12″ vinyl sleeve design for foward thinking dubstep label Deepmedi Records
I was asked to design the sleeve featuring a sadhu in a transcending meditative pose for this double vinyl EP from V.I.V.E.K

The tracks are dark & subtle with deep base, space and texture laced all over.

Heres how the cover artwork developed:

Initial sadhu sketch

Edited and digitally painted + devi lamps

Stars / Cosmic background detail

Spine aged texture

Recommended typography and layout – Click image to view larger or cilc here

Labels 1 and 2 of 4
The labels were eventually changed to the generic Deepmedi labels to keep inline with the record label.

Final edited sleeve 

You can here the rest of the tracks > Here

If you into your dubstep then also check out the beautiful Natural Mystic previously featured on the Cabein Blog.

> www.myspace.com/vivek321
> www.deepmedi.com

The International Network for Training, Education and Research in Burns is a non-profit, independent organisation with collaborating centres currently in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Wales.

Interburns was founded informally in 2006 by three Surgeons. Tom Potokar (Wales, UK), Shobha Chamania (Indore, India) and Shariq Ali (Karachi , Pakistan). In 2007, they decided to formalise their passion for the cause of burn injuries worldwide and in January 2008, Interburns was incorporated as a UK registered charity, which led to an active partnership between the Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, UK, Choithram Surgical Research Burns Centre, Indore, India, and Dow University Medical College Burn Unit, Karachi, Pakistan. This core group quickly inspired other international health-care professionals to become involved in the vision.

I designed Interburns first annual report, a 27 page document with the aim to help Interburns raise awareness and funds through donations and as an internal guide to chart the charities progress.

Written and complied by Ruthann Fanstone
Photography by Nathan West & Junaed Rahman

You can view a PDF version of the document 
> Here

Bang Bang Films is a Bombay-based commercials production company that is dedicated to the internationalization of the Indian media & entertainment sectors. With a global pool of directorial, artistic and technical resources, both exclusive and freelance, Bang Bang is India’s international production company, servicing top-tier agencies and blue chip clients in markets across the world.

You can view some of their work here
> Bang Bang Films – Production Showreel

I was asked to design the front-end of the companies new flash website. The initial concept was developed by Bang Bang Films with the site starting with a game and flowing into the main site. I provided screen-grabs and elements for animation while Bang Bang Films built and animated the final site.

Initial development

A few research images for the cityscape. A mixture of Bombay Gothic, contemporary architecture and the newly built Worli Sea Link

Vehicle designs

Full cityscape – Click image to view full size

Screen-grabs :
Opening load page  for the game

Dodging traffic

Game Over

After the game the rickshaw drives into the city toward the Bang Bang Films offices …

Navigation and content

The site is not 100% what i spec’ed, as the animation and build appears to have been done by blinksolution
A shame really, as it could have been much slicker.

> http://www.bangbang-films.com

12 July 2010
Onto the last stage of the piece, the lotus. I started by first doing a paper rough to get an idea of size and how deep i wanted the lotus to be.

The paper lotus was reproduced with a heavy weight card and then covered in plaster of paris. The depth was about right but the shape was not as rounded as i hoped. Also i wanted the lotus leaves to be thinner. By the time i would have added clay, baked and sanded the leaves i recon they would have been crude and much larger.

Back to the drawing board and i found a bowl that was the right size to fit the cobras in.

You can faintly see the dividing lines on the green piece of paper underneath the bowl. This gives me a guide for the leaves to be placed. I then added the new leaves but i seem to have gotten the size wrong and never account for the overlapping. Thus i got to start the leaves again and this time i will have the chance to add more form and shape.

Once the leaves are all perfect and placed correctly i hope to lay the clay on-top of the bowl to retain the shape. If all goes well then some light sanding after baking. I just hope the leaves dont crack or break after baking and during the sanding stage.

21 July 2010

Started by making some template leaves  and placing them around the outside of bowl to get the correct shape. Im hoping it will bake alright when i turn it upside down.

Made a minor mistake though as the leaves are about 2cm short and so when i place the cobras in them the final lotus the leaves will not cover as much of the body as id like. I also noticed i made a small mistake with the last leave as it does not overlap the first leave correctly. It should all look seamless. Im happy with the flow of these leaves I’m not looking for a perfect lotus but rather a lotus, flame, fire thing….

22 July 2010
I covered the bowl in some non stick spray and ended up dropping it, shattered to bits into the clay. Agh, now i need to find another bowl with the same radius and depth.

