WITH ALAN K. STOUT Justin Roach is graphic designer, marketer and social media specialist with Wayne Bank. As a freelance graphic designer, he has created album covers for hip-hop artists such as Snoop Dogg and The Game. Roach, 36, is a native of Pittsburgh but has lived in Northeast Pennsylvania for much of his life. He is a graduate of Honesdale High School, attended West Virginia University and is a graduate of the University of Scranton. He lives in Scranton. Meet Justin Roach …
What do you enjoy the most about the work? The most fulfilling thing for me isn’t the money but seeing my stuff out there. I can go into Best Buy and see two new album covers that I just did on the front of the rack. That’s really cool. I do it more for the self-fulfillment and the exposure. With The Game album that we just did, it was the No. 3 album on the charts and the No. 1 hip-hop album. And they took the images that we did and used them for everything. They wrapped two giant tour buses with the artwork, and it was on all of the T-shirts.
Any funny stories you can share about your work? There are a lot of headaches that go into it, espeHow did you end up working with national recially when you’re dealing with bigger artists. They cording artists such as Snoop Dogg and The Game? move up deadlines, and they’re demanding. And I started very small and just kind of worked my most of it is management. The artists themselves way up. I made some connections in Philadelphia are always pretty cool and gracious. But the managback in the early 2000s with Philly artists, like DJ ers are like, “We need it now.” They’ll give you a Jazzy Jeff. And then I started getting mid-level work. deadline and then they’ll move it up a week, and it’s And then in 2010, I started working with Snoop. hard for me because I have a day job. For Snoop’s project, I did two 24-hour up-all-night shifts, beHow’d that happen? cause they moved it up. They were going on Jimmy His first album was called “Doggiestyle,” and Kimmel and they wanted to premier the album there was a cartoon on the front of a little dog leaning over a doghouse. His cousin, Joe Cool, did cover, so they gave me a deadline of the following that. I was 13 years old when that album came out, Wednesday. And then they called me the Thursday and I loved it, and because of that — since I always before and said, “We need the album cover tomorrow morning.” I said, “It’s 50-percent done.” They loved art — I’d always draw the little dogs on the cover. I loved the artwork. Later, I got connected to said, “We don’t care. We’re going on Kimmel, and we need it for Kimmel.” But it was really cool, beJoe Cool through a mutual friend, and I told him cause I stayed up, and I did get it done, and Jimmy he was one of my favorite artists, ever, and that I Kimmel kept showing it and holding it up. loved his work. He said, “You do art, too?” I said, “Yeah,” and I showed him my stuff. He said, “You And you just finished it hours earlier? need to work with me.” He said, “I draw stuff and Just hours earlier. (Laughs) A lot of people I sketch stuff, but I don’t actually color anything. don’t realize the back story that goes into it. I I need a color guy. I need someone that can take always tell people it’s not as glamorous as it looks. my sketches and make them look official.” I said, It’s cool to say I did I Snoop’s album cover, but I “Alright. That would be awesome.” It was kind of was jumping through hoops to get it done and was cool to be working with someone that I had idolized under the gun. as a kid. We started doing projects together for Snoop, and I’d do stuff for Snoop on my own, and I What do you enjoy doing in your free time? always kept that connection with Joe. A lot of what Designing. That’s all I do. I design at work, and I do is on my own, but the most recent project that when I come home, I do so much freelance design. we did for Snoop was Joe and I, together. And Joe Even when I don’t have projects, which is pretty and I also did The Game project together. rare, I still practice a lot. I’m self-taught, and I’m still always trying to learn. Other than that, I run, Have you met Snoop? Yeah. I met him in 2011. Some of the artists that just to stay healthy and work out.
I work with I meet. Some I don’t. With the internet, you can work with these big artists and never actually meet them. But I do talk to all of them.
Favorite thing about NEPA? The community. Because it’s a smaller commu-
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JUSTIN ROACH
photo by jayson cassidy
UP CLOSE & PERSONAL
At the very least, I’ll call or text or email. Snoop is super-friendly. The project has been wrapped up for a while, but he actually called me about three weeks ago and just chatted for about 25 minutes. He was really complimentary. He’s a gracious guy.
nity, you can get to know some people, especially in the arts. I like that. Any hobbies? Are you a collector? CDs and vinyl. Do you follow sports? Being from Pittsburgh, I’m a diehard Penguins fan. I love hockey. And when you’re born there, you’re also born into Steelers fandom, so I’m also a Steelers fan. And a Pirates fan. But with the Penguins, I’m a diehard. Favorite food? Anything Italian. Pasta and pizza. All-time favorite movie? Either “The Shawshank Redemption” or “Dumb and Dumber.” Favorite holiday? Christmas. Getting together with the family, seeing a lot of people, giving gifts … I hate snow, but if it snows on Christmas, that’s the best. Any pets? I used to. I had a littler wiener dog, Eddie, that passed away two years ago. He was my favorite. I actually have a little tattoo of him. Biggest pet peeve? People that complain. Everybody has issues. But my two biggest peeves are people that com-
plain or make excuses for things. Guilty pleasure? Some bad music. I’m so stuck in the ’90s … ’90s movies, ’90s music … I love everything ’90s. Is there anything about you that might surprise people? There’s a lot of people that I interact with regularly that have no clue that I do any of the album art stuff, like with Snoop. I don’t talk about it. My friends know it, but people that are maybe acquaintances don’t know that I work with some of those guys. I’ll put it online for my friends to see, but I’m very quiet about my artwork. Have you had a defining personal moment? I would say that every friend that I’ve met has been a defining moment. Those are the people, and family, that I trust and care about the most. And that, to me, is more important and longer-lasting than anything I’ve ever done. Each friendship is a defining moment because they kind of shaped who I am.
Alan K. Stout
UP CLOSE & PERSONAL with ALAN K. STOUT is a regular feature in electric city, profiling people from all walks of life throughout NEPA. Reach Alan at alankstout@comcast.net.