Album Art: “Warm Fire Lightning”

Prompt: Create original album art for release of a single

Tools & Skills: Creative direction, Photoshop, photography, album art, art, graphic design

The song “Warm Fire Lightning” centers around a secret (but maybe not-so-secret) crush on someone who interacts under an icy veneer. I wanted to take that idea, along with the fruit-themed branding that the band had established, and make it literal. I froze a huge pineapple in my freezer, and set up a makeshift photo studio in my 300 sq. ft. apartment. At first, the idea was to show a woman’s hands attempting to melt the ice around the pineapple with a measly lighter, to drive home the “unrequited-but-sort-of-requited lust” idea of the song. We did take some photos that way, but ultimately it was a melty mess, and I decided to just let the frozen pineapple be star of the show.

What I learned

• Creative direction on a budget

• Boil water before you freeze it so that it doesn’t get all cloudy

• Consider splurging on water resistant photo backdrops