The other day I was making a Switchfoot graphic when it hit me... I am SO inspired artistically by Switchfoot and their music. I know a lot of you guys are too. So why not express that to Switchfoot? What if we got a bunch of fans to make all kinds of art inspired by Switchfoot songs? Be that a photoshop graphic, a photograph, a drawing, a poem, a song, a painting, a wallpaper... anything artistic!
And what if we took that art and put it together in a book to give Switchfoot?
So that is just we did. We had fans from all over the globe submit art, poems, photos, and graphics for the project. It was amazing!
The project was delivered to the guys at the April 6th show in Bourbonnais, IL. They absolutley loved it!
Here is the full story:
Delivering the Art Project - By Jeanna:
I ended up giving the book to Jon first. After we chatted for a bit, I presented him with the art book. He was blown away.
You could tell he was really touched. He had sort of an awed and moved look on his face.
"Wow! This is incredible!" he kept saying. "We have the most talented fans in the world. Thank you so much.
This will go on the coffee table of our new studio. Thank you." He was so appreciative and he called Chad over to
look at it too. They looked through the book and they really loved the all of the drawings.
Tyler's Lonely Nation drawing got a big reaction, as did Nicole's drawing of the Fall EP tree
(Tim said later that it reminded him of an old poster they used to have). Jon was really impressed with Jenna's
portrait of himself and he also loved Jessica's "When The World Caves In" photo.
(I'm sharing these things not to exclude anyone or make anyone feel left out, but I just want the people to
know how much their individual art was admired. Jon flipped through the book, he didn't go through it page by page,
so that is why certain art got more recognition.) They loved Luthien's Drew "I ARE AWESOME" sketch and they were very
impressed with Katrina's shadow box.
Chad: "It's like the one video we did..."
Me: "Awakening?"
Chad: "YEAH! Our Awakening video!"
Here is a video of Jon looking at the book!
(I apologize in advance for my voice. I normally don't sound like that; I was just REALLY REALLY hoarse that night.)
The video begins midway through Jon and Chad's story about how a fan gave Drew a shirt that said "SORRY I'M AWESOME."
As you probably heard in the video, I asked Jon if I could take a photo of him with the book.
He said I had to be in it with him, so just try to ignore my presence in this photo!:
We talked for a little more, then Jon told the corniest joke in the history of the world.
Sorry Jon, but it was BAD.
It went like this:
Jon: "So a bear walks into a bar and he goes up the counter and" - *here Jon slams his fist down on imaginary counter and pauses for about 5 seconds* -
"says 'I'd like to order some ale.' And the barkeeper goes 'Okay, but why the long pause (paws)?"
You can groan. I did.
Jon said he loved corny jokes.
Yeah, okay Jon.
Tim came up next. We talked for awhile, and then I presented him with the book
(I had taken the book back from Jon for this purpose.) He also loved it and said that the book would DEFINITELY be
looked at during bus trips. He was blown away by some of the art and he really seemed to like it. He was really touched
by the effort that went into the project and thanked me several times for it. He even recognized Luthien's submission
from seeing it on the boards. So then we took a photo:
It took Tim awhile to decide which art he wanted to hold up in the photo with him, but he finally decided on that
piece! It's one of my favorites as well.
Next up was Romey. I took the photobook back from Tim and then brought it to Romey. He LOVED it.
He couldn't get over the talent of the fans. Here is Romey's photo with the book:
He also liked Luthiens sketch ^ and commented that his hair was different now.
I took the book back from Romey, after which he admonished me, "Just don't keep it! We want it back!" *laughs* and
I headed over to talk to Drew. After we chatted, I gave him the book, explaining that fans from all over the globe
had sent in art work.
"No! NO WAY! NO WAY!" he kept saying. He loved it. He went through the book page by page pointing out things that
he liked on each photo. Chad, Tim, Romey and Andy all gathered around and the six of us looked through the book together.
That was neat as it gave me the opportunity to talk a little bit about the background of some of the submissions as well
as the artists.
Here is a video of us looking at the book:
Here is a photo of Drew with the book:
Next, a video of Drew thanking the fans for the Art Book!
I regret that I didn't get a photo of Chad with the book, but I was talking to Drew for so long that he slipped off
before we could get him.
To sum up...the guys LOVED the book and they were very, very touched at the effort that was made toward it.
I think we can count that as another successful LOBH project!
