SF COVER REMODEL: Weird Tales

Artwork made for this thread at the Whitechapel forum.

Click to enlarge.

Black Lantern’s URGE MODE And The Process Of Making The Logo

My mate Bram Gieben (aka Texture, aka Weaponizer) has launched a new music channel on his BLACK LANTERN label: URGE MODE, which “provides experimental bass music for the wide eyed and bushy tailed – incorporating sounds from dubstep, future garage, techno, electronica, breaks, hiphop and more. Deep, mental, hard, chilled, rough, smooth, techy, organic, dark, warm, straight up or just plain weird. There’s a time and a place for it all.”

I listened to their debut EP, THE SPINAL CONFLICT, by BLACKMASS PLASTICS. I really enjoyed it, which is uncommon for that kind of music, or any kind of music, since I’m a little hard to please in that respect. There’s very few albums I can listen to all the way through with pleasure and without skipping any songs (Goldfrapp’s FELT MOUNTAIN and The Gone Jackals’ BONE TO PICK, for example).

Five months ago, Bram and his associate Hamish asked me to design the logo:

Here’s what it took to get to that:

Bram asks me to design the logo. I scratch my head in confusion as to what could possibly have given him any indication I was qualified for this, considering I am as skilled at visual design as a whale is at poledancing. I might be able to draw a recognizable human figure and disguise the many anatomical flaws with convenient shading, but when it comes to typography and design a squirrel on meth has a better sense of what to do. However, Bram is completely insane, so that explained it.

I always like a good challenge (especially when it comes with the potential of money). So I said yes, and after hitting myself with a stick for half an hour for being so fucking stupid, I got to work.

As a workout and to get the horrible cliched ideas out of my head first, I did the drawing equivalent of a first draft — a first batch of fucking awfulness:

This was enough to make me so ashamed of myself my brain got off its rear lobe and started making those neurons dance. It was time to ideastorm. I submitted four new ideas (plus a few subtle, unimportant variations):

The one chosen for me to improve on was the first one. Obviously. I mean, they had to choose the one with a human spine, the most difficult thing to draw in the human body. My ability to self-sabotage never fails to impress me. Enter Google Images and a frantic search for proper spinal reference.

Of course the vertebrae have completely irregular shapes, plus the top ones look very different from the others. Of course. After a lot of work and crying for help on Twitter, I delivered five variations of the same, more polished image (but still with several flaws, such as the horrible-looking brain, which I would leave for tweaking when working on the final image, and which image that would be was up to Hamish):

Then Hamish sent me a re-arranged, mashed-up version of the logo which he’d put together from two drawings from the second batch, adding a few colors and a font, thus resulting in the logo you saw above — the final logo.

This caught me by surprise, and I expected Hamish to require a better version, since that logo was made out of my then unfinished, poor drawings (simplified spine, sloppy lines, innacurate brain ridges). So I spent more time re-drawing the mashed-up logo, which resulted in these versions:

Hamish, however, told me he liked the spontaneity and innacuracy of the mashed-up logo and that he’d prefer to go with it. After working on the third and fourth batches for so long, I momentarily fantasized about disemboweling Hamish with a spoon, but only momentarily, since Hamish is a really cool guy and great to work with (and just as crazy as Bram — these two probably cause bodycounts when hanging out). Also, I fantasize about disemboweling everyone with a spoon at some point or another. Most times I resist the urge.

Now, after five months, I’m surprised that I can look at the final logo and not projectile vomit, as is the norm when I look at anything I sketched more than a few months ago. This is probably a good sign.

The Missing Man

For Warren Ellis’ new art thread on Whitechapel.

A monitor-sized version:

And a big one:

DORK AND HAT page FIVE

William Ellwood writes, I draw, Oldhat and Dorkmuffin star. Two more to go. Razor by desk. It is calling me.

Click to enlarge.

Cover Remodel – Amazing Adult Fantasy #15

If you hate me for this one, I assure you I hate myself far more.

Click to enlarge, if you’re insane.

Cover Remodel – 2000AD

For this thread at Whitechapel.

Click to enlarge.

CHINESE WHISPERS UCHRONAL COVER REMODEL: Superman #1

I’ve made this cover for this thread. Check this thread. It is unbelievable, the level of talent in that thread. I feel like a little kid staring up at my daddy’s face two miles above me. I’ll try my best to make my design skills — assuming they even exist — go somewhere in the general direction of this standard of excellence.

Click to enlarge:

And the uncolored, early version, because I’m a really shitty color artist:

DORK & HAT page OH WHY WON’T IT END

Drawing a splash page of the DOOM ZEPPELIN — I’ve never drawn a zeppelin before, let alone a DOOM zeppelin — was my idea.

Yes, I am very, very stupid.

Dork & Hat Page Oh God I Don’t Know Anymore

Will Ellwood writes, I draw, Robin LeBlanc and Dorkmuffin star. One of these takes no effort whatsoever.

Dork & Hat Page 2 of 2

Final page of the story Will Ellwood wrote and I provided the art for, with Dorkmuffin and Robin LeBlanc as main characters. Can you spot the continuity error I had no time to fix?