Forefathers Group

Full Of War

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:20:00 -0500

It was great getting our hands dirty working on Condition’s latest album ‘Full Of War’. From the beginnging we all saw eye to eye with how we wanted to approach the art for this album cycle and what a great album it is. Paradox and duality were the 2 keywords that we played off of when putting our ideas down on paper. What we came up with was the perfect combination of those 2 words. The collage represents the flash or visual interpretation that one might see in their mind once looking or taking a Rorschach Test. Every piece of the collage is very anonymous, not putting any emphasis on any characteristics and in turn not giving a face to anyone/anything. The reasoning here is that since your only asked to look at the Rorschach ink blot for a short amount of time you mind has to process or interpret something very quickly. This collage is the snapshot of the mind’s process.

Along with some killer typography from our good friend Dan Bradley and a killer new symbol created by the band we couldn’t be happier with how this package came out and all of the elements that go along with it.

Exacto blades, glue sticks, random found images and some of my children’s art went into creating these images and we had a great time working on this project. Be sure to check out the album when it’s available from Good Fight Music on March, 26. Conditions wrote a killer record and we’re stoked to lend a hand with the visuals.

Dark Prayers Handblown and Custom Etched Black Glassware Set

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 15:05:00 -0400

Dark arts, black magic, the occult, secret societies - some would say these nefarious entities are the lifeblood of the world we know. Not popular conversation for those who fear the unknown or choose not to question the questionable, however, we raise a glass and gesture a silent but appreciative toast to these benefactors of the underground and above profound. Hence our purpose of creating this limited edition glassware set. An homage to the true creators of fear and darkness, order and chaos. The factors that shape our reality, keep relentless prosperity alive, and help us see another day.

Dark Prayers is a very limited custom, hand-blown black glassware set from the creative team at Forefathers Group. Everything within this set is carefully crafted and handmade down to the finest details. Nothing has been mass produced. The glassware set is a limited edition run of only 21 available for purchase. The set includes two hand-blown scotch tumblers along with two hand-blown beer / pint glasses. Enjoy Heathen.

* Each set includes 4 glasses. 2 beer pints, 2 scotch tumblers, 4 Letterpress Coasters, and hand numbered print out of authenticity. All housed in a custom crafted and engraved wood case.
S + H not included.

*21 Sets Total For Purchase / Limited to 1 Set Per Customer.

WWW.DARKPRAYERS.COM

Genesi[s]

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 11:09:00 -0400

We just wrapped up a few killer projects for Rise Records. We were stoked when asked to work on the new Woe, Is Me layout because we are fans of the band, but it wasn’t until after our conversations with the label about the band’s vision for the art that really got us excited. The overall all theme of the album revolves around the opening track Doomsday and we were definitely inspired by the Terminator movies when creating this art.

Woe, Is Me just launched a lyric video for their latest track ‘I’ve Told You Once’ that features the album art. Definitely give it a look. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GttItGw-HVo

Bat Out Of Hell

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 12:52:00 -0400

I Am War is the hard as nails side project of Atreyu’s Alex Varkatzas and Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through. We are currently working on the artwork for their debut full-length ‘Outlive You All’ in stores August 28. We just wrapped up the art for their 7 inch leading up to the full length. Be sure to check out their new song “Bat Out Of Hell”, and pick up this killer album once it hits stores this summer.

The Contortionist - Intrinsic

Thu, 31 May 2012 16:47:00 -0400

We love The Contortionist. They were one of our favorite bands of 2010 and it was an honor to work with them on the artwork for their debut release. So when we were asked to once again create artwork for their upcoming release you can imagine our excitement. Working with the band is a treat because they know what they are going for visually and provide some killer feedback but also trust us to do our thing. After our initial conversations we knew this art was going to differ anyting we have done in the past and the end results is one of our favorite pieces yet. Though we haven’t heard the new album yet (releasing July 17th, 2012 via eOne Music/Good Fight Music) we know it’s going to again be on constant rotation much like their debut. Big thanks to the band, Jason @StrongHQ and Carl @GoodFight for the opportunity to work with them again on yet another killer release.

