Cover Art

When contemplating who would do the cover art for the fleaBITE album people told me a whole new look was the best idea, and I should get someone new.

As the producer of Fatcat & Fishface I was responsible for all visual representations of the songs. Initially I worked with my friend Margaret Feeney to create an original work of art for each album. Margaret and I would meet, throw round ideas, and I’d leave her with some of the new songs to get a feel for the CD. She’d whip up some quick sketches, I’d pick the one I thought worked best, and she got out her oil paints.

At the time Margaret lived in a small house, and set up her easel in the midst of crowded chaos including children and her dog Sparky’s 13 bull mastiff puppies. Margaret did the covers for the albums ‘Horrible Songs for Children’, ‘Selfish Shellfish’, ‘Dogbreath’, ‘Pretty Ugly’ and ‘Meanie’.

When Margaret starting teaching art at university I ‘discovered’ Stephen Templer. His work was displayed on the walls of my local café ‘Deluxe’ and I knew straightaway that his quirky and original style would work for Fatcat & Fishface. Stephen created the artwork for the albums ‘The Bestest & Horriblest Songs for Children’ (a compilation of our first five CDs which became our biggest seller) and went on to direct two of our music clips (‘The Wreck of the Diddley’ and ‘Nightclub’).

I enjoyed working with Stephen, and decided to stick with him for the fleaBITE cover art. I guess that part of ‘success’ for me means working with people I like.

Stephen and I both work quickly. We tend to sit together at the computer in his studio (which he shares with other illustrators) and toss around ideas and laugh and argue intensely for an hour or so. I particularly enjoy watching Stephen transform ideas on the screen in front of me. We always come up something we both like, and his good humored and quirky style is a great visual representation of Fatcat & Fishface’s music.