HEAVY DAYS IN DOOMTOWN : 3-6th May, Copenhagen 2012

Poster for the first 2 days of the upcoming HDID fest. This will be available at the festival as a limited edition screenprint, alongside other work from David V D'Andrea (Portland/USA) and The 13th Sign Collective (Berlin/Germany).

The opening night (Thursday 3rd) will be at the alternative venue Stengade where we'll also be showing a group exhibition of original artworks and prints - hope to see some of you there!

"Heavy Days In Doomtown -a DIY celebration of all things slow and heavy will be a 4 day event at 3 different venues in Copenhagen:
-a warmup show at the alternative venue Stengade, Stengade 18
-2 days of music, art, events and madness at the DIY activist driven social centre Ungdomshuset, Dortheavej 61
- a cooldown day in Copenhagens freetown Christiania with moviescreenings, accoustic outdoor shows and the final concert at Christianias finest rockclub Loppen.

The festival is organized by the association "Undergrundsmusikens Fremme" (translated: Undergroundmusic promotion) based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The association has for the past two years been organizing the successful DIY Death Metal Festival "Kill-Town Death Fest" (www.killtowndeathfest.dk) and has now spread its ventures to the doomspectre.

The whole event is organized by the DIY principles, which means that neither the organizers, the bands or the people who work at the fest are making any profit, and our main purpose besides having an amazing fest full of heavy music, is to promote the DIY principles to the genres who doesn’t usually organize this way.

Besides music, were inviting a bunch of great artists to come and make installations, visuals and more before and during the festival to make the expeirence of the fest visual as well as musical.

We hope to see all of you in Copenhagen in May for Europes heaviest underground event of 2012!

All the best//
Heavy Days In Doomtown Crew"

www.heavydaysindoomtown.com

YEAR OF NO LIGHT / ALTAR OF PLAGUES - split 12"

Altar Of Plagues & Year Of No Light.
East and west. Day and night.
The barren queen binds them.

Petrified rays of the sun.
Sol Niger manifested.

...

yearofnolight.free.fr

 www.altarofplagues.com
www.radarswarm.com

www.musicfearsatan.com

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION - US Tour Poster

The main focus here for me was simply to convey this reknowned Australian doom bands austere, sorrowful sound in visual form. Dark lunar energy channeled through an emotional form (cup/chalice) until it meets the earth and finds expression (the mourner) and resurfaces as solar energy (the raven).

My usual approach to sigilisation differs from the what is (arguably) the traditional method popularised by Austin Spare, this being that the exact meaning of the sigil is forcibly purged from the conscious mind as to prime it for later activation within the subconsious. As a rule where commercial design is concerned I often employ sigil-like structures and glyphs instead of words - coded information relating specific lyrics, album titles etc - as opposed to specific affirmations with magickal intent. 

In this instance there was a very specific phrase which can be seen in sigil form on the right hand side. This loosely involved the balancing of solar / lunar energy (a recurring theme in the vast majority of my work) - though I have forgotten the specific phrase which is unusual for me, bringing this particular piece closer in line with the typical chaos magick practices mentioned above. Personally, I feel this piece projects an odd type of serenity rather than a feeling of despair...which is also the context in which I listen to many bands of this nature.

The band poster edition sold out after the first few shows, though I have literally a handful of these for exhibition / sale which may go up on the store at some point. However, I have had a small art print edition of 50 (without text) printed by Broken Press. These have cooler colours and hues from the digital version at top but came out really nice I think. Some of these will be going up in the store late May, but for now here's some preview shots...

www.mournfulcongregation.com
scrawled.bigcartel.com

THE SERPENT BEARER #2 - cover illustration

Cover illustration and design for this Finnish music zine "concentrating on the esoteric side of heavy/black/death metal as well as acts from the field of dark experimental music".

After considering various approaches, I adopted a fairly literal interpretation of the publication title. Serpent imagery has prominently manifested itself in my life over the last few years, demanding reference and inclusion in the vast majority of recent illustration work. Perhaps one of the most mutable and complex archetypes found in both classical and esoteric art it would be naieve of me to think I've even begun to comprehend the true meaning of the serpent. Personally to me at the moment it seems to represent metamorphosis...or at least urges the need for change. Likewise, the midnight sun of Sol Niger makes an appearance once again, but instead of cowering under it's supposedly baleful influence the central figure stands proud and possibly even enriched by its presence.

She is tethered to the frame as I am tethered to these symbols. The identity of this figure is also a mystery to me, but again demanded inclusion within the piece. It seems to be the same figure that appeared on my Profound Lore poster. She bears the winged brow common to later depictions of the Medusa / Gorgon, yet now brandishes both trident and sickle. Lilith as Proserpina, daughter of Ceres? A sun worshipper taken to the underworld against her will, yet who now reigns triumphantly as a queen under black light.

This new issue of The Serpent Bearer so should see the light of day soon. Check out their blog for features and updates here : theserpentbearer.blogspot.co.uk

I also prepared a version sans text as a limited edition art print : 18x24", 1 colour sepia on French paper. Many thanks to Mark McCormick for the awesome printing on these. These won't be up for sale in my store until late May but here's a preview for now...

THICK AS THIEVES - mini print pack

The THICK AS THIEVES mini-print packs are still available!

Printing by Broken Press of Seattle.

"Each Pack includes:
- 5 mini-prints with designs from Glyn Smyth, Tom Denney, Casey McKinley, Mark McCormick, and Santos.
- Thick As Thieves patch
- *bonus* Santos mini print.
- Artist info sheet.

150 packs printed with 100 available for purchase.
All packs are in a 9"x9" printed envelope and hand numbered."

Get it here :  eyebleedink.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/thick-as-thieves-mini-print-packs

BACTERIA art zine / VIRAL GRAPHICS

 

"Bacteria issue #1 is a 90 page black and white, 22x32cm, pro-printed, hand-numbered, ink infested illustration fanzine limited to 150 and made by Viral Graphics, featuring interviews and tons of artwork by: Angryblue, Alexander L. Brown, Michael Canich, David V. D'Andrea, Simon Fowler, Alison Lilly, Putrid, Rainbath Visual, Santos Illustration, Glyn Smyth aka Scrawled, Jerald Tidwell and an interview with Ryan Lipynsky of Unearthly Trance and Nick Sciacca."

I'm a bit late blogging this unfortunately - this sold out immediately on day of release! But if you missed out make sure you keep a close eye on our friends in Athens - Viral Graphics - so you don't miss out on the next installment. Beautifully printed and put together, I had the honour of being interviewed & featured in the first issue alongside many other awesome artist friends.

I'll probably re-publish my interview up here at a later stage, but check out Virals' store in the meantime for some other great posters and prints...

viralgraphics.bigcartel.com

METAL & HARDCORE GRAPHICS - book

"This book is the first ever anthology of contemporary metal & hardcore art, and includes covers, booklets, posters, flyers, t-shirts, art, merchandising, logos and photos

The book contains the work of more than 100 artists and labels, more than 2000 images, and ten in-depth interviews with metal designers and artists, illustrated with photos taken by themselves specially for the occasion. The book also includes material from all the metal & hardcore genres, from the massive ones to the most underground ones: grindcore, thrash metal, death-metal, hard- rock, doom, black metal, metalcore"

Massive LP sized coffee table book - here's a shot of my Unearthly Trance and Cough packages, but this tome is full of many more accomplished illustrators and designers than myself. Great printing and production on this - metal/art enthusiasts should definitely consider picking up a copy.

preview

purchase