Rolling Stone Magazine Reviews Project

Steven Charny, Senior Art Director for Rolling Stone Magazine visited SCAD's Savannah and Atlanta campuses this fall quarter. He gave a very interesting presentation and lecture about his early career, and especially his time at Rolling Stone. He and Professor Julie Lieberman, from the Savannah campus, put together a project with SCAD Illustration students from Savannah and Atlanta to create illustrations for the illustration-driven Reviews section of the magazine.

Initially, the project was to be in support of an article about Avril Lavigne's new release "Goodbye Lullaby". But just as the project got underway, the news broke that megaband Radiohead was to release their new album, "The King of Limbs" this year. So, the project quickly shifted gears and became a Radiohead illustration; Thom Yorke and the four other band members and some sort of reference, blatant or subliminal, to an ancient tree in the UK that the album pays homage to. The album takes its name from a 1,000-year-old tree in Wiltshire, England's Savernake Forest. That forest is found near Tottenham House, which is where the British band recorded part of "In Rainbows".
So, students from both campuses submitted thumbnails to Steven, and he replied to each student who submitted, offering direction on every sketch. The students then polished their concepts on the strongest sketches and  submitted them for approval. It was as real-world as it gets, complete with revisions, outright re-dos, and very tight deadlines, all the while having to produce flawless likenesses and smart, conceptually compelling images with professional quality execution.

Here are the results:

Solongo Mellecker's acrylics on wood painting was one of two that were given the highest student ratings. Steven said: "This one was definitely in the running. Just coincidentally it really fit well with the headline. The likeness is perfect and the color and technique are quite beautiful. I love the idea of actually painting it on wood grain. It really came down to this one and the Buzelli, but the art director picked the Buzelli. This is someone I could see using for something down the road. Nice job!".


Kari Brooks' piece was also a very close contender. Here's what Steven said about Kari's beautiful digital painting: "This was one of the two really outstanding illustrations that could have easily been published by us. Really nicely done—good technique, perfect likenesses, nice composition, simple but on target."


Here are the other student submissions in no particular order:

































While the student work was very strong, they decided to go with a pro who was also working on the article. Here is the Chris Buzelli piece that will be published.


Congratulations to all who participated! All-in-all it was a very strong effort by everyone, and we are very proud of each of you. And thanks to Steven Charny of Rolling Stone and Prof. Julie Lieberman for facilitating this terrific project. It was a great experience for all, and I hope this can be an ongoing collaborative effort between the students of SCAD's Illustration Department and Rolling Stone Magazine for many years to come.