A Cadaver Christmas

Just released today via killerfilm.com is the artwork i did for a back comedy grindhouse zombie horror festive flick called A Cadaver Christmas (you can already buy it on Amazon now!).

this was to be a DVD cover so to match the grainy visual grindhouse film effect i decided to approach the cover like a weathered old video cover (a popular misconception - ahem... dont look back at my previous vhs designs - when weathering a video cover is that all the edges get frayed, because of the video case only the top and bottom would wear over time while the sides would be protected, how anal am i!)

For the design itself i wanted to give it a more humorous twist, i instantly connected the title with that classic cadaver feet/toe tag image so thought it would be a great way to frame the logo in the montage, it then also enabled me to tell the story of the film from top to bottom... so the Cadaver feet and the blanket blend into the snow which leads to the college* where the janitor works and the zombies (cadavers!) scenario plays out.

 

Although iv'e only shown The 3 main protagonists in the film there are actually 6/7 characters all in all but visually trying to squeeze everyone in would have been an explosion of chaos, (as Jack Burt... sorry! i always say "just because its in the film, doesn't  mean it has to be on the cover) when doing montage designs (which i often get hired to do) i try and put elements in which will tell a story and give visual hooks in the most compact way possible (but not minimal buy a long shot!),

 

This is a perfect example of what i mean though as the 3 characters we went with had the most visual connection and recognizable, so the main character he Janitor with BLOODY mop, slightly manic twitchy eyed cop and festive alcoholic (he does drink from a hip flask but again the hip flask wasn't instantly recognisable so i gave him the more obvious Whiskey bottle (which he's spilling in HORROR!!! and it looked more funny).

The other characters (while not to detract from them, of the bartender, Campus security girl and pervert perp) didn't have that obvious visual (which i know iv'e mentioned about 500 times now, but bear with me) connection. The guys at Level 33 distribution (who where great to work with very enthusiastic, they pushed out the budget on this one but where not overly protective and open to any suggestions, so 4 star clients!) agreed and we streamlined the characters. 

Although the College* building i have depicted isn't an exact representation of the one from the film (i don't think you actually see it in full) i wanted a classic school/university building, as i felt it was the most integral part of the design which would links all the elements together. Its great when you have a destination for these designs as i feel it helps anchor all the elements (and story line) around a destination. I sort of read a criticism on a site about there initial photoshop design being one of confusion about the characters, zombies Janitor and Christmas so i wanted to avoid that and portray the college, where cadavers reanimate and a janitor with a rag tag bunch of people battle them at Christmas... Simple as that!


For the festive touches we did look at several approaches, i didn't want to make it too cheesy or tacky so i sort of went for a festive twist on the old VHS frame style which just clicked then with the snow etc. it really boosted that Christmas connection.

On a technical side iv'e been experimenting more with airbrushing effect (as i mentioned on my new logo) for the background glows and washes so here with the snow it really worked out well i felt it softens up the edges more, hats off the Enzo Sciotti for the inspiration behind that technique... check out his work he was the Italian Master, forget the renaissance!!

New Dude Designs logo

 

As im looking to create a new website for the work (along side the blog) to hopefully sell limited edition poster prints and make the work more easily navigational. I thought it was time to spruce of the old handle, so here finally is my ostentatious 70s airbrush inspired design. It was always the direction i had in mine when i created the first sketches.

its just took a while to get here as ive been developing my photoshop painting techniques and recently experimenting with airbrushing  more on the posters for background washes and highlights i felt i could tackle the logo effect. so its about 130 layers and masking off sections then doing quick airbrush esque gradient colours (3 all in all not including the yellow base colour for the main text).

Im sure it will jar with some peoples taste but i want a trully 70s esque almost gordy gold stlye wich you dont see around much these day and step away from the more rough grunge style of the last incarnation.

Frankenstein Created Bikers

Just when you thought it was safe to jump back on the hog... comes Frankenstein Created Bikers sequel to Dear God No!

 

There was a load of creative Freedom on this one James Bickert (the director) does let me run wild with no expectation (except for insisting breasts enter the picture some where!), also as the movie is yet to be filmed i didn't really have any cast restrictions. i skyped with the director and chatted about the plot lines  characters and twists going into this one so all the elements do relate to certain elements of the film. Like the doctor, Jett again, and the woman who like to blow up police cars with dynamite!! 

After the first one (Dear God No!) i just wanted (and needed) to create the most outrageous exploitation biker image imaginable... I knew the sexy dynamite lady had to be central and i thought what could be a more OTT, cheesy, sexy with a 70s vibe than some outlaw bikers riding forth from out from between a girls fishnet suspendered thighs... Also it was a twist on creaition and brth of the bikers, seriously i'm sure a counselor would have a field day with this image!! (theres lots of issues going on here!!).

For the Bikers James mentioned having slightly zombie bikers but i wasn't sure to which degree these bikers would be zombiefied and its also very hard to get that across with all the hair and sunglasses so i chose to visualize it more through the bikes with the skull headlamp and wing mirrors then little touches like the Hell Bound foot pegs.

To get that classic explotion effect in this one i integrated i painted the background canvas with acrylics and the scanned that it to work digitally over the top, so it was a cool blending of physical and digital mediums on this design

Finally you could say i really put myself into this piece.... 

The Dude Designs advertisement

Here's a vintage 70s VHS inspired back page ad i did to promote the Dude Designs in Weng's Chop Fanzine which should be available through Comixpress soon!

The Weather Outside

When Jason (the Director) approached me about The Weather Outside it was an interesting proposition as the premises for the movie was one which i hadn't touched on before... a Film Noir esque romance mystery!

So i got to play around with a lot of the visual language (or cultural baggage as my old flim studies lecturer used to say) of this design to relate the films story back to the viewer.

We wanted the direction of the design to have that film noir aesthetic as it has such a rich history it instantly gives the viewer that visual connection for the films tone. The composition of the elements was an important factor (being a mystery romance) too in showing the interaction of the characters and there relationship to each other (Every element tells a subtle yet important part of the narrative). I wanted to have all elements merging into one another to show how they are interlinked which i did through the strong use of shadows, this also worked well to portray a darker atmosphere.

I was going to angle the whole poster but it seemed too much so i kept it along the top to with the effective line break in the tag line, too really emphasis that and for the title, which i based off an amazing old 1920's hand painted french type catalog, i was going to go for a classic script style but it looked too derivative of the film noir style, so i looked towards a more modern sans serif type with a 3D feel to lift it out and away from the main image.

For the coloring the director suggested we went down a more festive vibe to relate that back to the viewer without shouting about it.

Due to the title being derived from the song, i needed to get in some festive weather, so i experimented with different treatments, rain initially (as it does rain a lot during the film) but it looked to busy then as i tried to stylize it more it looked too frank miller! So the snow (basically a more emphasized version flecks on the innkeepers) had a more romantic feel and nicely broke up all the flat black colouring and became a nice finishing touch which just polished off the design.