Pen & Pixel

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American graphic design company

title: "Pen & Pixel" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["design-companies-of-the-united-states", "companies-based-in-houston", "design-companies-established-in-1992", "american-companies-established-in-1992", "2003-disestablishments-in-texas", "design-companies-disestablished-in-2003", "american-companies-disestablished-in-2003", "1992-establishments-in-texas"] description: "American graphic design company" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pen_&_Pixel" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American graphic design company ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox company"]

FieldValue
namePen & Pixel Graphics, Inc.
industryGraphic design
typePrivate
servicesComputer graphics and design
foundedin Houston, Texas, United States
founders
defunct
fateDissolved
hq_locationHouston, Texas, United States
websitepenandpixel.com
::

| name=Pen & Pixel Graphics, Inc. | industry=Graphic design | type=Private | services=Computer graphics and design | founded= in Houston, Texas, United States | founders= | defunct= | fate=Dissolved | hq_location=Houston, Texas, United States | website=penandpixel.com Pen & Pixel Graphics, Inc. was an American graphic design firm based in Houston, Texas that specialized in musical album covers, especially for gangsta rap artists in the Southern United States. For a long time, it was the house design firm for No Limit Records, Cash Money Records, and Suave House Records.

History

The company was started in 1992 by brothers Aaron and Shawn Brauch. The Brauch brothers and their staff worked with over 8,000 clients and completed 19,180 album covers before the company closed its doors in 2003. The brothers cited peer-to-peer file sharing website Napster and the September 11 attacks as reasons for the close; artists were reluctant to fly to Houston to view artwork that listeners would be unlikely to see.

The album covers Pen & Pixel produced have been described as "gaudy", "more-is-more", and "outrageous". Common themes included bullets, cars, drugs, fire, gems, money, women, and other examples of wealth and riches. Pen & Pixel would fulfill client requests for custom album covers, with sketches of the album cover being drawn based on the concepts requested. These sketches would then be scanned by a computer, which would generate a list of items needed for the cover, such as cars and diamonds. Photos would then be taken of these items from different angles, so the same item could be reused in the future. Pen & Pixel apparently refused to produce political covers (with the sole exception of their first, I'm Goin' Out Lika Soldier by Willie D), and they once rejected a concept by Insane Clown Posse involving a pregnant woman being shot.

In 2020, Pen & Pixel came out of retirement to design the cover art for 21 Savage and Metro Boomin's Savage Mode II. The artwork is in their signature design, heavily inspired by those of Cash Money and No Limit and is a nod to the bling-rap album covers of the 1990s.

Timeline of notable covers

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2020

References

Footnotes

Citations

References

  1. "Defining the Visual Style of Southern Hip Hop - Noisey Design (Episode 1)". [[Vice Media]].
  2. Julie, Grob. "Special Collections- Librarian". [[University of Houston]].
  3. "Letter of Recommendation: Pen & Pixel". [[The New York Times]].
  4. Kakaire, Christine. "Strictly abiding by a "more-is-more" philosophy, the Brauch brothers shaped the visual aesthetic of Southern hip-hop's flashiest era". [[Red Bull Music Academy]].
  5. Howard, Jacinta. "THE BEST PEN & PIXEL RAP COVERS". [[The Boombox]].
  6. "An Ode to Pen & Pixel Album Covers". [[Vice Media]].
  7. (March 25, 2014). "Ego Trip's Book of Rap Lists". St. Martin's Publishing Group.
  8. [[Metro Boomin]] (confirmed account). (September 30, 2020). "Shoutout Pen & Pixel for coming out of retirement to do 1 more cover #legendary".
  9. Findlay, Mitch. (September 29, 2020). "Metro Boomin & 21 Savage Unveil "Savage Mode 2" Cover". [[HotNewHipHop]].
  10. Ivey, Justin. (September 29, 2020). "21 Savage & Metro Boomin's 'Savage Mode 2' Cover Art Channels Classic Cash Money & No Limit Albums". [[HipHopDX]].
  11. Harper, Rosario. (September 29, 2020). "21 Savage + Metro Boomin Reveal Cash Money Records-Inspired Savage Mode II Album Cover". [[SOHH]].
  12. "Pen & Pixel: The design company that established the Southern hip-hop scene".
  13. Walker, Angus. (March 19, 2015). "The 10 Greatest Pen & Pixel Album Covers". [[HotNewHipHop]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

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