It all starts with sketches. On his blog, Augor writes,

“Going along with the ideas herd in KID CUDI’s music a couple drawings were done on the plane ride from LA to NY in prep for a meeting that was to be held at the COMPLEX office about what ideas Augor had for the photo shoot.”

We’re not sure why the third person is needed, but hey, he’s good with the pen, so his choice! Check the preliminary ideas that Augor brought when meeting with Complex’s Art team and Cudi:

“After a few crude sketches were produced the realization that maybe the all grey toned approach wouldn’t catch the impact Cudi was trying to get with the shoot…Once back in LA Augor took screen prints and got to work with a 2 week deadline laying the base plans down of how his imagery would fit with the photos.”

Augor was on hand to help art-direct the cover shoot with Cudi, and following some input from the musicain and Complex, Augor began going in with color and some heavier line drawings:




It’s a step by step process, with many rounds of sketches. On his blog, Augor continues:

“After getting a solid idea of how the interior illustrations were going to fit, development took place on the finals.”

“After doing the analog part of the illustrations it was time to move onto the digital bond. Along side with co worker Sram we tossed around a few ideas on what would suit Augor’s illustrations the best. Here are some in process pics of making it happen.”

“After the hard part (of figuring out what was going to be in the illustrations) was done another hard part surfaced….how do we make the background pop without overpowering the monster and Cudi? A couple background elements were drawn and scrapped but one made the cut that was used in sections throughout the spread”

“With all the elements into play the final interior illustrations were produced”

“After knocking out the interior the hardest part is saved for last!!
Developing a cover. A cover itself is extremely crucial. It is what catches the eye and draws a customer in. So in developing this a few ideas were passed on before the final came out. The first idea was to have Cudi as some sort of sorcerer in the woods. Very Halloweeen like.”

“Even though it was a cool concept the first cover attempt didn’t mesh well with the summer heat the issue was due to drop in so it was back to the drawing board. Here are the ink drawings used to compose the final cover”

“After trial and re trial this is what came out of the new set up.”

“The background cover kind of felt a little mack and cheese and the snake man was clouding Cudi’s flow so the final cover that will go to print has a very aqua splash feeling… “

“Hope everyone enjoys the issue”

For Augor’s full behind-the-scenes look, be sure to visit his blog.

Related: Complex’s Kid Cudi x Augor cover story

The self-proclaimed lonely stoner is currently on The Great Hangover Tour with Asher Roth, and has fans eagerly awaiting his debut album The Man On The Moon: End Of Day, which is now set for September 15. His melody-heavy raps bring an innovative sound to the game, which is why we paired him up with graf artist AUGOR for some illustrations that show Cudi battling his demons. We just put the whole story up online, and you’ll see that Cudi really invited us inside the mind of Scott Mescudi. You think you know, but you have no idea…

• CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL KID CUDI COVER STORY!
• CLICK HERE TO BROWSE THE KID CUDI x AUGOR GALLERY!

Terry Kennedy and the crew just got done in Houston, and are staying up through to ATL tonight. It’s gonna be hot. [Supra]

Should we do an Eminem shirt? Yeah, why not. He’s pretty famous. UNDFTD goes in. [High Snobiety]

EA Sports’ NHL 10 will finally get that first person fighting thing on lock. [Crunch Gear]

It would be amazing to see all the ideas that Google vetoes. This one is awesome (?). [Gizmodo]

This year for Complex’s annual “Style & Design” collector’s edition issue, we set out to fuse the worlds of music and art in a way that had never been done. On one cover, we paired N.E.R.D. with KAWS, the graffiti icon-turned-art world darling who also happens to be one of Pharrell’s favorite designers. And on the other cover, Lupe Fiasco teamed up with another graf God'Todd “REAS” James'to create an outrageous image of the Chi-Town superstar sitting on the sun.

In addition to the covers, KAWS and REAS painted over even more photos of the musicians for the features inside the book. CLICK HERE to see the full story with N.E.R.D. and HERE for the full Lupe story. Check back on Monday for the other side of our August/September issue'two sexy-ass covers with Cassie (that’s 4 total, if you’re counting), along with a titillating series of videos from her shoot that are sure to have the 'net going nuts. After the jump, check out four videos from the N.E.R.D./Lupe shoots, including an interview with KAWS.

N.E.R.D. Cover: Behind The Scenes Video:

KAWS Talks N.E.R.D. Collabo:

Lupe Cover: Behind The Scenes Video:

Lupe Talks Style & Design (w/ REAS):

Photography by Robert Maxwell

Pharrell Williams proves once again that he can “have it like that.” His solo debut In My Mind clocks in at #3 on the Billboard charts this week with sales of 147,000. Not too shabby for the guest editor of the Style & Design package in Complex's August/September issue, which hits newsstands Aug. 15 with Skateboard P and his boys Clipse. Peep this exclusive Pharrell shot from the feature.