Like So Many Monks Ablaze . . .

As a long-time participant in and recent refugee from the rock scene here in the Northwest, I sit in a unique position to be able to make artwork for a number of my friends' various musical projects. Of particular interest here in Missoula is the band Monks On Fire. They won the local college radio show competition and as a result get free recording time to finish up their second 7". I am working on completing the album art for both recordings as well as a number of other, more hushed projects for these gnarly dudes, but for now I would like to showcase the poster and sticker art I've made for them in the last couple of months.

Being the first poster I made for the Monks, this was a blast to design as well as an enjoyable bit of exploratory illustration. Prog rock's longstanding love affair with fantasy art made this an obvious match, and the Monks' bombastic drummer, Dylan, who commissioned the art, pretty much let me have free reign. After constructing the basic scene I used a little force perspective (read: took liberty) to get the assassin leaping down from the ceiling. I don't always use warm colors up front and cool receding, as it sometimes doesn't make sense depending on environment, but I felt the reds and purples put the assassin right where he needed to be when I squinted my eyes. I also kept the drafting lines a little loose, allowing some of my 'inking' to show - a practice I rarely use in digital paintings, but one which seems to function well for simplifying figurative work.

This piece was done for the end of August, when MOF played with another proggy, keyboard-laden post-rockish band called Modality (they kill it, three times over). The idea was to contrast the Monks theme with technofuturism. The result was a meditating colossus of fiberoptic cables, laser beams, and (of course) a human skull. I kept the base painting abstract, with patches of light to hint at searchlights in the night sky. Also, the ink lines were made most prominent, gestural, and simple. I dig pursuing a cartoonish feel now and again, and Dylan appreciated it as well.

I love drawing predators. I love drawing women. And I always enjoy the opportunity to render in black and white. This piece speaks for itself and will make for a wonderful sticker when they get back from the printer. I can't wait to put one on my laptop!

Monks On Fire have an upcoming show with a band called Reptillian Shapeshifter, so this image practically drew itself. Hazy atmospheric lighting, mountain lake background, and the dead tree add up to complete the intended menace of the lizard man's assault. I backed off the linework for this one, keeping a bit of the pencil work but mostly rendering with softer paint strokes using the round brush.

There are more Monks On Fire pieces scheduled to post this month, but before that I will post some about Arcane Knights and talk about process for the Zoetic Moon paintings for The Savage World of Krül, which were recently displayed over at Rogues and Reavers. Thanks!

Regicide and the Wandering Monk: Shramana Album Cover

My good friend Reggie Herbert started a band a couple of years ago called Shramana, which is a special kind of anti-superstitious wandering monk, here in Missoula. Reggie rocks guitars and sings the songs while Levi kills and kills the drums, and they've written a killer/sick/rad album called 'Dreaming As Punishment.' They've got tight grooves and bring forth mountains of sludge and dirt from the underbelly of the Rockness Monster.

At their inception, Reggie was awesome enough to ask me to print their first round of t-shirts and patches, and we spent an awesome afternoon getting those done. Fast forward two years, and Reggie asked me to bust out the album art and a revised logo for 'Dreaming As Punishment.' Of course, sir! Would love to! They put the image on both the album and some full color pins, which was a great bonus! Here's the original art for the cover:

My god, this one was fun. All crit and feedback appreciated as per usual. You might want to check out Shramana's band page or Reggie's local music blog to get a good feel for these rad dudes. Thanks!!!!!!!!

Opius - alt metal friendship and the Art/Rock Nexus

Years ago, my friend Scottie Matthews taught me about rocking a guitar nice and hard, Black Metal, noise rock, and a bunch of other skills and ideas that fall squarely under the heading, 'Radness.' Scottie has always been, and will continue to be, a thunderbolt of guitar prowess and metal erudition. Since those fateful days of my early twenties, Scottie has moved his family to Madison, WI, put together a truly talented group of dudes to form the band Opius, and has almost finished his full length.

Scottie needed artwork for the full-length, and I had waited the better part of a decade to make him some rockin' images for whatever band he was steering. This included front and back art, as well as developing their logo. At some point I would like to post an in-depth process of illustration for this, but for now the final pieces:

Opius official band logo, painted in MyPaint (I only rock open source these days). Next, the album cover:

And finally, the back cover:

Once again, any and all feedback is greatly appreciated! I will do my Montana best to address all comments posted. Thanks!