The Godfather

So, this month the sandwich special at Melt is The Godfather an Italian Feast of a sandwich.

The official description:

THE GODFATHER

Homemade 3 Cheese Lasagna

creamy ricotta, smoky provolone and rich romano

fresh made fennel & oregano sheets from Ohio City Pasta

layered with spicy red tomato sauce and served bubbly hot on garlic spiked grilled bread with more gooey provolone

add a new Melt veggie antipasto salad for a true italian feast

Hey Meat lovers... we won't disappoint you!

a ground beef and italian sausage version is also available

I had it for lunch today, and it was awesome. I went with the meat option, but before the month is out, I am definitely going for one without meat, because I think it may have actually been too much food!

So, about the poster. This one was actually an idea from Matt Fish at Melt. He sent me a description of the sandwich (I'll get to that in a minute), and an idea he had for the visual:

"The poster idea I kinda had was looking down a big table from one end with the sandwich in the foreground. In table would continue out of sight with the background being a mixture of people, animals and aliens eating an enormous Italian feast at this table. Plenty of wine glasses, bibs and a mixture of the lasagna sandwich and other varied Italian dishes ( spaghetti & meatballs ect...) Have it take place in doors. Really high ceilings with OS candle chandeliers, rafters ect... The first two posters were outside so I thought it would be cool to come inside."

This is awesome because it gives me a place to start. This is also a fun idea and I could begin to visualize it even as I read this description. Sometimes when people give me ideas, they're not this fun. In fact, mostly they're either the most obvious cliché thing possible, or not even something that can be drawn. People are weirdos, man. So, after a bunch of rough drafts and sketches and then a penciled final and a final where I drew the background and foreground together, I realized I wanted to draw the ceiling and the table separate to make for easier coloring once I pieced it all together in photoshop.





I used a shitload of math and magic to get this stuff to look like it does. The perspective was all measured out and then drowned in root beer. I probably should have, but I didn't use a reference for this drawing at all. I just tried to remember the hours upon hours of my young life I spent day dreaming and not paying any attention at church while staring at the vaulted ceilings. I always wondered why they didn't fall in... the answer: Math and Magic. I should probably scan the sketches with all the rough lines everywhere, all that perspective. That would give anybody reading this a better idea of how much went into it, but... whatever. Anyway... the depth, I think works. So I pieced them together, and got to coloring:



SO: With that nailed down, here's Fish's description of the actual sandwich:

"I am going for an Italian theme for May. The sandwich is going to be a 3 cheese lasagna sandwich on garlic spiked grilled bread. The lasagna sandwich will have 3 different cheeses - creamy ricotta, romano and provolone, a hearty red tomato sauce and fresh fennel & oregano pasta sheets from Ohio City Pasta. A meat version will also be available with spicy ground beef and sausage. The drawing of the sandwich will have 3 different pasta layers, bottom, middle and top. The pasta should have a slight green tint. Red sauce and oozy cheese between the layers. The bread should have garlic and parsley specs in it. Let me know if you have any more questions on the look."

This shit makes me so happy. I get to find out about the special before almost anybody else, and then it's this crazy ass idea! I love it! I don't know why, but I fucking love drawing food!



So, I'm glad I hadn't used a green plate yet, because I knew I wanted to do it up to recreate the Italian Flag imagery on this one:



So, after I got the description and the idea for the poster I wrote back to ask about the name and get the details proper. I told Fish I was thinking I wanted to use the Godfather logotype for whatever the name was going to be, but wasn't sure because that might be a little cheesy... He wrote back and said "Hell, let's call it The Godfather!". So it was done:



I tried really really hard to fit the marionette hand thing with the strings in there, but it would have really cramped the top of the poster. I actually watched The Godfather and the first half of The Godfather Part II while drawing this thing. They're such great movies. Makes me want to do crime comics. About sandwiches. So, I drew the info from the bottom kind of hastily, but I think it came out okay. I think I had been working on the poster for like, 16 hours already and the clock was ticking. I like the banners, it's simple and ads an element that makes things pop.



So, there it is. The Godfather, at Melt throughout May, 2009. Go get it!