Idecided it would be appropriate to show what I’ve been working on as of late. I’ve been contracted to do album artwork for the band Hammer Hands. The music is quite captivating. Luckily the vocalists lyrics provided me with a wealth of opportunity to spark my own creativity.

Lines like “drown me in bodies and pools of absinthe, let me exist for the taste of skin, i am an animal, and i act accordingly” provoke incredible visuals. The hardest part I think was choosing something that would provide a well rounded image of the band, while still catering to that lyrical punchiness, so to speak. Inevitably I used the line “wrap me up in ivy and make me whole again” as the influence for my sketches.

The deer, while an intriging as an idea, seemed a bit lifeless to me. I wanted to give him a persona, I wanted to build the species from the ground up so to speak. I began by creating a model of how I thought the deer would function as a creature. I wanted to keep the elongation of the head of the sketch I was given, in order to draw a visual connection to the original idea of the band members. Heres what I came up with:

So I had my character, but I needed a bit more, the face to me still seemed a bit lifeless, a bit untouchable. I decided to cross the image of the deer with an old wizened emaciated man.

I’m talkin a man who hasn’t eaten in 30 years but somehow is still alive. I also love beards, so naturally, he had to have one. Heres the pencil and inked sketches:

I’ve also begun brainstorming for the bands logo. While reading through the lyrics it became obvious that this band just didn’t care. I don’t mean that in a bad way at all, but it seems as if they were looking to throw themselves into the face of their genre. Their attitude was as such, and I think it makes for an amazing kind of anything-goes, sans-censorship kind of mindset.

Following that trend I thought it might be interesting if their name took the form of a moustache. Moustache’s are bold, they make a statement, and they are one of the most identifying characteristics anyone could have. Dude who has a moustache one day and shaves it, theoretically is a completely different dude the next day. Heres my idea:

So thats where I’m at this moment. Still have to finish up the logo and add color, then carry out the full design. I’ll post up progress as it comes.