Photography by Mary Howard
“Being empathetic in this business will help you last; that’s how I feel at least. A client works with you for a reason; they like what you do. The ability to listen well, see things from their viewpoints, be proactive, and have a diverse skill set will only advance you. You gotta trust your gut and be like Evel Knievel, go for it.”
Eventually, when the software company MasterClass brings Casey Howard on as an instructor for a graphic design course, the quote above should be his trailer leadoff.
If science prevailed as his initial interest, Howard would be on a career path his father set upon, and this article wouldn’t exist. But alas, no! Comics and the illustrations from the ’80s, Monday morning cartoons like GI Joe, Transformers, and He-Man & The Masters of the Universe sent shockwaves through his young, impressionable skull. The course was set!
So, how did the combination of music and animation grab his interest? American Tail, remember that? That movie made me weep; the power of those images drawn in with those painted images was so striking to me. That’s what got me into animation and caused me to go to school for it.”
Howard has flown under the radar of the design world for a long while. You may not be familiar with his name, but you’ve likely seen his work in a record store, a merch booth, or on the back of someone at a gig. He bleeds work ethic and ideas and understood early on that talent only takes you so far, with the rest determined by sweat equity. It’s the reason he’s still in demand as a freelancer along with being an art director for WMG, where his responsibilities include all graphic concepts, developments, and implementation of the enterprise, music merchandise operation.
This pathway has seen him work for names like Paul McCartney, Alice in Chains, Mastodon, Bruno Mars, Green Day, QOTSA, and many others. After hours, his freelance life leans consistently to the heavier side of the music world with merchandise, poster illustrations, and album artwork done for The Residents, The Lungs, Sargent House Records, Turbonegro, and Against The Grain, among others.
He was born in Utah and now resides with his family in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. In his off-hours, he’s busy illustrating his ideas for fun or creating paintings ripe with lucid landscapes of dripping flesh humanoids, smoke-laden trees, and depictions of demigod cats. It’s like Swamp Thing walked into a White Zombie music video.
He’s even more of a homebody these days with a new, 16-month-old daughter in his life, and the COVID outbreak has allowed him to have more time with her. He doesn’t hold back his thoughts on this. “It sucks with what’s going on with this virus, but man, I don’t know when I’ll get this much time with her, that’s a silver lining for me and a big gift.”
It’s clear he’s working with many different artists from differing genres, each one’s audience having different traits. That’s opened some doors for Howard on how he’s seen artists approach different sides of themselves from another format.
“Doing all these graphics for different bands has been interesting over the years. You’re seeing sides of them they’re not public about and in indirect ways. They either want merch that will sell or merch they want to wear themselves; it’s a different mindset with its own approach. I’ve been doing this for a long time. The great thing about that is it allowed me to try my hand in several styles like clean/sharp type-driven graphics, fully painted scenery, and even crusty DIY punk scrawls.
“The biggest takeaway to make them happy is to remove yourself from the process; it’s all about the artist. This job is their design first and foremost, and I need to convey their message and put the energy/vibe of their music into some visual form. For someone like Alice in Chains, their music is as serious as it gets, but they use their merch to show their sense of humor and sarcasm.”
With everything Howard has done, he still eyes what got him involved “Comics, man. It’s what got me into drawing and will always be my first love in this world.”
Any takers? For more information and a full display of his work, visit Casey Howard’s portfolio.
