkway their first-ever #1 album, so be sure to do your bit if you're so inclined.
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