Born to Letter

The Born and Raised album cover created for John Mayer, by British lettering artist David Smith. Mayer, who has some experience in graphic design, asked Smith to include coins watches, flowers and ribbons in his illustration. The pencil artwork, vectoring and Photoshop work took roughly one month to complete, according to Smith, and he claims it has been one of the most enjoyable projects he has worked on to date due to Mayer's involvement.
     Smith is a long-time lettering artist and self-described traditional ornamental glass artist. Based upon his lettering skills and style, you would think he is 120 years old. He began his career as a signpainter in 1984 at age 16, but later sold that business at the peak of his career, in order to concentrate more fully on his passion for creating elaborate lettering on glass and mirrors. He loves his work and wishes to share his knowledge and processes of Victorian cut glass and gilding work with other craftsmen who appreciate this nearly lost art. Much of his work is very well documented on his website where you can also purchase some of Smiths' font designs and vector scrolls and catch some nice videos of him working. Truly inspiring! 

::Thanks to Design Work Life for this great entry.