Fascination

62 seconds mark the beginning of this story, a short video of Sxin casually performing a melodic idea in his room. Nothing spectacular at first glance. What made it stand out was not only the melody itself, but utilizing a newly found flip to an already unique vocal technique. The fascination was shared worldwide gathering over 20 million views and over 3 million likes on social media.
Sxin decided to turn the idea into a full a capella track. Shaped by the very medium that made it possible, he invited his audience to take part in designing the cover art to share the spotlight.

Cloudwalker

The briefing was beautifully vague: "A figure, floating towards the sun, maybe playing a trumpet." Seeing the opportunity, I submitted two different versions – one behaved, the other didn't. The first version followed his description closely while the second took more artistic freedom, or defiance some might say. But guess what? The risk paid off as the latter resonated with him and proceeded to win the contest, becoming the song's official cover across all platforms.

Brainstorm

Following the successfull release of Cloudwalker, Sxin approached me again for the artwork of his next track. This time, the musical direction shifted. Instead of a single-layer a capella piece, the composition became denser, more layered, and emotionally charged. Naturally, the visual direction had to evolve with it.
My approach moved towards stronger contrasts, more dramatic compositions and a clearer emphasis on atmosphere, aiming to translate the intensity of the sound. Three drafts were needed to find the perfect fit for Sxin's unwritten vision.

Approach

For this series, I deliberately leaned into a more illustrative and surrealistic direction, somewhere between dream and distortion. Because last time I checked, humans couldn't float.
The process itself is less linear than it might look. It usually starts with framents: finding and compositing photographs that don't quite belong together. In Photoshop, I begin to merge them into something that feels slightly off. It should be intriguing in a way that makes you look twice. From there, Illustrator becomes my tool for translation. The expressive mess needs to be reduced and stylized into something more readable and cohesive looking.
My finishing touches happen in Photoshop again. Because in the modern world, perfection and clean vectors are starting to become boring and less expressive. The human touch is achieved through textures and controlled imperfections. After all, I don't want it to look like a boomer generated a funny idea they had with AI. Sorry boomers, nothing personal.