“SCARY” Album
Identity Release Package
Photoshop • Procreate • 2026
This started as a music engineering job. After the artist saw I could handle the visual side too it turned into something much bigger. The artist came to me with a clear concept, he wanted his orange lowrider on the cover with the grill reading “SCARY.” From there the full scope grew to include the front and back album cover, two single covers for Lone Rider and Chasing You, a complete CD package with disc label and jewel case, and a full social media release campaign. Each piece was built around its own concept but designed to feel like they all belong to the same artist and the same world.
Set the Mood
The mood for this project came directly from the client who is also an artist. He sent photos of himself in his real orange lowrider and footage of himself in an actual graveyard. Those images became the foundation for the entire visual world. The car was already there. The graveyard was already there. My job was to take what he gave me and push it somewhere darker, more cinematic, and more unsettling than the raw photos alone could deliver.
Sketch Phase
Rough sketches in Procreate mapped out the front cover composition and the back cover layout before any illustration began, planning where the car, grill treatment, hood ornament, artist, track list, credits, and barcode would all live.
Typeface Selection
Typeface Selection Times New Roman (Custom)
Previous Options Acier BAT, Freight Display Pro
Times New Roman felt right immediately. Its age and weight matched the dark cinematic world of the album perfectly. The custom modifications pushed it past the familiar and into something that felt worn and specific to this project.
Color Selection
Midnight Navy, Burned Orange, Steel Teal
Color Study The burned orange of the lowrider brings heat and danger to the center of the album cover. The midnight navy pulls everything into darkness and sets the graveyard atmosphere. The steel teal of the type sits between the two, cold enough to feel unsettling but readable enough to lead the eye.
Burned Orange
HEX #D4521A
RGB 212, 82, 26
CMYK 0, 61, 88, 17
Midnight Navy
HEX #1A2535
RGB 26, 37, 53
CMYK 51, 30, 0, 79
Steel Teal
HEX #3D6E7A
RGB 61, 110, 122
CMYK 50, 10, 0, 52
First Drafts
The client came with a clear concept, his real orange lowrider with the grill reading SCARY. Since the reference photo had no grill I designed one from scratch. From there it was a matter of figuring out the type treatment and background through a few rounds of drafts, moving from purple glitter type to deep navy before landing on the steel teal against the full graveyard environment that made everything click.
Final Design
The album cover started with the artists concept of putting his real orange lowrider front and center with the grill reading SCARY. He sent a straight on reference photo of the car which had no grill, so I designed one from scratch and built the SCARY plate treatment into it, making the car itself carry the album title. The entire vehicle was then fully illustrated from that reference with refined pinstriping, glowing headlights, and a custom hood ornament. The masked figure of the artist sits behind the windshield barely visible, which gives the cover its unsettling quality. The back cover flips to the rear of the same car disappearing into smoke with a Texas plate reading R3571NG, tying the full package together as one continuous story.
Web
Chasing You Built around the feeling of the song rather than a single image. Repeated ghostly figures moving in formation against a neon soaked background with a liquid chrome type treatment give it a surreal haunted energy that feels different from the rest of the campaign but still connected to the same artist.
Lone Rider Built around the concept of the song title and the visual language of the Lone Ranger, the masked figure on horseback with a burning barn behind him takes the Western genre and twists it into something darker and more unsettling.