Specials
Mike Bukowski: designing punk
posted by: Tim de tweede on 18 April 2007
Look at the artwork of your favourite hardcore records of the last couple of years. Chances are that the design of at least one of them is done by Mike Bukowski. And it’s always quite clear which records he did, because of his very distinct style. Currently, he’s one of the household names in hardcore graphic design, one of the people that is emulated so much that there’s even talk about a “Bukowski-style” of graphics. At this point Mike is more or less full-time designing hardcore and punk related things, whether it being flyers, posters, record sleeves or shirts.
For this to happen, there are two main ingredients. First off, you need to have a profound love for hardcore. And that’s quite the case. He started out listening to heavy music early on: “Well, when I was really young, like nine years old, I was really into Iron Maiden and Twisted Sister because of my older stepbrothers. Then, when they got out of metal, they started telling me that it was all about devil worship, I got scared and stopped listening. Then around the time I was eleven, I got back into metal, then death metal, then Victory records type metal crossover, then youth crew, then punk and hardcore.”
Secondly, and even more importantly, you also need to have talent and skills to actually made it. Mike was pretty much trained as an artist; he graduated from the University of the Arts in 2001. But to actually get a break as a designer, you have to start somewhere. There needs to be that one band that gives you your first designing job, even if it isn’t a conscious career move. “I didn't plan on anything, really. I just wanted to make work, NEEDED to make work and I was into punk and hardcore. All my friends were. And a few of them had bands... bands that needed artwork.” That’s how things started, with befriended bands needing artwork. The first was either Shark Attack or R.A.M.B.O. He isn’t quite sure anymore which of the two came first: “The Shark Attack record was first, I think. And I was friends with both bands beforehand. But I was really good friends with Tony and Andy from R.A.M.B.O.. Andy and I were in the same year at University of Arts and I knew Tony through Andy and from going to shows at this house (at the time) Stalag 13.”
The relation between R.A.M.B.O. and Mike Bukowski went a bit further than just doing artwork for a band. It was a complete package. That’s how Mike ended up as ‘head of propaganda’ for the band. “The idea was that R.A.M.B.O. was an idea, rather then just music. All the output had meaning. We looked at my involvement with the band the same way as Gee with Crass – even though I’m nowhere near as talented as he is.”
After that, things really gradually turned into a something more and more serious. Doing hardcore and punk related artwork turned into a career, without any planning behind it. “While I was in university, our teachers would talk about how important it is to get your work out there and get jobs. But most of them dismissed the fact that I was already doing that. By my sophomore year, I had illustrated three records. I also didn’t think it was that big of a deal until bands started offering me money and I started doing it more regularly. So I guess it just sort of snuck up on me.”
It’s still not a full-time job, yet. Even though he’s not in this to become rich, there’s still a need to get paid. “I still have a part time job, but a lot of bands offer me a decent amount. The problem is that a lot of people don’t realize how much time an effort goes into a record cover. So when you take that into account and then divide the cost by 4 or 5 band members it’s not that much.”
But Mike Bukowski still is a hardcore kid in his choice of work. “Even though I sometimes work for bands that I’m not really into myself, I try to make sure that everybody knows that I won’t do artwork for bands that have racist, sexist or homophobic lyrics. I’m sure someone will slip through at some point but I’m trying my hardest to avoid that.” One of the difficult issues is whether or not he is willing to work for Christian hardcore bands, since he expressed rather clearly in an interview with AMP #18 that he doesn’t think that religion and hardcore have anything to with each other. “My decision to do artwork for such a band, I guess, world depend on their lyrical content. For instance, Comeback Kid is, in essence, a Christian band. But I explained to them my problem with religion (specifically Christianity) in hardcore and some of the prejudices that come with it. The band assured me they didn’t hold any of those prejudices and neither have any overtly religious themes in their lyrics.”
For someone who’s not directly involved in the process of making artwork, the process behind it is rather unclear. For instance, does the actual record form a source of inspiration? “Unfortunately, I don’t get to listen to the record in question that often beforehand, because of time constraints. Sometimes people have ideas of their own and sometimes they just let me do whatever I want. in those cases I draw influences from books and movies I watch as well as other artists.” This makes me wonder if there’s any difference per se between two record sleeves. For instance, to what extent is a cover for a Comeback Kid record a different design than that of a Palehorse record? “Well, I hadn’t listened to either band before designing their artwork, so basically it’s just my whims that were different.”
