DARK HORSES - "RADIO"

I've been eagerly following England-based band Dark Horses for a while now, and it looks like we'll finally be getting their debut LP this Fall on Last Gang Records! Awesome! In anticipation of the album, the 'Horses have released a new single: "Radio," complete with music video and a guest vocal spot from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's Robert Levon Been on b-side "Radio Offshore." It's been available digitally for a little while now, but the physical 7" went on sale on Dark Horses' website today. To commemorate its release I created a promo illustration depicting singer Lisa Elle. I had a blast making this, and I'm looking forward to doing more.

I also included the original, full-color drawing as well as an early digital exploration. As you could imagine, the color and vibrance weren't quite right for this promo: Dark Horses kind of demand to be black & white. Enjoy!!

Original, raw illustration (graphite, ink, watercolor pencil) .

Photoshop exploration.

Carina Round

I was looking forward to seeing Carina Round play the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, but fate intervened. I have fond memories of the Knitting Factory (I've seen two of my heroes play there: Ken Andrews and Chris Corner a.k.a. IAMX), and seeing Carina play there would more than make up for when I missed her opening set for Puscifer last year. However, the night I saw Electric Youth, Anoraak, and College play the Music Hall of Wiliamsburg for the first night of "The Drive Tour" my car got broken into. Fun! On the plus side, that triple bill was pretty fantastic - Anoraak in particular blew me away.

In short, I created a poster especially for Carina's gig at the Knitting Factory, but with my passenger window obliterated and in need of replacing, my funds and enthusiasm for Brooklyn were in low supply. The good thing about this was it allowed me to fine tune the poster a bit more, even if I wouldn't be able to get a physical copy to the band and some fans in person, as planned.

The original illustration was completed in pencil and watercolor pencils on watercolor paper. It was then scanned, and modified digitally as per usual.

Also, make sure you hear Carina's excellent new album "Tigermending." It's really, really good.

Thumbnails

Original "Dry" illustration

Early Photoshop exploration.

Just add water...

More Photoshop explorations. The following 2 designs are close to the ones I'd originally planned on printing and passing out at the Knitting Factory show.

Show specific: July 24th at the Knitting Factory.

General tour poster.

Final designs (for now at least).

"Generic" poster, sans the tour specific text.

Update (9/14/12): Some social media love from Carina herself!!

Atari Teenage Riot

I've been aware of Atari Teenage Riot since I was a kid (I still remember my older brother wearing one of their shirts when they were a 4-piece), but I can't say I truly became a fan until they released their single "Activate." Trent Reznor has been a supporter of theirs for many years, and partly because of him, ATR have always been a band I keep on my radar. In truth, I got into singer Alec Empire's solo material long before embracing the band that made him a prominent musical figure - his album "Intelligence and Sacrifice" remains a favorite of mine.

In short, when it was announced that Atari Teenage Riot were reuniting after 10 years of inactivity, I was very interested. Lead single "Activate" assured me that their comeback album would be worth the wait. Sure enough, "Is This Hyperreal?" still gets regular play from me. I've never considered myself a fan of "protest" music (if one were to place ATR under that category), but their lyrics are delivered with such sincerity, intensity and emotion that it's hard not to get swept up in the cause. There's no posturing - they fully believe every relevant word they belt out. Of course it doesn't hurt that the music is a catharsis unto itself: dirty bass, siren-like synths, and distorted guitar are a constant among the signature shouts of vocalists Nic Endo and Alec Empire.

When I decided to create a poster for the band, I  sketched out a bunch of different ideas but ultimately settled on one of the more basic, less busy compositions: a portrait of Nic Endo in the style of a comic-book cover. Nic, aside from being an immensely talented musician and comic fan, has an incredible look to her. Even without her trademark make-up, she still has the amazing facial features of a character you'd see in a graphic novel (thank you, David Mack). As a huge comic-book fan myself, the idea seemed too fun to pass up.

The "circuitry drips" that you see descending from her mouth were a last minute addition. I love any kind of bio-mechanical imagery, so I'm happy I was able to include and emphasize that - especially since that aspect probably represents ATR's music better than any other part of the poster.

I'm still bummed I missed their recent NYC gig, but hopefully I get to see them live sooner than later. I'd love to hand out copies of the poster to fans at a show, and of course give high-quality, full color prints to the band members. This poster is meant for field duty! If any fans are reading this and want to make their own copies - feel free to do so, just as long as you cite this blog or give me credit.

