Discovery BB0001: Cheese Album Artwork (1976)

Original Cheese Album Artwork (Concept Sketch)

Not every discovery from the Bud Bungalow archives arrived as a finished piece.

Among the first items catalogued was this annotated concept sketch for the Cheese album cover by Driftwood Mac & Cheese. Covered with handwritten production notes, typography directions, wardrobe references, and composition details, it captures the creative process before the artwork reached its final form.

Rather than a polished presentation piece, this appears to be a working layout used to guide the illustrator during development. Every note, correction, and annotation offers a rare glimpse into how the album's distinctive visual identity evolved inside the studio.

More than a sketch, it is a surviving piece of the creative process—one that remained hidden for nearly fifty years before being rediscovered during the cataloguing of the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio archives.

This discovery marks the beginning of the archive and the first chapter in documenting the artwork, photographs, session materials, and stories that continue to emerge from Bud Bungalow's forgotten history.

Final Album Artwork – Cheese (1976)

This illustration represents the completed artwork prepared for Cheese, the debut album by Driftwood Mac & Cheese. Following the concept sketches and production revisions, this final design established the visual identity intended for the album's release.

The finished composition captures the band's unmistakable Northern Ontario character—rugged, unpolished, and quietly humorous. Every element, from the hand-drawn lettering to the central illustration, reflects the handcrafted approach that defined much of the artwork produced at the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio during the 1970s.

Rediscovered during the cataloguing of the Bud Bungalow archives, the artwork survives as the final approved version before production. It stands as one of the most complete and significant visual artifacts recovered from the studio, offering a rare glimpse into the finished creative work that emerged from its walls.

Today, this artwork serves as both a historical record of Driftwood Mac & Cheese and one of the cornerstone pieces in the ongoing preservation of the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio archives.

Fourth Draft – Cheese Album Artwork (1976)

As the Cheese album artwork evolved, the creative team continued refining both the composition and the personalities of its central characters. This fourth draft captures a significant stage in that process, revealing an alternate direction before the final design was approved.

Several elements differ from the finished artwork, including character poses, wardrobe choices, and the overall balance of the composition. These revisions suggest the illustration was still being actively developed as the visual identity of Driftwood Mac & Cheese took shape.

Working drafts like this were never intended for public release. They existed only to explore ideas, test compositions, and guide discussion before a final version was selected. Their survival offers an unusually complete record of the creative process behind one of the Bud Bungalow archives' most recognizable pieces of artwork.

Rediscovered during the cataloguing of the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio archives, this fourth draft provides a rare opportunity to follow the evolution of the Cheese cover from early concept to finished illustration, preserving a moment in the artistic journey that would otherwise have been lost to time.

Third Draft – Cheese Album Artwork (1976)

By the third draft, the overall direction of the Cheese album artwork had become clearly established, with the title treatment, central illustration, and iconic cheese wheel already in place. While the finished concept was beginning to emerge, the composition was still being refined as the creative team searched for the strongest visual balance.

This version explores a more relaxed arrangement of the two central figures, with subtle adjustments to posture, expression, and interaction. These refinements helped define the personalities that would ultimately become synonymous with Driftwood Mac & Cheese while preserving the rugged Northern Ontario character at the heart of the design.

As with many working illustrations of the era, this draft was created solely for internal review and revision. It was never intended for public display, making its survival an unusually rare record of the creative decisions that shaped the album's visual identity.

Rediscovered during the cataloguing of the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio archives, this third draft documents an important milestone in the artwork's evolution, bridging the gap between the earliest concept sketches and the final approved album cover.

Second Draft – Cheese Album Artwork (1976)

The second draft marks the point where the visual identity of Cheese began to take shape. While many of the defining elements had already emerged—including the title treatment and the signature cheese wheel—the overall composition was still very much an exploration of ideas.

This version experiments with a more playful and light-hearted approach, introducing additional illustrated elements and alternative character poses that were ultimately set aside before the artwork reached its final form. These early concepts reveal the creative team's willingness to test different directions before settling on the stronger, more focused composition that became the finished album cover.

Working illustrations like this were created solely for internal review, allowing artists and designers to refine the balance, tone, and personality of the piece through successive revisions. Few examples of this process survive, making each draft an important record of the album's development.

Recovered during the cataloguing of the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio archives, this second draft offers a fascinating glimpse into the experimentation behind one of the studio's most recognizable works of art, documenting an early stage in the journey from initial concept to final design.

First Draft – Cheese Album Artwork (1976)

Every finished work begins with an experiment.

This first known draft of the Cheese album artwork represents the earliest surviving attempt to establish the visual identity of Driftwood Mac & Cheese. While the band's name and the now-iconic cheese wheel are already present, the overall composition differs dramatically from the artwork that would eventually be approved for production.

The illustration explores a quieter, more whimsical direction, with the two central characters seated across a makeshift game board carved into a wheel of cheese. Small details—including the curious mouse at the base of the illustration—suggest the artists were still searching for the right balance between rustic authenticity and playful storytelling.

Although many of these ideas were abandoned in later revisions, this first draft established the creative foundation upon which every subsequent version was built. The characters, typography, and central cheese wheel would all evolve through multiple revisions before reaching their final form.

Rediscovered during the cataloguing of the Bud Bungalow Recording Studio archives, this drawing marks the beginning of the Cheese artwork's creative journey. It offers a rare opportunity to witness the earliest stage of an artistic process that remained hidden for nearly half a century, preserving the moment when one of the studio's most recognizable album covers first began to take shape.