So in the work of Bukowski, much of the inspiration for the artwork doesn’t come directly from the music, but from outside sources. One main influence is, obviously, horror movies. However, where in horror-movies the victims are mainly female, the artwork basically always deals with male victims. “That's definitely deliberate. I don’t enjoy horror movies with stereotypes of dumbfounded women being pursued by testosterone driven male murderers.”
Besides horror, the abundance of birds in his design is also pretty obvious. “I feel a lot of artists use birds to represent things like freedom, or crows to represent death and destruction, and have been doing that for centuries. But they're very prominent in punk and hardcore because most of us are trying to get away from a world we don’t fit into. Or we feel like the world we could fit or accept us into is dead or dying.”
So the imagery of his designs is clearly linked to what hardcore is about, in his eyes. For instance the images of sewn shut mouths and zombies in suit and tie are clearly about this as well. However, that is not only about the ‘standard message of hardcore and punk’: “More specifically, that’s my personal beliefs. Designing is my only contribution, so this is how I express myself, and add to the hardcore pantheon. I try to express what I’m about and what I think that hardcore is about. There’s mostly a similarity between my artwork and punk and hardcore in message, or at least I hope so. The tentacle monsters may be a stretch though...”
Considering that there’s a fair deal of repeated imagery in his work, combined with a similar style of work, it could start to become a bit boring for himself to do the same thing over and over again. Which makes me wonder how he keeps things interesting for himself? “I try to do something unusual and unexpected every once in a while. The Blood I Bleed record was exciting, because it was just a building. I felt like it was a challenge. The Walk the Plank records as well. Ocean animals are a far cry from zombies. However, I embraced it and I think that that work is some of my best. I do like that my style is recognizable and I don’t think its a bad thing. I do try to improve the quality of my work all the time, though. I think my work from this year looks better then last years, and the year before that, etcetera.”
Becoming well known within a certain style of work does have another side, too. Seeing that “Bukowski-esque” has become some sort of a standard style of hardcore graphics, there are actually other people that are working in the same style. I asked Mike how he feels about becoming almost a role-model for hardcore graphic design, together with Derek Hess and Jacob Bannon, for instance. “It's flattering, but it bothers me. It's like all the Pushead rip-offs I see out there. Like that Florian dude. Subject matter is one thing, but to co-opt someone else’s style is offensive. Do something original. You will make hardcore more interesting that way.”
More information on the work of Mike Bukowski, visit his new and improved website www.lastchanceillustration.com. And if you are interested in having him doing artwork for your band, label or whatever, get in touch with him via michael_bukowski@hotmail.com.
Interview by Tim
Views: 4535
Comments
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| kissthegoat |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (10:31) |
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mooi spul
ik kreeg voor mijn verjaardag de originele tekening van hem, die hij voor de seein red-kriegstanz-bury the living show had gemaakt
hij heeft ook nog eens een tattoo ontwerp voor me gmeaakt, maar ik twijfel nog steeds of ik het ga geruiken |
| ShaiRoelud |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (10:34) |
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| Cool interview! |
| Pim |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (10:38) |
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| Cool interview. Qua tekeningen vind ik het vaak erg cool. Jammer dat de typografie die hij dan gebruikt, zo ontzettend slecht is. Niet dat ik daar een held in ben, maar toch. |
| the white owl |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (10:49) |
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| Goed interview en mooie tekeningen |
| Bas Lochorn |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (10:50) |
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| Die Palehorse hoes is wel erg beïnvloed door Pushead. Ik herken zijn stijl wel in de overige hoezen, maar als iemand me vertede dat die Palehorse van Pushead was, geloofde ik het zo... |
| ernesto |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (10:53) |
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| Harde gast ook, met heel veel humor. Da's het enige jammere aan dit interview, hij lijkt zo humorloos. |
| koentor |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (11:10) |
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"The problem is that a lot of people don’t realize how much time an effort goes into a record cover."
herkenbaar als een malle, maar dan fotografisch gezien.
