Micawber's "Viral", news, and holiday.

After a little bit of a drought in stuff I can show, here's my latest for the band, MICAWBER.

The album title is "Viral" and the description of the album that lead singer, Jeff Plewa, gave me to work with was "...[the album is about] the media and how it can reel people in and brainwash the frail minded into having little to no outlook or opinions on life of their own", and "how some / most people will believe anything that they hear, therefore becoming one of the “Virally infected”.

So what we decided to do was show someone becoming one of the infected, dead-faced and thoughtless, in a more literal and physical manner to really drive the idea home.

This was a really fun project to work on. I had a lot of fun trying to come up with a way make someone seem sort of drone-like without moving into zombie territory. You can find samples of their new album on their facebook page. Please check them out and leave them a comment or 5. 

In other news, I have finished the artwork for the new Six Feet Under album. That will probably still be a few months before I can show that one, but it is done and it is approved. As you would expect, I can not really say anything about it until the label is ready to show it, but I think it's safe to say that from my own personal opinion, it's the best thing I have done to date (well, it was the hardest painting I have ever done at least. I'll let you guys decide if it's the "best"). We worked really hard on it so that it was the type of brutal death metal album cover you'd expect for a death metal legend like Chris Barnes, but also modern. I'm really excited about it, obviously, so I will just shut up about it now before I get too impatient to show it. 

As for future projects, I am currently wide open with no projects ahead of me. I'm also not taking any new freelance contracts for the month of December while I spend time with my family. After the new year, I will start deciding what to do next. But I am expecting to focus on a little more personal art next year and less freelance. So if you write me asking for rates, expect me to be a little more picky. It's not personal, I just need to balance my time a little better next year. Call it a resolution if you will.

At the end of the day, though, I am always for hire for the right client! Send me your concepts and we can talk! 

I hope everyone has an awesome holiday. Be good boys and girls or Krampus will come get you!

Metal Band Art Interview

I know I've been a little slow with updates lately. Mostly, I am still waiting for things to get announced and also finishing up some things. I'd expect a lot more stuff to go onto the site after the holidays.

For now, I figured I would mention that an interview that I did with METAL BAND ART just went up.

It's pretty wordy, I guess I can't resist a good soapbox when I see it. Most specifically, the "advice" question. I just have so many people that ask me how to break into the metal art industry (or any illustration industry) so I used that as a platform to answer some common things that I am asked.

Keep in mind, I'm not a master! Follow your own path and learn from your own mistakes! Every artist is different. 

This painting, entitled "Nigh", is the first piece I have painted for myself in about 3 years. The inspiration for it was a loose "Four Horsemen of the Apocolypse" type of theme, only I envisioned one rider who encompassed each horseman and a 4-headed steed.

I intentionally left it more on the surreal side, though, because I just wanted to have fun with the details rather than try to problem solve complex, made up anatomy. 

The last painting I did for myself was Pazuzu, I believe, which seems like a really long time ago. I'll definitely be making a point to not go that long again. For now, however, it is back to work. I'm still working on the new Six Feet Under cover as well as some other projects such as some merch for Dawn Under Eclipse and a new album cover for Micawber. I'll post things here when they are ready!

Thanks for checking back! 

Defender, Redeemist...

If you are familiar with my previous works, you might have seen my first album cover for doom metal band, Behold! The Monolith. 

Thankfully, they were happy enough with that cover that they asked me to do the art for their upcoming album, "Defender, Redeemist".

I don't want to talk about what the piece means too much yet, as it all ties into the concept of the album. But as you can see, it's pretty heavy on all the things that make metal great!

In the meantime, you can check out my art to the side here. Even better? Until the release of "Defender, Redeemist", they are offering a deal on their BANDCAMP page where you can name your own price on all of their previous albums! 

Even if you don't find yourself in the buying mood, please check out that page and give their streams a listen. 

Plenty more art coming soon! Thanks for checking back.

New column on Dose of Metal.

As you may have guessed, the guys at Dose of Metal are pretty good friends of mine. Recently, Guido from Dose of Metal asked me if I was interested in writing something for the blog and I couldn't resist the opportunity. 

The column will naturally be about art; heavy metal art, specifically. But I think all artists will enjoy reading the column as I will talk about a lot of things that people have asked me over the years or questions that I, myself, had to seek the answers to in the past. It will probably be less about top ten lists and stuff like that and more to do with breaking into the industry and making a living at art.

The first article is located HERE and it is mostly an introductory post. But in it, I sort of run through the process that I go through with an album cover using my most recent piece as the example.

I hope you enjoy it! Please leave feedback if there is a topic you'd like to see covered.