2012 February « Donald Ely

Erykah Badu – Self Promotion

Here’s a poster/portrait of Erykah Badu I did just for fun and because I love her. I wanted to do some brushed type, and thought this might be the best opportunity to try it. I started working on this in November/December when she came through Baltimore with the Cannabinioids (STELLAR SHOW), but due to printing problems, I wasn’t able to have it printed on time, so I held onto it and eventually went back to make some minor adjustments. In the end, I’m happy with the space funk look. Happy FRIDAY!

February 17, 2012 | Categories: Funk, Graphic Design, Hand Drawn Type, Illustration, Portraits, Poster | Tags: Baltimore, concert poster, Erykah Badu, Funk, hand drawn type, illustration, Poster, space | Leave A Comment »

Georgia Anne Muldrow: BlackHouse abandoned concept

Here is a near complete concept for the BlackHouse album that will be released by Georgia Anne Muldrow on the Mellow Music record label. I’m working on a new concept now and decided that it would be a good time to post this version.

I wanted to do something fOnky, like Georgia, and thought that this portrait helped describe the music perfectly. It turns out that Georgia wasn’t exactly looking for a portrait of her and wanted to drive the focus toward the music.

The new concept will still be fOnky and I’m super excited to get it finished and sent to the printers.

February 11, 2012 | Categories: Funk, Graphic Design, Illustration, Portraits | Tags: album cover, fonk, Funk, Georgia Anne Muldrow, house, jazz, LA, record design, West Coast | Leave A Comment »

Update and some Oldish/New work

So I haven’t been posting a lot lately and that mainly has to do with the fact that I got a new full time job at Powell Tate in Washington, DC as a Senior Graphic Designer. The job has been pretty intense for me so far. I’ve never really considered myself a graphic designer, but now that I have this job, I guess it’s safe to say that I am. My commute to and from work has been and hour plus every day to and from work. I get up early to catch a commuter bus and leave work late to catch the commuter bus back. I’m not able to stay up late in the night like I used to be able to do and so I rarely get to post anything.

With that being said, I have a few projects that I’m currently working on, including the next album cover for Georgia Anne Muldrow’s new house record called BlackHouse.

Below I’m posting the last two Baltimore magazine illustrations that I did for the Charm City Chatter column. The first illustrates when Barry Levinson came to town for a Diner anniversary screening at Johns Hopkins. The other pic illustrates a train show at a mall in Baltimore county around the holidays.