RAN Music: Independent Beijing record label based in Beijing, China. 

Working in collaboration with artists signed to Ran Music and their sub-labels ‘Ran Groove’ and ‘Ran Rad’ to produce custom hand drawn and digital illustrated EP designs, in response to the textures and tangible effect of the music.

The featured EP cover designs were created for artists ‘Another Van’, ‘Laughing Ears’ and ‘Diva Li’.

Another Van: The Night Is Yours

Another Van’s EP includes 6 tracks ranging from Acid House to Minimal that he created between 2015-2017 in Beijing and Shanghai, performed and recorded all at once using his hardware live set-up. 

Using a mixture of digital and drawn elements to represent the textures of the music, the artwork was created in response to the recording. The live set has been split into 6 tracks and displays changes in energy and tempo throughout.

Laughing Ears: Tidal Effect

Laughing Ears is a female Chinese producer living in Shanghai. Her style is unique and combines club bass music elements with twisted soundscapes, drone and ambiance. This makes her sound design full of details and textures that stand out amongst the scene.

Whilst listening to the tracks by Laughing Ears, I drew waves and ink textures to reflect the complexity of sounds and layers of depth that I could hear within her music. In terms of compositing the raw drawings into digital, I layered all of my initial drawings and worked over these to create the final artwork.

Diva_Li_Full_EP_CMYK.png

L.Y.Li: Escape

Diva Li is a female music artist and self-taught DJ based in Beijing.

Drawing upon Diva Li’s experience and influential presence in the industry, the artwork is inspired by her minimal and sophisticated style in electronica and techno. She is well known for having a traditional structured sound with a unique and feminine viewpoint. 

Acknowledgements

RAN Music & Artists - ran-music.com

Graphic design for RAN Music: Sarah Lu - sarahlu.com

Materials

All original illustrations hand drawn using pencil, Copic Multiliner and Sakura Pigma Micron archival ink fineliners.

All final images edited and coloured on Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.