Two of the Only One.

  You never know what you can do until you have to make a deadline. I've been so busy with work and art projects that I have a perpetual "full plate" on my hands. It's always good to be busy and better when you're doing what you love for yourself. I have been so busy finishing up the coloring on the Smaug cover, designing the Cobalt shirt, working on the Tom Denney collaboration, sketching a new 3 sided High On Fire shirt, sketching out the I'm Better Than Everyone Records design,  and finishing up my sketches on the collaboration with John Baizely, that I forgot about the new design for the front of the new Kylesa hoodie.

 It took 4 days of intense clawing for ideas, sketching, and inking. In the end, the idea came from the lyrics to "Only One" from the Static Tensions lp, as had the European tour shirt design. The reason for this was that the back of the new hoodie will display the European design front, skeletons from the back of the Euro shirt on the sleeves, and the new design for the front panels on a zipper hoodie. I wanted to make a design for the front that would tie in with the design on back. The new design is framed in and an door shape to match the open door in the woman's chest from the Euro design. It's still a portrait of loneliness, introspection, and despair and is supposed to be contained within the woman's own heart.  The lyrics to the song are:

                                -ONLY ONE-

               Locked into moments seen through and through

               Like darkness shining on you revealing and weeping

               I try to

               Try to see things through and through

               As darkness cloaks the sun I seem the only one

               Brick anchors in wet sand

               Carry through tomorrows end

               Lines of life carving hands

               Clear the path to claim the land.

 I included the lyrics because the two design are based off of the song and one another and I find it important to let the bands own words assist me in creating a design that specifically fits them. I can't wait to see the hoodies once they are finished. That'll be October 5th, when they play Chop Suey with Red Fang, Bison BC, & Iron lung. Go see them when they come to your town and buy a poster as well. The posters will be screenprinted and include the "Only One" design with tour dates. You can find tour dates and news on Kylesa at www.kylesa.com.

I really need a vacation.

Progress on the Smaug front & collaborations to do.

  There is progress on the Smaug logo and cover!  This is exciting considering I started it in late 2008 and finished it in May. One of the reasons for the lapse in time was I had spent a whole week and a half, working hours a day coloring the design on the computer. It was the first cover that I had ever tried to color using a computer, so I guess that I should have expected some kind of set back. Anyway, I ended up finishing the cover, saving it to my computer, and walking away for a bit of rest. The next morning, I went to open the file and it was corrupted. I saved the same file a few times just in case something like this happened, but all were corrupted. It had taken so much time, effort, and physical pain to get the cover colored that I kind of snapped. I then tried to color it again on the computer only to have more bad shit happen. So, this design hadn't been too kind and my attempts to finish it ended in me just walking away. It's been too long and I have started to color the image again. This time, I'm coloring it by hand. The way I should have in the first place. It's going really well and I hope to be done with it by the end of the week. I DID finish their new logo, though. I got some ideas from Alton and tried to make a strong and legible font that would go with the cover art and the music. 

 I'll also be finishing up the Tom Denney collaboration, this month. It's been a while since we started it, but it will be finished. Then, I can start work on the collaboration with John Baizley. We will working on a new shirt design for the upcoming Baroness cd and tour. We have been talking and working out all of the logistics of the design and have a good idea that we are now going forward with. The idea comes from the lyrics to "O'er Hell And Hide" and should prove to be a sick piece of art. John also said that we will probably be making the design into prints. Damn! Why do I have a 2nd job?

  

August first and the ball of fire is out for now.

  Holy shit, it's been hot! It been in the high 90's/low 100's here and we were not prepared. Sitting at an art table with no air or hot air flowing in the window has been hard to take. But now, the temperatures are dropping (not by much) and August is upon us. I have a lot of projects on the schedule still and have to get through a few this month. This week, I will be inking the Smaug logo and attempting to color their cover,  yet again. I have been through so much trying to get this cover done for them and am hoping that this time will be the final attempt. I will also be working on a shirt design for Karim at Better Than Everyone Records, a design for the front of a Kylesa hoodie, a shirt design for Cobalt, and a collaboration with John Baizley for a new Baroness shirt. So, it looks like I will be a busy man for a while. Hopefully, in cooler temperatures.

3am Altar Burning

 Working 40 hours a week and a full art schedule can take a lot out of a man. It's 3am and I have to get up for work in 3 hours. The good news would be that the Yob -"Burning Altars" design is ready. I was hoping to get it done sooner, but life and my need for uber detail, got the best of me. Chris at Profound Lore Records has amazing patience and I thank him. I'm getting delirious. Goodnight. 

Bus Rides & Mercury Mountain

 July has started out to be a hectic month. I went out and found a job working at a t-shirt screen printing studio, 40 hours a week. As you may have guessed, that leaves only spare time to work on art. I'm getting up around 6am, catching a bus that takes an hour to get to and from work, coming home, cleaning up, eating, and then going directly to the art table. The weekends are spent working on designs, as well. I am about a week and a half behind in my scheduling, but hope to make it up with the next few designs being sketched out already. 

 That being said, I had been working on a cover for Boston, Massachusetts own Riff Cannon. These guys play some really good sludge/stoner rock and from what I have heard, Mercury Mountain will be an album that gains much attention. The cover image is taken from the lyrics to "Mercury Mountain" & " The Oracle" as both songs fit into the motif that I wanted to display. I tried to add a lot of texture to the design, as not to lose any of the detail and shape. Looking at it it feels like I didn't do much in the way of detail, but when it comes down to it, this design had me entrenched in the detail and keeping the design symmetrical. I like the finished product and the guys are happy with it too, so that is all a guy can ask for. You can hear some songs and find out more at myspace.com/riffcannon . 

  

 

Pale Horse for Black Skies

 The Black Skies shirt design is done and ready for tour.  I titled it "Under Hoof of The Pale Horse" and tried to make an iconic depiction of the forbearer of the apocalypse. I also added the human skull as a a symbol of the death of mankind from our own weapons. I picked out a lot of the imagery from the song "2105", off of their Hexagon ep. You can listen to that song and others at www.myspace.com/losblackskies and http://www.blackskies.us. Also, check out the dates for their summer tour that begins June16th. Go to the show, by some merch, and support the touring bands.

  

Kylesa European Tour Shirts

I've been working on a shirt design for Kylesa's European tour, for days now. I'm really happy that I was able to get the design finished in time and that I was actually awake and functioning, by the end. The design is called "The Only One" and it's based off of the lyrics to the my favorite song off of Static Tensions, called "Only One". It helps that their lyrics always seem to provide me with inspiration and that they are really great people. I'm amped that they'll be taking this design with them To Europe, too. While they're there, they will be supporting Torche for the first 17 dates, headlining for 13 dates, and playing a slew of festivals with the likes of Mastodon, Wolves In The Throne Room, Voivod, Coalesce, Taint, and Slipknot.
Now, I can sleep. Maybe.