Our new title, Chikaramanga "Doronko Beats" will be out in mid May. The artwork for this title was done by Mookie Sato, an Illustrator and graphic designer based in Kyoto, Japan (his bio is posted at the end of this blog). Mookie has a few different styles in his art, but the one that has gained the most recognition is probably his Polynesian Tiki style art. I met Mookie through my wife several years ago when Mookie visited LA for his art show. We have been talking about doing a project together, but haven’t actually had a chance until this album. During the time I was mixing tracks for Doronko Beats, I saw a design Mookie posted on his Instagram. At that time, I had the name for the album, Doronko Beats (Doronko means “dirt” in Japanese), but did not have a clear idea for artwork. Here is the design I saw on Mookie’s instagram.
It was a flier design for an event at a buddhist temple in Japan. When I saw this, an idea of the artwork came to me. The idea was a drawing with a kid playing with dirt as kids playing with water from a fire hydrant in Miles Davis “Water Babies” artwork.
I thought the style he had for the flier would be perfect for it. I explained the idea to Mookie. He liked the idea and agreed to do the artwork for Doronko Beats.
First, he came up with a rough idea of the design.
Then, he came up with an updated version with more details.
We decided to have the title in Katakana Japanese letters and place both title and artist name on the sleeve. Then, he came up with different coloring for this version.
I liked the black version the best.
He did the back cover design as well as the front cover. The track list on the back cover as well as the title and artist name was hand written by Mookie. He also did the layout of the entire artwork in the classic TRES 12” format; placing TRES logo on the lower right corner on the front cover and the standard spine design.
I like how it came out! Thank you, Mookie san!
Check out Mookie's artwork on his website and instagram.
Chikara
Mookie Sato
Mookie is an Illustrator and graphic designer based in Kyoto Japan. His inspiration comes from Polynesian-pop, Tiki culture, Mid-century art, classic cartoons, and the music from the period between 20's and the 60's.
Mookie has collaborated with many international brands such as Vans, Beams, Mooneyes, and Sun Surf. He has also designed official characters for renowned organizations such as All Japan Judo Federation and Ski Association of Japan. In the recent years, he has been busy traveling the world for his art shows. Mookie was recently featured in “The Art of Tiki,” a passionate study of the Tiki idol as an art form.