Eric Clapton's 'Old Sock'

↳ Click on or rollover the image above for a magnified view

We've been lucky enough to have the occasional chance to work for some of our true music idols, and in the case of this project, we had the chance to work with a true music icon, Eric Clapton. For his new album, 'Old Sock', Clapton designed his own album artwork, mainly consisting of iPhone self-portraits and images of his own backyard. To make the project especially exciting, the album would also mark the first Clapton album to be released by an independent label, San Diego's very own Surfdog Records. For the album release, we were tasked with illustrating a portrait of Clapton based on his own photo. Portraits are always tricky in terms of how a subject wants to be represented, and in this case, we went through a few variations of the illustration - some depicted Clapton as a young man and some at his current age. He eventually chose to be depicted at his current age because as David Bowie calls him, Clapton has become an 'Old Sock'.

This poster will not be available for sale through our website as it was used exclusively for promoting the album in independent record stores and as gifts for the production team. However, for a limited time, you can check out the artwork in person at your local Starbucks. The poster is a three color screen print and below are some close up images of the finished print, our initial sketch along with the album cover the illustration was inspired by.