We Come Bearing GIFs… a gallery of brilliant animated album art
Once upon a time, album releases would come with the full packaging. Like, literally. The vinyl record would come in a sturdy cover – sometimes gatefold, which would hold sleeve notes, song lyrics and in some cases stickers (The Velvet Underground & Nico) on them, or cardboard cut-outs within them (The Beatles’ Sgt Peppers).
Back in the day, artists – or at least their record companies – would consider the creation of album art as important as the music itself.
A decade on from The Beatles unleashing the epic cover art that is Sgt Pepper, album art of the late 1970s saw everyone getting in on the aesthetic act – whether it was Pink Floyd featuring businessmen shaking hands – one of them covered in flames (Wish You Were Here), ABBA huddling up in a helicopter all dramatic-style (Arrival), or Blondie making a bold statement in front of a striped wall (Parallel Lines), each work stood out not only for its excellent music but for the images emblazoned on the record sleeves.
The 1980s witnessed the peak of creative album art with Duran Duran, Michael Jackson and Madonna all putting stacks of cash into their cover creations, each carefully considering the ‘message’ they wanted to convey as part and parcel of their music marketing.
It was pre-packaged – but with thought and purpose.
With the advent of the MP3 and downloading, art took a backseat as music became rapidly produced, haphazardly distributed and quickly disposed of – often in a matter of days.
Suddenly, though, there appears to be a resurgence in the desire for quality album art, with some artists opting to present their releases with animated GIFs – making shopping on Apple Music less of a static affair.
Artists who have hopped onto the art-is-good bandwagon include Taylor Swift (Folklore), Beyoncé (Lemonade), Paul McCartney (McCartney III), Gorillaz and The Weeknd.
Today, a striking cover image can mean the difference between someone listening to your music or scrolling right past it.
DIY music makers and bedroom boffins can even create their own animated artwork using software available on sites like rotorvideos.com and Sound Plate. Heck, they might even wish to turn to one particular designer who can whip the magic up for them; that is genius animation artist, Juan Betancourt.
Betancourt (otherwise known as jbetcom) came up with the excellent idea of turning classic album covers (and a couple of contemporary favourites) into animated artworks – and the results are very clever.
Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Betancourt (not to be confused with the Cuban model of the same name) taught himself the basics of animation and, armed with photoshopping software and an absolute love of music, created the following brilliant works.
You can see more at jbetcom.tumblr.com but here are some of my favourites.
Antonino Tati
↑ David Bowie | Aladdin Sane
↑ KISS | Rock And Roll Over
↑ KISS | Kiss
↑ Pink Floyd | The Wall
↑ Pink Floyd | Dark Side Of The Moon
↑ Led Zeppelin | Celebration Day
↑ Def Leppard | Pyromania
↑ Supertramp | Crisis? What Crisis?
↑ Iron Maiden | The Book Of Souls
↑ AC/DC | Fly On The Wall
↑ Alice Cooper | Raise Your Fist And Yell
↑ The Misfits | The Devil’s Rain
↑ Michael Jackson | Dangerous
↑ Lagwagon | Hoss
↑ 2Pac | All Eyez On Me
↑ Nirvana | Nevermind
↑ Public Enemy | Muse Sick ‘N’ Hour Mess Age
↑ The Offspring | Splinter
↑ The Offspring | Americana
↑ Daft Punk | Random Access Memories
↑ Blur | Modern Life Is Rubbish
↑ Coldplay | Parachutes
↑ The Killers | Battle Born
↑ Wolfmother | Victorious
↑ Imagine Dragons | Night Visions
From the Vault: Boy George on bisexuality, butch versus tenderness, and the difficult side of drag
More iconic Kylie costumes and accessories on display at the Australian Music Vault
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
One Response to “We Come Bearing GIFs… a gallery of brilliant animated album art”
[…] Cream published a gallery of glorious animated album artwork: a trend that is seeing the likes of Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, and even Paul McCartney up the ante in […]
LikeLike