90 Comments
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Rebecca D. Martin's avatar

What *gorgeous* album art! Looking forward to listening to the music.

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thank you, Rebecca! I think you'll dig it!

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Jennifer Schmitt's avatar

This is gorgeous and so exciting! Thrilled for you, and for your friend and his beautiful album!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks so much, Jennifer!

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Renee Brown's avatar

This is the COOLEST THING I've heard in ages and you are freaking talented, girl! LOVE THE COVER ART!!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

How nice! Thank you so much, Renee!!!

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Jennie Nash's avatar

OMG this is SO COOL!!!! I love how you got over imposter syndrome -- you went for a RUN! That's how it works! Move your body, loosen your mind, and look what you made!!!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Exactly! Get out of my head and into my body--and the world! Thank you, Jennie!

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Jay Bremyer's avatar

Beautiful cover, beautiful experience, beautiful music. Thanks for the habit of art,

and letting it sing from your heart, and still having a record player for vinyl.

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

I got that record player on Facebook marketplace a while back, and I still find myself shopping for more! I'd buy a new one every week if I had room! (And if Jake let me!) Thanks, Jay!

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Margreet de Heer's avatar

Wow! That's a really good cover! Very evocative! And spot on with the music. Well done, both of you!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks so much, Margreet!

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K. Woodman-Maynard's avatar

Beautiful story, cover art, and music!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks, K! ❤️

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Carol D Marsh's avatar

Congratulations, Kelsey! It's a beautiful album cover.

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks so much, Carol!

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Sravani Saha's avatar

The cover is beautiful! Congratulations 🥂

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thank you, Sravani! ❤️

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Cay Denise's avatar

Congratulations!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks, Cay!

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B.A. Lampman's avatar

As I commented on Instagram, this cover is great. Both mysterious and singular in style and feeling.

To speak to your fear of "ruining it"... I once did an album cover and when it came out, there was a typo on the back cover! That was years ago and I'm still mortified. Turns out the company producing the cover inadvertently used a previous proof and not the final finished cover art 😭.

On a different note, I ordered The Keeper for my daughter's birthday coming up! It was my partner David's idea... he also subscribes to The Habit of Art. The book will go directly to her in Toronto, so I won't get to see it till the next time we visit. WAH.

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thank you, B.A.! And oh gosh, having published several books, I'm still haunted by the occasional typo that got missed! At least it wasn't your fault on the album!

And so fun that you're gifting The Keeper to your daughter! Thanks to David to for thinking of it! xo

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B.A. Lampman's avatar

I meant to mention that our daughter Chloe played soccer growing up, was on the top team for years, etc etc. Hence David's brilliant idea!

I found a small bookstore near to where she lives in TO to order it from, with the intention of surprising her when the book arrived. I kid you not, the day after I orderde it she sent me a message saying "So I found this bookstore near me that I've somehow never seen. When I was leaving they asked my last name, I thought maybe they were creating an account for me. I said Lampman and he said B.A. Lampman? You're already in the system" 🙄

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Oh for pete's sake! What are the chances?! 😂

Well, that's awesome that she was a soccer player! I hope she enjoys the book!

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B.A. Lampman's avatar

I'm sure she will.

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

❤️❤️❤️

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Jen G's avatar

Love it!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks, Jen!

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Linda Lefler's avatar

This is amazing! Beautiful. This is the kind of inspirational story I come to Substack for! Well done.

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks so much, Linda! Agreed about Substack 😊

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Kat Honda Whitham's avatar

How cool! It turned out great! He looks happy. Definitely a dream commission for any artist.

[I just got finished writing discussion prompts this afternoon for your book, The Keeper, because I am teaching it for the first time my Graphic Novels class. It was so fun reading it again.]

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks, Kat! And agreed, he does look happy! Also, that's so cool to get your update on teaching The Keeper! If you need more resources, the Ohio libraries put a nice a page: https://library.ohio.gov/libraries/library-programs-and-development/ctro/keeper

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Kat Honda Whitham's avatar

Thank you!! I'll link it for the students ♥️

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Jacqueline's avatar

What a GREAT story!

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

Thanks, Jacqueline!

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KHM's avatar

Beautiful album art! I had a friend from college reach out to me about doing an album cover and it was quite a fun project. Something a little different - with that same bit of “I’ve never designed an album cover before!!” internal turmoil too ;) but it’s so fun to have something you’re both really proud of :)

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Kelcey Ervick's avatar

How fun that you got to have a similar experience! Part of my concern was related to the tech stuff (CMYK, DPI, etc) because I don't have any real design training, and honestly I did mess some of the specs up and had to keep re-sending things. 😬

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KHM's avatar

Yeah you had it a bit more complicated with it being a physical album release! Mine ended up being digital release only - we made a PNG and a GIF version, which was a really fun exercise. It's a real gift to be able to work with folks who have grace for us in these processes, isn't it! :)

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