As a writer and illustrator, sometimes I find my mediums mixing. That's what happened here. Oath is a fantasy horror novel in which the villain is an (often cave-lurking) being of dark magic named Animus. 

Well. 

What if Animus started a band? 

Granted, I'm never going to write that into my novel, but it was an interesting enough thought experiment that I went right to work on the gig poster. I set out a few objectives at the start of my project: One, the poster had to evoke a sense of fear and suspence. Two, it needed to convincingly fit into the emo/goth band vibe. Third and finally, I wanted to frame it as the main character of my novel--a fifteen year old comic book loving teenager--might portray it. With that in mind, I got to work.  

I set out to sketch in oil paints. At first, I thought that I might not work with Animus after all. I brainstormed other options related to my novel. However, I quickly came to decide that my first idea was best after all. Numbers 3, 4, 6, and 7 show some of my initial ideas. I didn't originally plan to place Animus in a cave. Simply, Animus would be represented by glowing eyes on a dark surface. 

Of course, as I worked, I shared my progress with some illustrator peers. This becomes more relevant later. 

I planned to show just Animus' eyes and a flame. However, once I drew it, I realized it left a lot to be desired. So, I took it to a peer group of designers and asked them for advice. I recieved a suggestion to add a little more detail such as an outline to the face. They said, however, that they liked where I was headed. So, I took it and kept running. 

Besides simply following their suggestions and adding hints of the face, I added the band title and the date and time of the gig. 

However, I realized pretty quickly that this was not the direction I wanted to head. The first issue was that I had made a demon incredibly cute, and that was the opposite of what I meant to do. 

Second, as my peers pointed out, the outlines did not match the detail and style of the eyes. As well, they did not give off exactly a classic-comic book feel. They were missing half-tones. 

For inspiration, I looked up pictures of mammoth cave. Slowly, the idea came to me that maybe the detail I needed to add included the details of a cave. Caves, after all, do well to hide horrors and only reveal a sinister monster the moment before catastrophe. Perfect!

I did away with the large eyes and decided to use a smaller and less-detailed version of those so that I could let the setting tell the story. After I drew the outline of the panther and the stalactites, I added half-tones to everything and played with the color. 

The critique I recieved this time was that the image was lacking contrast, and the half-tones on the band name looked too busy. 

Therefore, I removed the half-tones on the title (and on the panther) and chose to distress the title somewhat to add better effect. As well, I used the stalactites to frame the band name. 

One suggestion I recieved was to color the stalactites different shades of the same color and darken the background. I took this advice.

Then, I figured this was nearly done, but I wanted to bring it to an expert first for his advice. I knew it was still lacking something. 

Illustrator Cory Kerr (find his work on https://www.corykerr.com/) suggested that I remove the panther altogether, re-shape the eyes, and add a very light half-tone layer to the band name. Next, I might sharpen the stalactites and vary them more. I agreed.

It didn't turn out as I first pictured it, but by the advice of others I was able to make it so much better, and it fulfilled my original objectives perfectly. The half-tones and simplicity granted it the comic book feel as a nod to Oath's main character. Then, it successfully encapsulated the horror and suspence genre as it should. Finally, I could definately see this poster fitting for an emo/goth band. 

Gorgeous. 

What do you think?