J-Dae: Self Deconstruct Button

There was this big day long festival type jam here in Cleveland a couple weeks ago. It was a sort of "going away party"/"tribute to" Jae Kristoff, who is moving to NYC. Jae has been pretty influential and supportive as hell in this city for a long time. I think 18 or 19 bands played the show, but I showed up way late and only got to see a couple sets. They were all really wicked, especially Self Destruct Button, who played last and killed it in full blown old man gear while also featuring a performance by Jae (who used to sing/play noises for them).

So, for the poster I decided to pay homage to a very specific, very formative, moment in my understanding of what exactly is has been going on here in Cleveland for the past bunch of years. This is a reference to Self Destruct Button's set at the first Compound Fest, which, much like J-Dae, was a day long event where most of the great bands in Cleveland played. Self Destruct Button set up in the alley between The Compound and the house next door, then were fenced off from the crowd.



So I drew the alley and the crowd, but I knew I was going to cover up part of the crowd so I stuck myself in there, a naked girl covered in tattoos about to clobber me with a baseball bat, and a clown with a gun. Behind that is Michael Pultz, of Radio Dystopia, who set up and organized J-Dae. Also, the guy with the witch hat from the Lottery League poster, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, Spider-Man, the old timey photographer from the Scene's Best Of art I did, Skullface, Santa Clause... ect.



When Jae was in Self Destruct Button, they used to always play wearing costumes and masks, so I knew I was going to feature a guy in a mask in the foreground. I went with the top of a Luchador mask. I added the fence to this piece just to simplify things. Feasibly, I could have separated the fence and the face, then the buildings from the crowd, and ended up with five drawings for one poster. Instead I made it three: back ground, foreground and text.



I drew all these separately, then pieces them together in place in Photoshop. I like the way these look, but it's a challenge getting everything to fit and look good. I forgot to save the "Pat's In The Flats" text out, so... what ya see is what ya get.

I wish I had also thought to save the different steps in the coloring process. It was a trip, but I'm really super happy with the end result. It's a fitting visual commemoration for a great day that threw down in honor of a great dude.