Promotional flyer/poster for DK.

Continuing this whole thing, I wanted some more promotional material... well, a show flyer and a poster were inevitable.

Show flyer:

Poster:

Inside of the Vinyl... finally.

I've been working on this for WAY too long. Oh my god.

8 Track label complete.

This is the front label of it, at least. And yeah, that's supposed to be Tipper Gore. Why her? This might help:

NAZI ROBOTS N' SHIT

CAN NO ROBOT GO UNTAINTED?!

Continuing some shading techniques.

I have committed myself to complete a very large illustration (and more) in the next three weeks for the inside of the vinyl packaging... good on me, I suppose. Either way, this one object in an image of "a shitload of objects" is taking me a few hours, but here is an in progress at some skin shading:

But seriously, who gives a shit?

Continuing along with some progress of my retro packaging project, I've learned a few things. Some quite literally, some... not. They just kind of appear in my head sometimes. Some say it's a condition. Anyways, so one main focus of this project for myself (a personal goal, if you will) was to improve my digital illustration skills as a whole; learning to properly shade vectors/images all while learning the functions of my drawing tablet at the same time. For my trial run, essentially, I decided to start with the image I plan on using for my cassette tape redesign of "In God We Trust, Inc". The original cover was a standard picture of Jesus on the cross, but the catch was that the cross itself was made from folded dollar bills. While I like the original, I had to think deep on what the album made ME see and hear. The visual representation of separation of church and state (and just about everything else) with a more drastic approach led me to the image of two businessmen "sealing the deal" with a firm handshake... but with one hand bleeding from the center, sans nail. How would I draw this, though? I have certain visual styles I enjoy creating, but the modern comic book style of shading was the exact look I wanted. After lots of research and about 5-6 hours of time, this is the image I created:

Like 15 layers of soft gradients and pixel-perfect vector cleanup helps, I suppose. Now all I have to do is use this same technique on an entire vinyl spread. Welp. Speaking of that vinyl, by the way, my original idea of a collage of shopping bags? I needed more than that. I wanted to be hands-on and unique with the entire design, so I kept with the shopping motif with the typography (especially the tracklist), while just plain-out keeping it "punk as fuck". So here's what happened after a few hours:

More to come.

Punk'd

I've been a punk fan since I can even remember listening to music. It was always so raw, loud, energetic, rude, and anti-everything. Basically, it was perfect for teen me. Dead Kennedys were always a personal favorite, so this project has a bit of personal touch to it as well. The vinyl album will be based on Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death, a compilation album put together by the band shortly before they broke up. The songs on this album really exemplify what DK is about - that whole anti-consumerism/anti-Reagan era style - and yells as loud as it can. Continuing with that motif, I plan to make a collage of sorts on the front cover of many shopping bags/brands/etc all dirtied up, with some typography all over it. Opened up, the two-fold inside cover unveils a large image of zombies in the supermarket, pushing their way through each other just to give in to their consumerist desires, ignoring everything and everyone else. The woman behind the counter looks tired, old, but smiles (or else she'd be fired, ya know?). She might also be a robot. Haven't decided yet. Either way, the idea behind this is slightly illustrated (focusing on vectors) in that cheesy old 80s punk look. It may be a bit straightforward, but sometimes, that's OK. The cassette tape is based off of In God We Trust, Inc., which was also fairly to-the-point. The original art had Jesus on the cross, of course, though the cross was made of dollar bills. Clever as hell actually. I wondered what the hell I was going to do, but then it just hit me - stick with the "corporation" idea, and have a firm handshake between two businessmen - although one hand will have a large, gaping hole in it, bleeding all over the other man's hand. The VHS tape is going to use the Dead Kennedys LIVE VHS from '91. The cover originally is a tad standard - screenshots from the film itself. My idea is to feature a large, blank TV under the logo on the cover, though the screen is cut out. The reason for this is due to the fact that the VHS will have a label featuring one of those screenshots, but will only appear on the TV when the VHS is inside the cover. I'm using Too Drunk to Fuck as my 45 (how quaint). Seriously though, it's one of the best DK songs out there, and the art is going to have to reflect what the song does - a bit melancholy and head-tilting awkwardness, but raw and dirty and downright disgusting (the song ends with a 5 second clip of someone puking their guts out). Images of a dirty toilet in some dive bar pop in my head. We'll see. Stay tuned for more concrete ideas.