Warpaint

I've been an absolutely huge Warpaint fan since seeing them open for The xx back in 2010 - their show at the United Palace Theater in NYC remains one of my favorites of the past few years - a great example of Support Act + Headliner harmony. In any case, I've been itching to do a more thoughtful, labored Warpaint piece for a long time. They were one of the first bands I thought of when beginning my "band poster" kick. I knew I wanted to create something that directly acknowledged the name of the band (at the risk of being too on-the-nose) - the potential, in terms of visuals and imagery, was just too rich to ignore. One way or another, I decided that the first member I'd depict in this inevitable series of Warpaint posters would be singer-guitarist Theresa Wayman (maybe its because I love her song "Shadows" so much). Working from a still taken from the music video for their incredible, self-titled track "Warpaint" - I wanted Theresa's state and expression to be somewhat ambiguous (is she awake? alive?). Additionally, the paint itself was quite literally finger-paint that I dragged over tracing paper with my own digits. That tracing paper was then scanned, layered, and slightly manipulated over the scan of the illustration. I debated whether or not I wanted the paint to be contained by the frame of the face (i.e. more realistic) or if it should be layered in such a way that was vaguely omniscient and/or ethereal. I went with the latter, which seemed fitting, given that the drawing by itself already had a hint of that quality.