Check out this amazing promo for Los Angeles based food truck...

Tue, 29 May 2012 09:27:56 -0400

Check out this amazing promo for Los Angeles based food truck ‘Trailer Park Truck’. Branding, Truck wrap and website provided by yours truly

Logo we created for Vintage Industrial turned into Metal plated...

Thu, 17 May 2012 13:33:31 -0400

Logo we created for Vintage Industrial turned into Metal plated business cards. Unreal! Also check out the works of Vintage Industrial, http://shop.retro.net/

Fire From The Sky

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:05:00 -0400

Check out the new album ‘Fire From The Sky’ from Shadows Fall that we had the pleasure of laying out. Pick It Up Today!

Tarot - A Free Wallpaper Pack

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 10:14:00 -0400

Introducing our free Tarot Wallpaper Pack, a little gift from us to you. Inspired by the Major and Minor Arcana cards of the tarot deck you will find Ace Of Cups, Three of Swords, The Temptress, and The Fool. You can Preview All 4 Wallpapers Here.

Illustrations done by the one and only Dan Gretta. Enjoy!

.Zip Files Include:
2560 x 1440
1920 x 1200
1680 x 1050
1440 x 900
1280 x 800
iPad Retina
iPad
iPhone

DOWNLOAD HERE

Did some illustration work last month for HeadQuarters...

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:36:00 -0500

Did some illustration work last month for HeadQuarters Gentlemen’s Club NYC @dennisrodman approves of it.

The Making Of 'impulse'

Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:11:00 -0500

The process of creating the cover for Erra’s debut record, through Tragic Hero Records, titled “impulse.”

The concept behind this design was fed off the vibe that carried throughout the record musically, as well as a throughout the lyrics presented in each song. The album has this sort of ambience and melody you might associate or envision with the idea of space and time, yet cycled around this somewhat angelic and extraterrestrial presence. The band gave me free ground to design what I felt might fit for this album, as as much as I obsessed over it musically. The image you see here is what I had, more or less, aimed to achieve. My idea for this was to capture a source of humanity in an almost alien / foreign projection - one that would cater to the “unknown” and “curious” while subjectively displaying the source of an organism’s existence (this being centralized by the anatomical heart).

While this post isn’t intended to be a step by step run-through of how this was done, I do intend to share how I went about making it. I’ll start by letting you all know I had the help of two good friends, Abby Flatow (www.facebook.com/AbbyRobinPhoto) and Evan Warren (www.facebook.com/staykillerdesign). We shot the photo (raw form seen here in the article) of a very patient and gracious participant: miss Alexandria Gabrielle Angel. Her attire for this was somewhat of a makeshift mortal-kombat-mummy, constructed of shredded cloth and several rolls of athletic tape. With the shot being outside, we applied smudges of soil to dull the brightness of the white, and to somewhat portray this idea that she had been surviving in the woods for a period of time. The lighting set-up was simple and convenient. I used a boom stand with two Canon 430 flashes directed at an umbrella, and two other stands with 580 flashes - one with a diffuser cap and the other directed at an umbrella as well. One flash was for subtle backlighting, while the boom provided direct light and the other umbrella established an additional directional fill-light of sorts.

Several shots were taken around the location, but this was the chosen shot for the cover. When I brought it in digitally, I edited the Raw image to be lighter and more “flat” in terms of color dynamic so that I could layer it up and adjust colors in the cover without the layering causing over-saturation or loss of detail. I replaced the black background of the image with a subtle horizon line of another photo, and added a color stream and blur to showcase a sense of depth and space. The surreal-colored clouds and stars are also collectively photoshopped into the atmosphere to add to the eerie / spacey nature of the photo. This also created a balance with the negative space, and adjusted the weight of detail between the lower and top halves of the frame. The choice of colors, as well as the textured details in the sky and around the central object hovering above her hands, were an attempt to create this sort of galactic nebulae that you might find when surfing google for images of constellations.

