The Horrid Shapes Behind All Outward Veils That Cloak The Universe

So I finished that poster last night and made a couple of color mock ups.


I'm not the best at picking colors and might have done this a little hastily but the idea was for my friend to use a slightly transparent lighter color ink for the smoke layer when printing to attempt to replicate the smoke effect I like to do in paintings. I think it looks a lot better and more legible (also way creepier) on grey paper with bright colored smoke:

All in all I think the drawing came out well and the printing should work fairly well. This is for the upcoming Des Ark LP recorded live at WXDU on my friend Mike Brennan's label Paramnesia Records. Like all the good things it is a true labor of love and mostly exists to release projects he's excited about for his friends. Mike is an awesome dude dedicated to building community and has done a billion favors for me (if it weren't for him I would pretty much never have a functioning computer which is important these days) so it's cool to be able to do something for him. The poster will be an bonus insert for preordered copies of the record so if you like Des Ark and want a poster get on it!

It's also worth noting that I have done two other skull faced owl drawings, one about 4 years ago and one about 2 years ago, both of which came out so so and as a result I never used any of them in shows or to make prints, but I really like this drawing. A lot of birds have that strange ocular bone that looks like a pair of goggles in the skull which can make drawing the skulls in just black and white and the eye set in it come out sort of weird and confusing.
Anyway, this was fun to do, especially all the detail in the feathers. Finishing up a few projects before I leave for my trip next week!