Some more process shots of a poster I designed for the Melvins Lite @melvinsdotcom show at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

This show was also the Melvins’ attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the fastest tour of the United States. I’m stoked to have been a teeny tiny part of it. They made a tour diary - you should go and read it. Aside from being an amazing band they are also literate and well-read. Check it out. Be enlightened.

Process:
Even though I’m left-handed I still start drawing on the wrong side of the paper. If you’re drawing with your right hand then it’s best to go left to right. But when you’re a Southie you should start from right to left. I keep forgetting to do that. I knew the muscle side of the drawing was going to be more of a challenge and that really appealed to me. So I couldn’t wait to get started. Even though I’m not following my own rule of drawing right to left, I place sheets of paper on the drawing to cover my big ol’ meat hook from getting oils and smearing the lead all over the paper. I mention this every time because it’s important - the oils from your skin change the surface of the paper and makes a mess of the surface. It drives me insane because I don’t like cleaning up my scans after I’m done inking.

I think the biggest hurdle for me was that the Monster’s head was an abnormal shape. (Pun intended). As I was drawing I was listening to the historian commentaries for both movies in the background. Hoping to get some insight as to what make-up artist Jack Pierce might’ve intended with the shape and design of the Monster’s square-ish head. I didn’t get the info I needed so I hit up some artist friends and asked their opinions. My buddy @R_Franks suggested that maybe the top of the head was from a larger skull that was stitched back together with that of a smaller skull. Yes we are nerds…

So with that rattling around in my noggin I referenced some of my anatomy books to make sure I got the muscles correct. Someday I’ll know these books by heart. They’re very useful. I scan and print out just the pages I need at the moment and then binder clip them when I’m done. This saves room on my drawing table. I’m not wrestling books and trying to draw and trying to take a million photos as I’m working. Plus it saves a ton of time if I’m not wasting time trying to find which book had a view of which muscle in some weird angle.

I’ll post more tomorrow.

My email has been blowing up about when the prints will go up on sale. I’m juggling some projects right now so the best way to find out is by signing up to my nerdsletter on my site. Wish I could tell you more about the other stuff but yeah I can’t.