Project by: Emma Chiaravalli

Art Directed by: Sean McCabe

This assignment was to create three gig posters. The twist was that the gig posters had to be completely different, whether that be through artist or genre, but also had to keep the same artistic style. This was difficult because creating three cohesive looking posters for three different artists was very hard. I started by choosing the artists I wanted to do, and I settled with Wiz Khalifa, The Game, and Snoop Dogg. I chose three artists in the hip hop genre, but that wasn’t mainly what made my posters look cohesive. I took a huge amount of time to focus on color palette and wanted to do limited color palettes for all three, but still have them look good side by side. Finally, I focused more on bringing in textures because I wanted them to have a more vintage feel to them.

Project by: Emma Chiaravalli

Art Directed by: Sean McCabe

The assignment here was to create an entire album package including the front and back of the album, the vinyl, A and B sides, and the gatefold. I chose to do the Lana Del Rey album Paradise. I decided to go with this album because Lana is one of my favorite artists and her art is full of beautiful references and tons of details to flesh out. I wanted to focus on tropical themes, like palm trees, flowers, and coconuts on the cover, and also address the themes of the forbidden fruit mentioned throughout the album. So on the front I did a portrait of Lana Del Rey as depicted in her short film Tropico surrounded by tropical motifs and items. On the back I drew Adam and Eve with their faces hidden to imply that anyone could fit those roles and that they are both still relevant today. For the gatefold I just wanted it to be as packed as possible so I did two white tigers, which Lana has had in some videos of hers, surrounded by angels, and more tropical references such as fruit and palm leaves.

Project by: Emma Chiaravalli

Art Directed by: Sean McCabe

This assignment was to create a special edition Criterion box set of three DVD’s. The guidelines of the assignment were that the three DVD’s chosen had to relate in one way or another, whether that be genre, series, or theme. I chose to do a series and the ones I chose were Shrek 1, Shrek 2 and Shrek 3. I struggled with choosing movies because I am not the most well verse in films so I did not have much to pick from. I ended up going with Shrek because I thought that it would be fun to depict the characters from the movie in my weird and whimsical style.

Because Shrek is so well known and classic at this point, and because Criterion box sets are known for being so well curated and elegant, I wanted to chose something that would reflect those things. I decided to go with imposing the characters in Shrek in well known renaissance paintings. Not only is this funny, it gets across the classic sense of the movies and the box set, and gave me the opportunity to show all the characters i wanted.

I started with Shrek 1, and chose the painting The Creation of Adam, by the artist Michelangelo. I made a list of the characters I wanted to use, and figured that this painting already had a hierarchy going which was something I wanted. The two main characters would be the ones reaching out for each other; Shrek and Fiona. I chose the other characters based on who made appearances in the movies.

I went on to Shrek 2, and did the Birth of Venus, by artist Botticelli. For this painting, the characters displayed are more limited so making the list was easier. I chose to depict Fiona as Venus herself, and had Donkey and Puss and Boots on the right, and the Fairy Godmother on the left.

For Shrek the Third, I chose to do The Sistine Madonna, by Raphael. I knew that I wanted the painting to have babies in it so I would be able to show Shrek’s babies, and potentially Donkey’s babies as well. This painting was perfect because I was able to show both.

Then it came time to make a box, and I settled on making a frame with a die-cut to show the paintings/covers inside to bring back the element of the fact that they are paintings back into it and tie all three of them together.

Project by: Emma Chiaravalli

Art Directed by: Sean McCabe

This assignment was to merge a celebrity, or person of importance to you, with an animal that fits with their sensibilities or personalities. For this assignment, I knew immediately I wanted to do Elvis Presley, who has been a long time favorite of mine. The animal was easy to figure out from there as Elvis is known as the king and the lion is the king of the jungle. I wanted to make sure I paid homage to Presley in a flattering way rather than a completely silly one so I chose a majestic animal and somewhat royal color palette.