I was contacted by a client to create web-based branding illustrations for two of his musical projects: "Strange Matter", where he is part of a production duo; and "Rum & Monkey", which is his personal venture. The brief was quite similar across the board, very open ended, and basically required me to explore the name creatively and create striking branding graphics in my style to be used for social media, primarily consisting of cover/banner images, versatile profile images, and logo-style emblems to go.

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For the cover images I thought to create visual representations of the members as mascots, interacting with their surroundings based on the first impressions, created by dissecting the alias names. Strange Matter, being sci-fi and space driven, and Rum & Monkey, having an almost Caribbean feel with open waters.

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For versatility, I wanted to create the profile images in a square format with a central circular holding device, as most online platforms require either a square or circle profile picture. The content of the profile images are taken from aspects of the cover images for a sense of continuity.

The theme portrays two mysterious characters (the two members of the group) collecting raw energy orbs, or 'strange matter', on a desolate alien planet. It is assumed that the matter is a form of mana that, when consumed, passes on some form of supernatural power or life force. The characters are portrayed as traveling scavengers, that roam the planet in search of the ambiguous 'matter'. The profile image is one of the energy orbs splitting open to reveal the alias name. Geometric linework is used as a textural element in the illustrations to further convey the sci-fi and futuristic look and feel.

For this theme we decided to go with the idea that the 'monkey' was a passenger on a cruise ship. The ship is shown sinking in the background, which could have been caused by the devious character. He is the only one present in the scene, sitting calmly in a life boat with a bottle of rum, drifting off into the sunset. Bottles and crates full of rum from the ship's cargo are floating in the water around him. This also influenced the direction for the profile image, as I decided to portray it as one of the crates that has a big sticker with the logo emblem printed on it.

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