Heavy metal and horror work. (update: 12/28/12)

[Dr Midnight]

Wow. I really enjoy that Reduced To Sludge cover. I don't get death metal at all, myself, I'm a thrash guy... but I am a-digging the art.

[Dusty]

Wow. I really enjoy that Reduced To Sludge cover. I don't get death metal at all, myself, I'm a thrash guy... but I am a-digging the art.

Thanks, man!
I dig your stuff as well. Always loved that Repka-esque color palette you got going on.

[OldJake666]

That personal piece looks great Dusty, I hope the work is flowing in for you!

[Dusty]

That personal piece looks great Dusty, I hope the work is flowing in for you!

Thanks, Jake!
I'm actually slowing down a little bit as the last couple years have been a bit too much. Need to take a bit of free time to sort out my own creative needs over those of clients.

[The Gurch]

wOWEE! stunning , breath taking pictures..i have really loved looking at your work. You have some serious skillage! Gonna check out your tumblr too.
looking forward to seeing more from you.

[Dusty]

wOWEE! stunning , breath taking pictures..i have really loved looking at your work. You have some serious skillage! Gonna check out your tumblr too.
looking forward to seeing more from you.

Thanks, man! Be warned, the tumblr is totally retarded - which is exactly how I like it.

[Dusty]

Here's my latest for the band, Micawber.

The idea behind the album it is that mass consumption of media has turned everyone's brains into mush, essentially. And this "viral" outbreak is spreading every day.

So this cover was a more literal approach to the message that the band wanted to convey.




More stuff to show soonish!

[Dusty]

Here's the new artwork for Six Feet Under's "Undead", which comes out in May.
Cover:

"Band Photo":


http://www.metalblade.com/sixfeetunder/

[soulburn3d]

Cool work dude, glad to see some death metal album cover artwork on here. Keep up the great work!

[Dusty]

This was just a quick thing I did yesterday while listening to the new Burzum.

[IIIzoeIII]

now this is some fkt up sht haha
well done though

[ThumbprintGallery]

The second one was creepiest to me followed by the album cover "Fathomless Mastery." I think its the connection to the facial expressions which really draws chills. Anyway, overall great concept work.

-TPG

[Dusty]

The second one was creepiest to me followed by the album cover "Fathomless Mastery." I think its the connection to the facial expressions which really draws chills. Anyway, overall great concept work.

-TPG

Thanks! That's definitely something that I work on a lot...trying to get expressions that aren't so stilted (unless a blank expression is desired of course).

So I appreciate that feedback!

[JessicaNoel]

Hey I didn't know if I should quote this and throw all the pictures up there again...anyway...


your stuff is incredible!! Do you mainly use Illustrator with a Wacom tablet orrr..? It's so detailed and colorful..but it's a little scary/gory. Is there concept art that isn't scary or creepy??????

[eru]

WOW! your drawings and digital paintnigs are amazing! May I ask kindly how do you morph these strange biological features together, are they purely made up to look like they are real. I like to think like this in my head but unfortunately i dont have any skills to combusk or trial this? what is the best way to get creatures like this?
People do say practise but I keep thinking practise what exactly to get outcomes like this.

Thanks

[Pavel Sokov]

I keep checking this thread because it is great, but I have to say. I can't vouch for the six feet under band photo. Especially if that is to appear on their actual CD.

It is flat, everyone has the same indistinguishable face, no structure in either the clothing or the skeletons of the characters, no thumb that I recognize on the bloody hand, the weird neck on the singer, the way the red skull is crumbling so not-randomly (the chunks are too small and almost seem to be in a pattern). I'm sorry but it just doesn't stand up to the cover of the album and I don't think you should submit it to the band. I may be wrong of course, but
I think this has to do with more then personal taste.

I do like everything else!

[clifFroth]

Loving these.

[Dusty]

Hey I didn't know if I should quote this and throw all the pictures up there again...anyway...
your stuff is incredible!! Do you mainly use Illustrator with a Wacom tablet orrr..? It's so detailed and colorful..but it's a little scary/gory. Is there concept art that isn't scary or creepy??????

No, Adobe Illustrator excels at creating vector-based art (so lots of flat shapes piled up on top of each other). So this is all Adobe Photoshop and yes I use a Wacom tablet. It's not concept art, but yeah...a lot of concept art is scary because everyone wants to draw creatures.

While I don't do concept art, I still tried to find an industry where I got to do all the fun stuff (metal album art).

WOW! your drawings and digital paintnigs are amazing! May I ask kindly how do you morph these strange biological features together, are they purely made up to look like they are real. I like to think like this in my head but unfortunately i dont have any skills to combusk or trial this? what is the best way to get creatures like this?
People do say practise but I keep thinking practise what exactly to get outcomes like this.

Thanks

I hate to be a pain, but yeah...a lot of practice, study of ALL kinds of anatomy (not just human) and being inspired by other artists that do similar techniques (Hr. Giger, Wayne D. Barlowe, Michael Whelan, etc).
What I can say is that more often than not, I focus on composition first and how it all fits together second. Like any artist, I have a "bag of tricks" which I refer to when I need to blend two areas together. These could be stretchy skin, teeth, bumps, pus-filled blisters, intestines or any other kind of organic thing that I can just freestyle and fade into the next area of the piece. Because it's all made up, I vastly prefer surreal detail work over more real-life stuff. In general, I only see the "big picture" in my actual head. The details come out as I am painting.

I keep checking this thread because it is great, but I have to say. I can't vouch for the six feet under band photo. Especially if that is to appear on their actual CD.

It is flat, everyone has the same indistinguishable face, no structure in either the clothing or the skeletons of the characters, no thumb that I recognize on the bloody hand, the weird neck on the singer, the way the red skull is crumbling so not-randomly (the chunks are too small and almost seem to be in a pattern). I'm sorry but it just doesn't stand up to the cover of the album and I don't think you should submit it to the band. I may be wrong of course, but
I think this has to do with more then personal taste.

I do like everything else!

Hey, thanks for the feedback!
That piece was not for the cover, but for the band photo inside the booklet. Originally, it was not - that is why they are indistinguishable and don't really look like the band members other than the dreads of the lead singer. There is a thumb there, but obviously I didn't make it clear enough. I'll keep the stuff you said in mind! Thanks!

[Dusty]

My output was pretty light this year due to buying a house (for future reference, it really is as draining as everyone says it is), but I did manage to get a few things done.
Here's one of the ones that I can show.

This is for a black metal band called Magor, for their debut album "Drawn to the Dark".