Center to the picture is the heart contained in this sort of sphere, which is a photo of a rather large fishbowl photoshopped with the characteristics of a glass sphere (which adds to the iced-haze sort of appearance in the object). The heart was a stock photo from what I believe to be a cow, just to add to the dramatization to size and detail of the heart. I originally wanted the heart to look more suspended in the glass sphere, but it was becoming difficult to make look realistic to the image, and after trial and error, I ended up liking this direction more anyways.

There is quite a bit of layering going on with the color blasts, galaxy streams, and the faint line work of geometry. I wanted the impression to relay over to her ability to manipulate space to her liking, and give a rather strong impression to the power she had over the heart.

The band’s logo, while it’s only done for a textured effect, is comprised of mathematical graph images describing black hole theories and function. Of course, there’s no way you could actually ever figure that out just from looking at the image, but I thought it gave it an interesting sort of dynamic to the essence of where the cover was headed.

I hope you all get a chance to listen to this record if you enjoy the genre (metalcore / hardcore). Hopefully the cover relays a visual vibe to what you all also hear in the music. I had a lot of fun working on this cover, and hopefully it will sit well with everyone who owns the album.

Thanks for reading!

Aaron Marsh - @aaronofnero

Setting The Bar In Extreme Sports

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 23:53:00 -0400

It’s almost every little kid’s dream to someday work in sports. Whether you a ball player, swimmer, gymnast or skateboarder there is always an inkling of hope that someday that will make you famous. Growing up we see that being a pro basketball player and only 5’ 7” isn’t always logistical - however working in sports of some kind definitely is. We are honored to have been given that chance to relive our youth and work with 3 guys that made those dreams reality.

Skateboarding Superstar Chris Cole

Watching Chris Cole skate is equal parts excitement as it is wonder. Most if not all of his tricks are so jaw-dropping that even his peers and competitors can’t help but stop to take notice. Through his technicality as a pro skater to the raw uncompromising approach to his craft Mr. Cole is truly a ground breaking sportsman. It’s beyond inspiring to know this husband and father has the opportunity to do what he loves and loves what he does - all while changing the face of the sport. It was an honor working with him and his team on his official website. Be sure to check out his videos and we dare you not to be impressed with his skills. chriscoleskate.com

Dakota Roche - BMX Legend In The Making

Dakota Roche is easily the nicest dude on the planet. On top of that he’s extremely easy to work with, fun, excited and overall just passionate about what he does. Put that together with his insane BMX riding and you make for a true athlete. Watching Dakota ride brings us back to our youth and makes us want to drop our skateboards and actually take up riding BMX. You can actually see skateboarding elements in his performance and it’s easy to see why skateboarders and BMX riders alike are so drawn to DAK. Like Chris Cole’s site, we were honor to work with Dakota’s team on his official website. dakotaroche.com

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson - UFC’s Ultimate Bad Ass

Rampage Jackson was the first fighter to unify a UFC and PRIDE championship belt. He has a professional record of 31 wins with eight losses. Intimidating was the first thing that came to mind when being asked to build his website. Little did we know he’s a really professional and polite guy. Still, that didn’t ease our mind any so we tried to capture Rampage’s needs with a dark, intimidating layout and theme with a very easy backend for either his management or even himself to update with out ever needing any aid. We think we did a great job at that, but our only proof is that we’re still standing. rampage-jackson.com

Maylene IV

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 15:56:00 -0400

Working with Maylene is always a treat. This is our 3rd layout with them and each time they bring a completely new idea/element to the creative table all while staying consistent with their previous designs. The story of Ma Baker is synonymous with not only the band but of our time spent working with Dallas and the boys and it’s always a project we look forward to each and every album cycle. Working with the almighty Ryan Russell’s photography is always an added bonus.

