Tristan Greatrex
Tristan Greatrex (born July 29, 1960), is an English graphic designer, and technical illustrator. He is best known for his work on album covers for musicians which he began creating in the early 1990's.
Life and work
Tristan was born in Bracknell, Berkshire. He was educated at Bearwood College School and after studying Maths and Physics 'A' levels, went into Engineering Draughting. He studied Mechanical and Production Engineering at Bracknell and Wokingham College and gained his HNC in 1982. After spending some time as an Engineering Draughtsman, he discovered Apple Macintosh Computers in 1988 and was 'blown away' by the software Adobe Illustrator v1.1. With this new found creativity, he concentrated on Technical Illustration using themedium Vector Art. Some time was spent contracting to various Computer Companies which eventually led into full time freelance work for various companies creating Interactive CD-ROM titles, the highlight being responsible for the creation of the Fawlty Towers CD-ROM games for BBC Worldwide in London. After taking guitar lessons in 1991, Tristan was introduced to John Hardman, ex Sunfighter (and father to Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding. Beats Working were in the ProgresS of releasing their second album Putting It AbOUT on Swamp Records. Creating album artwork on computers were [...] edge at the time and with the use of Apple Computers and software Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, Tristans first album cover design was created. He has lived in Ascot since 2005.
Album covers
His first album cover work was in 1991 for a group called Beats Working. Greatrex produced the cover for their second album which attracted widespread attention to his work, notably Denny Laine, ex-Wings and Moody Blues. Later that year, Tristan began the partnership with the Classic rock band Beats Working for which he went on to design and produce their next nine albums, four single and four video covers. Greatrex designed the now-classic Beats Working logo, which first appeared on the album Putting It About, and continued to create covers for the band until as recently as 2005 (Perspections). Beats Working guitarist John Hardman also created an album named ''Good Love with singer Lynn Sheppard, ex EDDIE hARDINS wIZARD cONVENTION 3 asking Tristan to continue with the partnership and create their artwork.
Known primarily for the album designs he has created for Beats Working, Class of Two, Michael Schenker, The Quill, Victory, Dave Burn, UFO] and other bands, Greatrex has said, "I I love the process of joining the Sound Waves with the Visual Waves." In addition to his cover designs, Tristan is passionate with his favourite all-time band, UFO, designing logos and Merchandising products such as t-shirts, badges and websites which compliment the brand.
Album covers
Some of the following links are to images.
Beats Working
- 1991 Putting It About
- 1993 Exaggerate
- 1994 ElectroMan
- 1995 Live at the Drome
- 1999 CALM
- 2001 The Singles
- 2002 MP3
- 2003 Selection
- 2005 Perspection
Michael Schenker
- 1993 Thank You
Michael Schenker Group
- 1997 The Michael Schenker Story Live
- 2004 Worldwide Live 2004 DVD
- 2005 'Live In Tokyo 1997 DVD
Victory
- 2005 Fuel To The Fire
The Quill
- 2006 In Triumph
UFO
- 2005 Showtime
- 2006 The Monkey Puzzle
- 2009 The Visitor
External links
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