The Story Behind the Cover of VICE Magazine's December Issue

This story appears in VICE Magazine's Burnout and Escapism Issue. Click HERE to subscribe.

We really wanted the cover image to speak to the Burnout and Escapism theme in a playful way. We were thinking a lot about popular imagery tied to drug culture—like blacklight velvet posters and head shops—when we decided that an original illustrated character, specifically a mushroom looking worn-out from a long day at the office, would be the best fit. Kit and Lia wanted to blend their styles and pay tribute to Silly Symphony cartoons. After a couple of rounds back and forth in Photoshop and Illustrator, they came up with the cute fungus you see on the cover.

Once we had our cover star nailed down we knew we wanted to put it into real-life scenarios and make it feel like an object through photography. To take the idea of drug culture one step further we printed the character on custom blotter paper courtesy of a last-minute vendor we found in the UK. Lia’s illustrations reference LSD tab art throughout the issue, so we liked that this would be like a big Easter egg in the magazine as well.

Our Burnout and Escapism cover was designed by illustrator/graphic designer Lia Kantrowitz, graphic designer/art director Kitron Neuschatz, and senior photo editor Elizabeth Renstrom.

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