Monday, March 01, 2010

White Mice



This is the first of probably many "attendance mandatory" shows of 2010. There's just no other way to think about this. White Mice are easily one of my favorite bands to see play. I would not usually draw a band, or do anything quite so literal for a poster, but this is my fourth White Mice jam, and of those one was part of a triptych, and another was part of Month of Flyers. So, that being the case, and the fact that White Mice bring it visually, spectacle-wise, as much as they bring the sonic assault... yeah, it's about time I drew the Mice the way they are.

I missed Tinsel Teeth last time, but have heard great things about their shows. I also missed Liturgy last time they played here, which, I have no idea where I was or what I was up to that was more important. Probably working. I have no idea who Stress Ape is, but they have a cool name and nice messy logo. That bodes well.

I think I know who's in Weird River, but I don't know much about them other than what's up on their myspace page. Based on that, though, I think it's pretty safe to expect good things. The Family Chapter is, again, another project where I know the members but very little else. Actually... maybe I don't know the members- in fact, that shit could go in any direction. This could be anything. It will probably be brutal though.



My original concept sketch, not nearly dynamic enough. I liked the way the mice looked, but it just felt a little flat. To get pumped for this poster and as a reference point, I looked at this post on Brooklyn Vegan with White Mice shots from a show in NY. I had drawn some really sketchy versions of them already, here's one of those:



I spent a lot longer on this, and worked it out to try and build the pile of severed heads up, to be looking at them from a worm's eye view (which didn't really work that well). I wanted the mice to look as menacing as I could manage. I feel like I haven't done enough gruesome stuff lately. I feel like I've spent some time being a nice dude. Cupid Dogs and Dumpling Eating Contests and Presidents. Saints, even. There's nothing wrong with that. I LOVE drawing that stuff. But... I've missed moves like the old "pile of severed heads". I like piles of severed heads.



I drew this pretty big again. It's on a 14 x 17 piece of Bristol Board. It's fun to draw bigger. I'm not sure if it takes longer, it might. I dunno.



I can't wait for this show. You should come. You should bring your friends. You should wear your fancy dancing shoes. You should be prepared to get your bells rocked, then your head cut off. It'll be a blast.

3 comments:

jonrybicki said...

great work! i am actually a founding member of stressape. they used to be from chicago but we started the band as a joke on the way to florida for the international noise conference in 2007. we played two shows in florida and a couple of shows in chicago that spring before i ended up moving back to cleveland. the band has had a few lineup changes since then though.

i wish i could go to this show. i am going to be on tour with sun god. if you talk to anyone in stressape, tell them i said whats up. i havent talked to any of them in years.

John G said...

Oh, Awesome! I'll definitely drop your name. You will be missed, dude. Have fun on tour!

Anonymous said...

I like this one.-Abhay