Decretum - "Create Your Own Solution EP-IC"

Back in high school, my brother and I jammed with a few friends as they were trying to put together a local metal band. God, I remember we were all actually part of a Metallica cover band at one point, with my brother on lead guitar and me on the bass, but that's another story for a different time (and it was awesome). Anyway, that band formed into Decretum, and they've been writing music and playing shows back in Grand Junction ever since I moved to Savannah. Turns out that they've been eager to release an EP for their upcoming album and looked to me for some cover art! Of course I wanted to help out my old bandmates so the project took off a little over a week ago to coincide with their March 3rd release date.

I had to haul pretty fast for this one, so I started off with a sketch that illustrated their first song "Absent God", which had to do with aliens. Here's the original drawing I did of the earth being destroyed and absorbed by some kind of alien machinery:

I wanted to make more of an effort to record my working process for this one, but for some reason I couldn't remember to take screenshots of all of the steps, but I at least attempted it.

  

The background was made up of star charts, digital paint, and ink/pastel rubbings that I had scanned into the computer. From there it was mostly a render-fest, with me trying to slowly work in more detail over the entire piece, one layer at a time. The planet seen in the next two is just a photograph, for a placeholder.

And finally, the finished piece with the logo and font. I originally had planned for a small spaceship that was escaping the earth (you can see it actually, in my original sketch), but due to time constraints I had to leave it out:

It was fun, trying to get back into digital painting after almost eight months of ignoring it. It's a different beast than my usual acrylic to be sure, but I learned a lot and I am probably going to start using my tablet more often now. I've got to give a big shoutout to the members of Decretum, as well as my brother Steve who helped the band record and mix their EP. We were all able to make an idea into something awesome and real together, and I'd love to work for the band more in the future.

If you wanna check out Decretum's music, head on over to their facebook page and give them a listen!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Decretum/207041099346399

And to any of my Grand Junction buddies out there that listen to metal, which is pretty much all of you admit it, go see the band play and pick up the EP! I'll be doing poster and t-shirt art for them coming up too so keep an eye out for that! 

Little Casey...

So my good friend Casey and I kept a small series of comics going about us as if we were little kids during our SCAD adventures. He visited me in Savannah a little while ago and this was basically the result..