Marc Sokpolie

So Chocolate Puma’s Rene (AKA Dj Zki) called me and told me that the team was entering its 25th year of existence. There was going to be a big celebration @ Melkweg, in Amsterdam, which coincided with Amsterdam Dance Event. They wanted new album artwork, promotional artwork and animated visuals for the VJ.

I went over to discuss Vehicle. The briefings and brainstorms with Chocolate Puma have traditionally been about what Vehicle. ‘We’d like to discuss what Vehicle we should be driving, on this particular outing. To outline the fact that they had produced a string of hits these last 25 years, and it had all been about international travel and a trip in itself, they wanted to drive an RV. A ‘camper’.

I drove back in a festive mood. Campers are really my bag. especially the 70s/80s Winnebago type RV’s. Or Syd Mead’s Land Yacht. As a kid I dreamt of cruising around sunny places in a Camper. With or without the Griswolds.

I made 3d model as reference, to get the perspective, lighting and reflections right. The 3d model had a swimming pool in it, but that didn’t leave enough room for the bedrooms and studio that I had to put in the shot. I put a virtual camera in the 3d space and rendered a frontal shot to serve as reference for the album cover art.

The red sand worked in the render but not in the illustration so I added an abandoned record store. Then I drew Rene and Gaston standing in front of the Camper, and the rearside of a traffic sign with a Chocolate Puma sticker on it.

The second drawing I made was the Cockpit interior. I had planned a living room directly behind the cockpit but it was more interesting to put studio gear in this standalone shot. I called Gaston and Rene asked them for a list of their favorite studio gear, drum machines, tape recorders and whathaveyou.

So then I came up with this interior. It wasn’t hard to get the reflections, lighting and shadows right, as I’d already built and rendered the view in 3d.

So after finishing these two illustrations I drew my favorite view from the side, with all the different rooms in the camper. You can see it in The Getaway Camper-post.

I bubble- wrapped it up, put it in a bag, showered and dressed up because it was time to go to Melkweg, where Chocolate Puma would celebrate their 25th anniversary. They had some of their own favorite dj’s playing sets to warm up the crowd, like Junior Sanchez and superhero Tommy Sunshine, and it was going to be a great night.

I was on the guestlist and entered the Melkweg. I was welcomed in the hall by Juliette, CP’s manager. After I gave my present to the guys they said they had a surprise for me as well. I had to close my eyes and was gently pushed onto into the main hall where Junior Sanchez was playing his awesome set.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I found out that Rene and Gaston had actually hired a theatre designer who had built the front of my Camper as a frontispiece to the dj booth. it was about 6 meters wide. I think I screamed. Even the traffic sign was there. The audience literally walked into the album cover art.

Then Tommy Sunshine played a truly blazing set and I had the greatest night ever, and especially when Gaston and Rene took the stage and played all of their hits.