Thumbnails:

Raw illustration (pencil, red & black ink):

Digitally manipulated, with added logos and text:

Final image, with "circuitry drips":

Keep the internet free from government control.

Dragon Tattoo

Some "Girl with the Dragon Tatoo" related sketches that I don't think I ever posted.

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander.

Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth, circa "The Girl Who Played with Fire" (2009 Swedish film).

Sadly, there hasn't been any news on whether or not there's definitely going to be an American adaptation of "Played with Fire" with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. Furthermore, David Fincher may not even return to direct if it does get greenlit. However, I could (reluctantly) live with him not coming back if it meant the studio was committed to finding a good replacement. Upon watching "The Grey" today for the first time since seeing it in the theater, I was reminded that I think co-writer/director Joe Carnahan would be an excellent candidate. The man clearly knows how to make a mature, complex,  uncompromising and emotional R-rated film. We'll see what happens...

2:54

This past Monday, I had the pleasure of seeing the great 2:54 headline at the Mercury Lounge, NYC. I was introduced to them through the also great Wild Beasts, who did a killer remix of their song "You're Early." Upon watching the music video for the original track, I was an instant convert. Watching the clip for "Scarlet" solidified my fandom. Their exceptional debut album (mixed by Alan Molder) was just released on Fat Possum records - buy it on iTunes, Amazon MP3, or listen on Spotify.

It was a genuine thrill getting to meet Colette, Hannah, Joel, and Alex, and being able share some of my art with them. I hope I helped make their current US tour that much more fun & memorable - they certainly made my night an amazing one. Can't for the next tour!

Thumbnails.

Raw illustration.

Photoshop explorations.

Final poster.

Signed poster!!!

EDIT: 7/17/12

You can see my 2:54 artwork on SPIN magazine's website, as a part of a photo-journal of the band's recent tour!! Awesome!!

Here's a screencap:

Metric

Last night I had the honor of seeing Metric play at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. They put on an amazing show as expected and their new album Synthetica sounded great live. I've had an unusual amount of creative momentum lately, starting with the Zola Jesus show at the Guggenheim, and continuing this past Monday seeing 2:54 (post coming soon), so working off that I conceived and executed a Metric poster for the Williamsburg show in the span of roughly 36 hours. It was exhausting but exciting and COMPLETELY fucking worth it. I made color prints of the poster on tabloid paper a few hours before the show, and made sure I had enough for each member of the band and a copy for myself. Anyway, when the band exited it the stage I was dragged by a friend through the crowd to the front of the venue (prints in tow), and since this event was being filmed, I obnoxiously held up the poster I made to a camera that was sweeping the first few rows of the crowd - it seemed to get the camera's attention. The band then came back out for the obligatory encore and tore through "Gold Guns Girls", during which my friend gave one of my prints to the bass player, Josh. Then, for the final song of the night, lead singer Emily Haines and guitarist Jimmy Shaw went acoustic, playing a gorgeous version of "Gimme Sympathy" - but not before my friend handed Emily one of my prints, which she commented on in front of the entire audience, making eye contact with me from just a few feet away. Surreal. Nice to know I have a few eye witnesses, too. After their closing number, I howled in appreciation but didn't actually think Emily would take the print with her - sure enough, exiting the stage she picked it back up, turned back to look at me and mouthed "thank you." So... life = complete.

Since I love showing process, I posted the first thumbnails and sketches I cooked up, leading to the individually drawn portraits on separate pieces of paper. Once each portrait was scanned, they were arranged and modified in Photoshop, and all given Terminator eyes.

 

EDIT (6/22/12): Video proof of my encounter with Ms. Haines...

Also, here's a scan of the one remaining poster I gave out that night to some fellow fans (who happened to be from NJ if I remember correctly). After I left, they stayed around and got it signed by Emily! I attached a pic of all the band's signatures from a recent KROQ session they did to confirm its authenticity.

EDIT #2 (6/23/12): I stumbled upon some lovely photos from the Williamsburg show by a photographer named Ken Grand-Pierre, which included 2 pictures of Emily holding my poster! He also wrote a nice review of the gig and even mentioned my brief encounter with Ms. Haines. Thanks to Ken for taking the pics, and for letting me post his work! Check out his social media.

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.