August Burns Red, ‘Constellations’ — Album Art of the Week

The artwork for August Burns Red's third album, 'Constellations,' on the Solid State imprint represents a noticeable visual shift for the band, as their previous releases bore photography-based design work. Noisecreep talked with designer Ryan Clark of Invisible Creature to get the details on his creative process.

"Originally the band was interested in seeing a photo-realistic version of this concept," Clark told Noisecreep. "And as I tried to visualize how I would accurately execute that, I kept seeing images that I felt would come across really corny. I suggested instead that they let me do an illustrated version of the concept. After an initial sketch, they agreed, and the final cover was the first thing I showed the band. They've always been a really easy band to work with, and I appreciate that."

"Reach for the stars" is a common expression to encourage someone to pursue a difficult goal, and while the band certainly has a positive message the concept of stars as a symbol of achievement holds a different meaning in terms of the theme. "The concept behind this artwork was based on the phrase '...on earth as it is in Heaven,'" Ryan explained further. "Which is part of the 'Lord's Prayer.' Essentially, the band came up with the idea, and they wanted to show a figure attempting to pull the heavens down to earth by lassoing a star."

"Each of the painted shapes and/or fills were done with acrylic paint on bristol board, then scanned in and manipulated in Photoshop. I painted each piece separately, so that I could have a lot of control throughout the process."