The Artwork of "Please (Studio)"
Discover the cover art creation process for "Please (Studio)". It was extensive. Designed by longtime friend and artist, Shane Tise.
Final Cover Design for “Please (Studio)”
All “Please” song versions share this similar scene. It was created in combination of Ai and hand made. The story depiction is derived from the lyrics, mostly. Attaching visuals to music is a heady thing. More on that below
Handwriting Video
Ai Acquiescence
At this moment in history, every single human on the planet is aware of Ai. We are all having to come to terms by what it means for art. There’s a lot of negatives. It’s delete design jobs and human touch. I was very reticent when Shane started working with it. He’s a fine artist of many many mediums, so I had to trust him. It was an experiment that lasted over a month and generated over 200 potential cover designs. Imagine picking one? It was surpassingly easy for me, the picky picker. Shane worked really hard.
I promised myself and Shane that it wouldn’t be a big challenge, but once he started pumping out designs it became heady. Ultimately, I really had to search my soul for what this song meant to me personally, the lyrical experience for the listener, and come up with solid instructions for Shane to paint with. I knew that this image would represent many different releases of the same song. I wanted to be able to look into it and feel like it was a real place one could visit while listening to the song. In the same way I cherish looking into album cover art while listening.
Shane made enough art for a coffee table book. Ultimately,
“I picked this image because it reminded me of how it feels to be on a first date. As you get to know this perfect stranger, a perceived notion of being half-monster can set in. What is supposed to be light conversation, can feel like a job interview for lifetime companionship. That's at the core of where the lyrics for "Please (Studio)" came from”
Giving in to Ai didn’t take long, after seeing the first results. It’s fun to dive into this world.
Ai is driven by ‘prompts’. It’s useless in the hands of the ignorant. The images created by Shane required an extensive knowledge of art history, technique, and design concepts. One has to articulate into the machine the commands that deliver a desired outcome. The results are never as dreamed. Shane told me he was feeding the technology all kinds of information about brush technique, lighting, art history, poetry, animal traits and instincts. Read on…
Please (Studio) - released Dec 18th, 2025
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Here are some of the outtakes
Shane Tise: Artist image
About the author
Ryan OToole (aka, RYNO) is a skateboarder from Arizona who writes songs for Pretty City Lights—his music project based in Seoul, South Korea. His tunes have been described as, “alternative rock for people dying of middle age”. Formerly associated with the band, Amateur Blonde, his songs have been featured in television and film - notably, The Walking Dead (S10 Ep21). RYNO is the author of Behind The Lights a VIP multimedia fan-zone connected to the Pretty City Lights website.