cool interview inderdaad  dit ga ik nog eens ergens voor gebruiken indien dat mag. |
| frankie deny |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (11:17) |
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| erg cool interview. Ik ben erg fan van deze dude. Wel lastig om niet op z'n werk te lijken als je net wat hoezen hebt zitten bekijken. Vooral z'n inkleur techniek wil ik nog eens nadoen. Dus dat doe ik maar niet meer. |
| michiel |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (11:24) |
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| Talentvol mannetje. Jammer dat ie vrijwel uitsluitend full color hoezen doet die echt TE photoshop zijn, zwart wit/steunkleur ziet er bij zijn stijl veel ruiger uit. |
| Bricktop |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (11:30) |
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| Cool interview! |
| chrisofexile |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (12:12) |
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| Zitten wel mooie designs bij, vooral van Palehorse (waar dat echt op Pushead lijkt weet ik niet, want zijn stijl is echt heel anders) en Walk the Plank. |
| Nico |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (12:31) |
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| mooi interview.! Ik ben de laatste tijd behoorlijk uitgekeken op de tekeningen van deze vent. |
| killingcupid |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (13:00) |
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Tof om ook dit soort interviews te doen.
Verder vind ik hem als illustrator wel goed, al hou ik ook niet van die photoshop-afwerking. En typografisch gezien is het idd niet erg boeiend. |
| michiel |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (13:13) |
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| Als die Palehorse hoes niet door Pushead beivloed is, eet ik m'n pet op. Verder is het uiteraard geen exacte kopie, zoals "that Florian dude" het doet. |
| pils |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (14:23) |
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| shark attack!! |
| davy |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (14:49) |
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| die hoes, die hij voor ons heeft gemaakt, kostte uiteindelijk teveel tijd en ik was niet echt onder de indruk van 't eindresultaat. verder aardige gast, maar wel vrij 'eager' als het om geld ging. |
| tim-LOW |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (15:09) |
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| Ik ben wel redelijk fan, hoewel ik het af en toe een beetje teveel van hetzelfde vind... |
| the white owl |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (15:46) |
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| ik vind eigenlijk zijn laatste werk wel weer goed, ik was uitgekeken op de zombies in pak, maar nu wordt het wat gekker en dat staat me dan wel weer aan |
| moshmaster EBC |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (15:53) |
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Zitten wel mooie designs bij, vooral van Palehorse (waar dat echt op Pushead lijkt weet ik niet, want zijn stijl is echt heel anders) en Walk the Plank.
[img]http://revhq.com/images/covers/250/vic034.jpg[/img |
| Lucas |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (16:13) |
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| Toffe art van die kerel, die Palehorse hoes is inderdaad Pushead stylo, maar dat vind ik helemaal niet erg. |
HopeKillsDream
s |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (17:51) |
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| die van sparkle of hope is ook niet mis. wel veel dezelfde stijl. zombie bloed blablabla |
| RickBoemTick |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (18:45) |
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| Mooi spul wat hij maakt altijd. Ondanks wat hij zelf zegt heb ik vaak het idee dat hij qua stijl (begrijpelijk) maar ook qua vooruitgang blijft hangen. Desondanks: mooi werk! |
| artoo |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (19:11) |
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| die van reproach is ook wel vet. |
| Duncan |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (19:53) |
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| wel verrassend dat hij van sommige bands de muziek niet eens geluisterd heeft voor hij begint. |
stillliveindan
ger |
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Posted on 18.04.2007 (20:22) |
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| Ik geef 'm daar geen ongelijk in. |
| VH |
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Posted on 19.04.2007 (08:57) |
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| Gave stijl, dat zeker. Maar ik heb het idee dat die hoofdrolspeler van Monsters Inc. ook zo heet... |
| Lord Wanhoop |
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Posted on 19.04.2007 (11:01) |
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| Lord Wanhoop |
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Posted on 19.04.2007 (11:02) |
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| Voor KYE heeft hij de 7"/mcd gedaan. Wat betreft afwerking liet het te wensen over, maar de illustratie was echt supertof! |
| Violent Power |
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Posted on 19.04.2007 (12:43) |
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Qua stijl lijkt het echt totaal niet op Pushead ook dat paardenhoofd niet.
Ik vind sommige dingen erg tof, maar ik heb het inmiddels ook wel weer een beetje gezien. Die Walk the Plank was wel supercool trouwens. |
| Jan035 |
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Posted on 20.04.2007 (17:09) |
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| Coole homepage heeft die vent. Nooit geweten dat KYE uit België kwam! |
| Moos |
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Posted on 21.04.2007 (18:33) |
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| die panic shirts waren cool. voor de rest niet echt boeiend. |
| xBILLYx |
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Posted on 22.04.2007 (09:52) |
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| heel vette artwork idd! |
| Onnovdw |
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Posted on 23.04.2007 (10:16) |
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| leuk verhaal. goed geschreven! |
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