A Word With Oscar & Ewan

Bookmark/Search this post with:
  • Delicious
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • Propeller
  • Reddit
  • Magnoliacom
  • Newsvine
  • Furl
  • Facebook
  • Google
  • Yahoo
  • Technorati
  • Icerocket
 

When the new Roots Manuva album landed on the Merge desk we couldn't stop looking at the cover. Everything about it was getting us randy, so we hunted down the creators, Oscar and Ewan and forced the two gun designers to divulge the secret of their awesomeness.

How long have you been doing what you do?

We studied Graphics together at Central Saint Martins in London and worked on a few college projects together, since graduating in 2007 we have been working together full time

 OK, process… how did you come up with the idea? Was it simply taken from the title? What, if any, were some alternative ideas?
The title was the idea, we took a very literal translation. There were other considerations too that helped, Roots Manuva's past two covers have had him facing forward, and centrally framed. so although this is aesthetically a departure from those covers, it has kept a link. also the plaster bust shows a defined and prestigious character, where as the slime takes the edge off it, making it contemporary and quite jovial, which we feel suits this album. Lyrically often the listener is wondering just what is inside his head. Our past covers have been quite visually busy, but we aimed to make this one very stark and striking, recognizable from a distance and quite iconic.
 

How did it go once you’d decided on this idea?Where there any difficulties between design and execution?The building of the head was a long process, and one that we weren't quite sure how to approach. We thought originally that we would commission a sculptor to make the bust, but that was extremely expensive and the result may not have looked exactly like Roots, then we thought about a live cast of the head in plaster, but they can often look quite 'dead', the face can sag in the plaster and there isn't much flexibility with the expression. So after some looking around we found out about 3D scanning and rapid prototyping. This was the best option, the scanning process is very quick and accurate, and having the 3D model in the computer meant we could edit the bowl into the head at that stage, before the rapid prototyping. So we got the rapid prototyped model, then commissioned a sculptor to cast it in plaster. this was quite a nervous stage as we had to make a mother cast with the rapid prototyped model, which we had to smash to get out of the cast, so we had no original left. The sculptor then had to go on holiday, so we had to removed the plaster head from the mother cast with no previous experience of sculpting, then sand down the head and sculpt the eyes.

 How do you make green slime?
3x bottles of green Aloe Vera hand soap from the shop.
 
How did Roots Manuva react to having his brain scooped out and replaced with fluorescent slime?
We pitched it initially after a gig of his at Koko in London, we had been out for quite a while before so were quite drunk. We thought it went really badly, but they got back to us the following week and gave the go ahead.
 
Where are you based?
London
 
Have you worked with any Australians?
Not yet
 
What music are you listening to in the studio?
 She Likes Building Houses and Offshore mostly
 
What’s next for you guys?
Oscar is doing an MA at The Royal College of Art in London, Ewan is working on a few EPs for a few different record labels as Offshore. We are continuing to work on interesting and varied design projects.