This time around we emulated the oldest of the old and went for a very classic/vintage vinyl look. Worn edges and stereophonic tags are just a couple pieces of this vintage project and we had a blast working on it. We’ll be posting the rest of the layout once it’s done, but for now be on the lookout for Maylene’s new release - it’s guaranteed to blow heads off.

A Features Bonanza!

Fri, 22 Jul 2011 00:34:41 -0400

After a little less than a month of being up and running we have been smooth sailing, pumping out new work, and becoming slightly obsessed with the U.S. release of Spotify. But most importantly we have been blown away by the humbling and positive feedback we have been getting with this new venture of ours.

Everyone has been more than kind and we have loved seeing everyone’s Tweets and features sprinkled throughout the web. From getting the ‘Site of the Day’ on Awwwards and also having our responsive layout featured on Media Queries just today, it has really been an honor.

So we thought we would take a moment and thank all the sites that have featured us and we can’t way thank you enough. Really!

Tune in next week, we will be posting new work to the Workshop. Until then..

Awwwards

The Best Designs

CSS Design Awards

Behind the Curtain

Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:18:00 -0400

Well, well, the time has come. Finally, after 7 months of copious amounts of blood, sweat, and beers the official site of Forefathers is now live. It took us all working at 110% to pull this off and we couldn’t be happier or more satisfied with the outcome. Over the past 7 months we have learned a lot about ourselves and more importantly our newly formed brand.

So let’s take a little tour of how this all came to be.

Step One: Branding

We knew the branding with Forefathers had to be special. Something very unique and strong but with also a huge emphasis on the era / time period we were wanting to focus on. So we went straight to our branding guru Dan Gretta to get the job done. After rounds of revisions and tightening up the mark Dan finalized really paved the way of the Forefathers brand to come.

Step Two: Site Design

When it came to the design of the Forefathers site we really took our time on the layout. We knew as far as functionality was concerned we really wanted to try some new things, however, we still wanted the site to be very direct and easy to get to our work in the Workshop. After all, this was the biggest focus of the site. Revision after revision we hacked away until it was just right.

Step Three: The Responsive-ness

With Forefathers one of the biggest obstacles was going to be creating this site to be totally responsive and fluid. Trying to incorporate many of the elements that we wanted to showcase but at the same time the site could scale down to any mobile platform. This was definitely the most painstaking but unbelievably rewarding element of the site. We believe the payoff really shows and we couldn’t be happier!

Step Four: Content & Launch!

With the branding, site design, and front-end development in place it was time to move onto the content and back-end content management system for the site. For the content we reached out to our great friend Devin at Word Refuge for the very stylistic, humorous, and roaring twenties themed content that pertained still to our industry of design as a whole.

Once the content was in place it was time for a Warrior to step up. We needed a guy whose brain capacity and speed was ten times all of ours put together. Luckily we have such a mastermind on our team to create the perfect Drupal based back-end for us. Of course we can’t show you this element of our site but take our word for it. It’s unreal!

Asphyxia Fiend and 10 other gems.

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 14:09:00 -0400

They say 3rd times a charm and we have to agree with them this time around. We were fortunate to work with Toronto, Canada’s beloved Dead And Divine on their new album ‘Antimacy’ and couldn’t be more excited by the outcome. This is our third album layout with the fellas and each time gets better and better. This time around the band wanted to really explore imagery that correlates directly with the lyrical content of the album. When reviewing all the band’s notes and song titles it made obvious sense to reach out to friend, colleague and veteran photographic bad ass, Ben Pobjoy, to do the photos for this album. His gritty, raw style really captured that unnerving effect we were going for. The raw photos alone were enough to make sure the office doors was closed before checking them out any further.

We worked hand in hand with the band while creating this package and the final outcome is definitely one of our favorite layouts to date. Once the album drops, August 2nd, we’ll definitely post all the images in our Workshop, but for now please enjoy the cover and be sure to head over to antimacy.com and pre-order yourself a copy of this killer album.