Painting an album I hadn’t heard.
Creative Direction · Narrative Illustration · Original Painting
Through conversations about the story and characters, I created eighteen original paintings for Coheed and Cambria’s The Afterman: Ascension and Descension before hearing the finished music. The paintings carried that narrative into the accompanying book and a public exhibition, giving listeners another way into the world of the records.
01 / LISTENING BEFORE HEARING
Finding the image through conversation.
Because unreleased recordings couldn’t be freely shared, our collaboration began with conversation rather than sound. Coheed and Cambria’s creator and lead signer and guitarist Claudio Sanchez would describe what a song meant, what was happening within the story, or simply how it should feel.
My job was to listen closely enough to find an image inside that description.
Evagria the Faithful. Finished painting.
Early studies exploring the characters, composition, and emotional center of the track.
02 / BUILDING THE AFTERMAN
Every track opened another door.
Each song called for its own image, with characters, settings, and an emotional tone drawn from the story. Across the eighteen paintings, I developed recurring forms and symbols that connected those moments within the larger narrative.
03 / THE BOOK
Following the story between tracks.
The finished paintings became part of a larger book experience built around the two records. Stories, artwork and developmental sketches let listeners move through The Afterman song by song and see pieces of the visual process behind the finished world.
04 / INTO THE ROOM
The paintings met the audience.
The original paintings went on view in Santa Monica, where Coheed and Cambria also performed for fans. The exhibition brought the artwork and music together in person, taking a collaboration that began in conversation into a room full of listeners.
Dark Side of Me
The Afterman: Descension
NATHAN SPOOR
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
