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Coldplay for Rolling Stone

OCTOBER 18, 2011
Coldplay/14"x24"/oil on panel

It's always a thrill to get a call from Steven Charny to illustrate the Rolling Stone music review section. This one was for Coldplay's new album called Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay was being very secretive about their new album and all we had to go with was this mysterious album title and their first single release called Paradise. I'm really proud to be a part of this special issue. The cover has a great unrecognizable pic of Steve Jobs as a young hippie genius. The inside is covered with about 15 illustrated gems by Thomas Fuchs of famous musicians and their favorite songs. As well as a perfectly short and focused article about Occupy Wall Street with a common sense list of demands by Matt Taibbi called My Advice to the Protesters.
Sketches - Steven chose the 2nd sketch with Chris Martin at his signature "Charlie Brownesque" piano. The one problem was that a botanical theme was used in the previous issue and he requested some sort of "rainbows and stars" in place of the flowers.

Revised sketch / Final under-drawing

Huge thanks to Steven for including me in his Society of Illustrators presentation a few weeks ago. I also just got a confirmation email yesterday that Jann Wenner, the co-founder and publisher of Rolling Stone, has purchased and now owns the original painting.
© 2024 Chris Buzelli