26 July 2010

Decided to redo the leaves and add a small indent for where each leaf sits into the next. Makes everything proportional. Also made a cardboard template to help get some consistency. Then placed each leaf flat on the table and transfered it to the bowl. Smoothed out any bumps and refined the tips. With a small dent in the bottom from another bowl to make sure all the pieces stuck together firmly.

05 August 2010

Whooooooooop!

Yip finally i think i have got a grasp of baking clay. No cracks and the clay came apart from he bowl with no problems. The tape on the bowl works as a guide for how long the laves have to be. Really happy with final result and the “swirl” effect.

Next some light sanding to get rid of some imperfections on he tips of the leaves. Then a coat of paint on the outside. Im not going to paint the inside yet as placing the cobras in and taking them out is going to cause the PVA paint to chip. Wish i had some airbrush equipment to do a thorough job.

08 August 2010

All 4 pieces

Development

Current state of things.. 

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos
> The Boy / Cobras & Lotus Prototypes

Heres a few updated pics of how the sculpture is coming along. Full colour photos coming soon..

The above shot is the inside spiral of the cobras body/tail. Some of the paint has not dried properly and so earlier today i removed it with a little piece of sandpaper and tomorrow i will paint it again. The little black hole you see on the body is a place for the trident to sit in so it does not slip, see below.

After 3 coats of paint on both The Cobras and The Boy, he ended up squeezing into his rightful place. So i had to sand the edges of his legs down slightly and repaint, now he fits nice and snug with a little room to maneuver.

3 July 2010
These are some sketches from the last few days.
Left – Initial head sketch for the drawing below
Middle – Some quick sketches of the boys smile 
Top Middle – Lotus leaf prototype draft (more on this later once the Cobras are perfect)
Right – Rough sketch

4 July 2010
A quick sketch i did in pen. Might look good as a tidy b/w vector.. Still need to add the trident in though.

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos
> The Boy / Cobras & Lotus Prototypes

Now available in the Cabein Shop

You can read more about the design process on the original Reaper post.
> http://www.cabein.com/cabein/?p=614

For  Il Bottaccio

I spent about  a month or two working on the first cobras back in Oct 09. Making a wireframe armature, adding detail and eventually sanding the clay down to a smooth surface. Heres how it was looking…

Iit looks like the wireframe was not build correctly and there were some weak spots resulting in some deep cracks where the heads met the body. I say deep crack but i eventually took the head off to see how weak it actually was.

That was around December 09. After having a break for a few weeks i sketching and planning round 2 of the Cobras. I also decided to make them a little taller than the previous version.

13 February 2010

I started by building a new wireframe and adding a few layers of  paper mache to help strengthen the whole armature and hopefully reinforce any bits that might need extra support. I learned a great deal form the first ones about production and balance.

Last night I finished the paper mache part of the process and im really happy with the new form and spiral body. Getting the spiral right and having two extruding heads to support has been tough.

I think it’s safe to move onto the clay part of things now but i am a little nervous about how thick the cobra heads will turn out and if the armature will survive the vigorous sanding process later.

22 February 2010

Started adding the first layer of clay to the painted armature and tried to get it as smooth as possible. This processes took months in total to get the right form and smooth out any bumps.

In the pic below i tried adding a tongue but it made me little scare.

14 June 2010

It was difficult to get the back of the smaller cobras head smooth as there was very little space to work with in between the two. With the larger cobra it was also very difficult to get the form of its hood smoothed out in areas where i could barely get a finger in.

Final sculpted cobras before backing

15 June 2010

I baked the cobras for about 15mins and ended up with a few hairline cracks around the coiling body and cobras hoods. You can see some of the repair work on the back of the large cobra’s head below.

!8 June 2010

All cracks and breaks have been fixed and i have just finished a few coats of paint.
Got a little excited and started on a lotus prototype made out of paper.

Final repaired, sanded, 4 coats of base white, final sanding, finished Cobras
Sorry about the latest photos its a webcam photo as my camera is damaged, i hope to get some good quality pics up soon with additional notes on the process.

Would have been nice to have airbrushed the sculptures, but i just dont have the required equipment.

These sculptures have  traveled over 3 continents over the last 2 months and in all taken a year on and off to get to this stage. Mostly my free time and some late evenings. Its all a little D.I.Y but learning as i go along.

Related Posts:
> The Boy – Work in progress
> The Boy/Cobras – Breakage and Restart
> The Boy / Cobras – Updated Photos

The Cabein site has had a major update. Reshot all the pieces on a sexy Canon EOS 1000D.

The sites been scaled back with just a few key projects but the old site will still be online under Archive.

Check it out and let me know what you think?

The Shop will be opening soon as well, just need to get the page finished.