I really appreciate her, the artwork she's done for Prince are his most professionally, beautifully done releases by far. It must have been heartbreaking for her to see all the tasteless, amateurish covers that came out in later years. Some of them are truly dreadful and a pain to see.

KaresB said:

GirlBrother said:

KaresB said:

It must have been heartbreaking for her to see all the tasteless, amateurish covers that came out in later years. Some of them are truly dreadful and a pain to see.

Yep. Musicology was a low point. Truly awful. Tree branches, a fuzzy photo of Prince, and what looks like MS Word Art. And I remember her name from the album credits, along with Earl Jones "for the hair", and the immaculately-named Margo Chase whom created some of the fonts.

Which font are you referring to? The Lovesexy one?
Because Sign O' The Times, for example, wasn't a computer font, it was hand drawn. (Just as the Purple Rain title, of course.)

I was really hoping she'd say what the Purple Rain font was, I assume it was probably custom made though.

Just pulled out some of my Prince LPs and Laura LiPuma's work really stands out. I love the artwork of Parade, SOTT and Lovesexy.

Though not a fan of the painting itself on ATWIAD, still, the whole album artwork is beautifully done.
I absolutely love the way she made sure there isn't a single letter (not even a catalog number or WB logo) on the actual gatefold cover that would disrupt the artwork - instead, using that extra flip, kind of like an obi-strip. Very cool.

I'm not sure whether she was art director for the Black Album (yes, someone had to do the typography for that one too!), but Black Album and Batman are Prince's last truly professionally done album artworks. (Batman is probably because it was by supervised by the film studio, I assume.)

I found Graffiti Bridge tasteless. The artwork for Diamonds And Pearls was again OK, at least it was professional, but after that it was downhill.

weirdozmedia said:

I was really hoping she'd say what the Purple Rain font was, I assume it was probably custom made though.

There was no "Purple Rain font". It was hand drawn, not computer generated.

KaresB said:

weirdozmedia said:

I was really hoping she'd say what the Purple Rain font was, I assume it was probably custom made though.

There was no "Purple Rain font". It was hand drawn, not computer generated.

I doubt that, there was clearly a typeset made for the liner notes, back cover, etc:

If you look at all the "e's" or "a's" or whatever they're identical.

I'm not sure how the typeset would've been done back then, if they used a computer or not, but by the early 1980s people were definitely doing graphic design on Macs, which helped spur the fanzine boom and such.

[Edited 4/30/16 2:27am]

weirdozmedia said:

KaresB said:

There was no "Purple Rain font". It was hand drawn, not computer generated.

I doubt that, there was clearly a typeset made for the liner notes, back cover, etc:

That is a font indeed, called Mistral. I thought you meant the title lettering.

Yeah I was thinking the title font and liner font were more similar, but you're right the title is totally hand done. And thank you for the "Mistral" ID! I thought I had found the original font years ago but couldn't remember what it was.

mynameisnotsusan said:

By the way, that color purple is officially "PMS265.''

Glad to know this I've just checked my original US copy of the Purple Rain LP against a Pantone scale and the colours are way off, especially on the inner sleeve. Someone at the printing plant should've calibrated the machines a bit better...

[img:$uid]http://i.imgur.com/7fApWrd.jpg[/img:$uid]

Prince's handwritten note to LiPuma.

I'm really curious what picture Prince wanted to use for Parade....

jtfolden said:

jtfolden said:

I'm really curious what picture Prince wanted to use for Parade....

I gather it was one of the other pictures in the same photo shoot

[Snip - luv4u]

KaresB said:

laurarichardson said:

KaresB said:

I really appreciate her, the artwork she's done for Prince are his most professionally, beautifully done releases by far. It must have been heartbreaking for her to see all the tasteless, amateurish covers that came out in later years. Some of them are truly dreadful and a pain to see.

--- Once again someone who does not understand the difference between being an independent artist and having an budget from the record label.

So that means the people who he employed after leaving WB were not qualified to do decent atwork?'

it seems so

Iamtheorg said:

laurarichardson said:

KaresB said: --- Once again someone who does not understand the difference between being an independent artist and having an budget from the record label.

So that means the people who he employed after leaving WB were not qualified to do decent atwork?'

it seems so

That's not what she's saying. But at the same time, Prince became who he was after becoming independent. He could have afforded to hire a real drummer, for instance. But instead, his money was put into other areas. Not in artwork, or websites, or hiring people that could fulfill orders in a timely manner. It's always the little things that stand out and tarnish a legacy of a great artist. With Prince, it was the choices he made in both who participated in his music, and on a much smaller scale -- the artwork of his releases post-WB.

jtfolden said:

I'm really curious what picture Prince wanted to use for Parade....

I just need to continue a thought from the other thread that is very important, but that thread is locked so I can't say it there so I have to say it here because it's important...

WE ALL succumb to ice cream! It's wonderful, & not on the same basement level as true junk food (Doritos & Ding Dongs)

SO THERE



it had to be said

Iamtheorg said:

laurarichardson said:

Iamtheorg said:

So that means the people who he employed after leaving WB were not qualified to do decent atwork?'

it seems so

--- ( Yes, many of the people who worked for him post WB said they were not qualiifed for their jobs. Steve Parke has said this many times.

Steve was decent..its after Steve that things really became disasterous art-wise imho

CalhounSq said:

I just need to continue a thought from the other thread that is very important, but that thread is locked so I can't say it there so I have to say it here because it's important...

WE ALL succumb to ice cream! It's wonderful, & not on the same basement level as true junk food (Doritos & Ding Dongs)

SO THERE



it had to be said

come on now chica...it wasnt healthy choice brand..and yeah its probably in a different class than ding dongd and doritos (that sounds like a song title lol) but still..

Iamtheorg said:

CalhounSq said:

I just need to continue a thought from the other thread that is very important, but that thread is locked so I can't say it there so I have to say it here because it's important...

WE ALL succumb to ice cream! It's wonderful, & not on the same basement level as true junk food (Doritos & Ding Dongs)

SO THERE



it had to be said

come on now chica...it wasnt healthy choice brand..and yeah its probably in a different class than ding dongd and doritos (that sounds like a song title lol) but still..

I stand by my statement - an ice cream moment, hell, a full on sundae moment is not in the same class as Doritos & Ding Dongs

I mean, really - who can NOT eat ice cream?? (except the few crazy people who don't like it)