Industry news & advice blog

Martin D Hyde is a practicing contemporary painter and designer. Through his business Art Brut Creative he creates artwork for bands and solo artists.

We all have our favorite album cover and, as bands and solo artists, we know how important the way our music is represented to our fans. Award winning contemporary artist and designer Martin D Hyde has had his artwork exhibited in galleries nationally and internationally, and through his business Art Brut Creative he creates artwork and design for bands and musicians including albums, EPs, and singles, all the way through to music videos. Martin's emotionally charged artworks have been used for bands including LAU, Kris Drever, Joan As Police Woman and The Little Unsaid.


Why is the visual aspect of bands and their releases so important?
When we think of our favorite bands or solo artists, it’s often imagery that comes to mind. An album cover, their photos, their logo, or their music videos. Obviously the music is the most important aspect of a release, but the visuals allow the music to really sing. If done correctly the artwork can expand the story of a song or album, create loyalty and help the release attract new fans. In fact, if done really well, it can be hard to separate the album artwork from the music; they are two parts of the same whole. Ultimately, great album art gives a great album legs, meaning it’s easier to carry the style and feel across a variety of different visual mediums for a band or solo artist. For example, the singles leading up to an album release, band merchandise, tour posters and music videos. You can create a narrative and story around the album and associated assets.

What is your favourite format for releases ?
I think anybody who creates album art would say vinyl. It’s a beautiful item and shows the artwork in its best incarnation. I buy lots of vinyl myself and it can give you a closer connection to the band. I love special editions such as Radiohead with Stanley Donwood’s artwork. That said, I give all formats, physical or digital, the same amount of love as they are all really important.



Do physical releases still have a place in the music industry in 2022?
According to reports, in 2021 there were more than 5 million vinyl sales in the UK and 14 million CD sales. Also, bands and solo artists make more from physical sales than digital. A lot of the bands I work with tour a lot so physical releases are a good source of income at gigs. That said, I think every artist I’ve worked with over the past 3 or 4 years also combined their physical release with some kind of digital release.

What’s your approach to creating album artwork?
A band's album is like their baby; precious and very important to them. Inevitably, during the process it becomes precious and important to me. Sometimes record labels and musicians have encountered one of my existing paintings and asked to use it for their release, and on other occasions, I’ve listened to an artists’ music and been inspired to paint new work. It can be the case that the band or solo artist already have an artifact and I work with that. Either way it's always a collaborative and creative process. It is fun and very satisfying for an artist.

Artist or designer for album artwork?
Personally my favourite album artwork uses creators who are artists. I think artists and musicians have a lot in common and there is a lot of synergy there, both in terms of emotion and creativity, and in general attitude to life. I think whether the artwork is a painting, illustration or photography, you still need great design. It can be the same person that helps with consistency but equally it could be another person who does the graphic design.

Digital or analogue art?
They both have their place and I have done both. I think it is less common to see art which has not been created on a computer nowadays. For that reason, analogue physical art stands out because it has a very different feel to digital art. I think physical art is often more expressive and emotionally charged. It’s less likely to be perfect, but those imperfections make it feel more organic. I think when an artist paints on canvas with real paint, the artwork leads you more. The paint will act in certain ways which influences your next decision in the process. When I do digital art I often know what the end result will be before I have started.

Is album art just for signed bands and solo artists?
In my experience, it’s for both. I work with unsigned and signed acts all the time. From my perspective as an artist there is no difference when creating the artwork. A band or artist still wants their finished product to look as professional as possible.



You started doing music videos, how did that come about?
I started doing some art films alongside my painting, and one of the bands I was working with saw it and suggested I do a video for them. It was really fun and I enjoy it. I’ve been making them for 2 or 3 years now.

What’s the best advice you can give to a band or solo artist about the design for an album release?
1. Create your artwork as big as possible at 300 dpi. With physical art it’s less restrictive as you can re-photograph the art as closely as you want. You can’t do that with digital art so make sure it is at least the size of a 12 inch at 300 dpi.
2. With your physical releases make the most of every printed surface. Fans love that attention to detail and will hopefully cherish the release more. The cost of the printing will be exactly the same but the impact will be far greater.
3. Make everything consistent across an album release, including singles, EP, video, merchandise. This will be more visually memorable to potential listeners and fans and will look a lot more professional. This also allows you to create a visual narrative across the campaign.
4. All physical releases have templates. Make sure you get the template from whoever is making your physical release as they are all different.
5. Get creative. You have worked so hard on your music, so make the album artwork as good as the audio delights it is wrapping.


Get in touch with Martin on [email protected] or 07775 758131. Check out his portfolio at artbrutcreative.com