Ron Ruelle's Portfolio

Over the years, I have worked at a record company (remember those?) and have designed a few CD covers (remember those too?)

Avant Guard Dogs are a semi-obscure alternative punkadelic/pop band who would be less obscure if their van would stop breaking down. Here are some covers I designed for them...

Their debut "In Your Backyard" was available on vinyl, because why not? And yes, that is the Hobo font, because it fit the mood, and also, why not?

avan guard dogs in your backyard


This bootleg recording was better quality and cheaper to record than anything else they had done at the time, so they officially released it when they found the original source in a storage facility rented by the original accordian player's ex-boyfriend. The download is called "Officially Authorized MP3." It is still illegal to own this record in seven states.



This was recorded live in Lyons, Colorado. For once, a concert gig wasn't messed up by the band's van breaking down, but because the venue had closed permanently the day before. So they went across the street to a pinball and video game arcade/bar and performed there instead. A roving bagpipe brigade, fresh from winning an award at a nearby Scottish festival walked in and jammed with them for a couple of songs.

avan guard dogs closed


My daughter wanted to start her modeling career, so I let her be on the cover of this CD. This was before she got braces, so it fit the title well.

avan guard dogs crooked


A few years ago, Avant Guard Dogs rented a Ryder truck, pulled up to a Nashville gas station, and played an early morning concert from the back of the truck. If you were there, it was supposedly awesome. If not, you can buy this recording... Cover photo by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres, who was there.

avan guard dogs kroger fuel


The Dogs undertook an ill-fated tour of New Mexico and Arizona in 2012 and along the way, recorded at some odd locations for some sort of ambient reason. For "Apex Predator," they recorded in the parking lot of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. (By the way, if you know what an apex predator is, a giraffe is soooo not one.) For "Echolocation" The Dogs set up a studio in Carlsbad Cavern to record. All proceeds from sales go to preserving bat habitats and towards the band's legal defense fund. They probably should have asked for permission before they recorded it...

avan guard dogs apex predatoravan guard dogs echolocation carlsbad caverns



The Shambles were a country/punk/roots/noodling band. I met them while walking my dog one day, and got to put him on a CD cover.

shambles cd



Quivering Brains got their name from an interview Dan Rather did following the 1989 Bay Area earthquake. He asked a rescuer what was the most disturbing thing he had seen in the aftermath. He reluctantly answered, "a quivering brain." I took the cover photo driving through Indiana. It's some kind of weird front yard art on a stick.

quivering brains squalid


I worked at a record company in Atlanta that recorded and released one of Dizzy Gillespie's final albums. This isn't my favorite design, but I wanted to point out that Tony Bennett did the cover painting. See the word "the" on the cover? That's my handwriting. In fact, I spent about three hours writing that word over and over again until I got the perfect one. So, yeah, Dizzy and Tony and I all collaborated on a jazz record. How many of you can say all that? didn't think so!

dizzy gillespie symphone sessions


Ron Ruelle, Cartoonist, Illustrator, Ad Guy, Graphic Novelist, Pen for Hire. Or snail mail to Ron Ruelle, PO Box 19492, Boulder, CO 80308-9492. All contents (C) 1986-2019 Ron Ruelle and/or their respective copyright holders. So don't go printing this stuff on t-shirts and selling it at the county fair! This website designed, developed and maintained by Ron Ruelle.