Sunday, December 28, 2014

Larkin Po(e)ster




Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone!  Here is my latest digital-stained-glass artwork for the amazingly talented and wonderful Lovell sisters of Larkin Poe.  Larkin Poe is my second favorite band of all time and probably will always be one of my favorite musicians to listen to.  I love metal music a lot, but Larkin Poe is what is often called swampadelic.  I normally don't go for this type of music, but their music is incredible!  ...undeniably incredible!!  Whether it is shredding it on the dobro: you must see this video!, or the heart melting vocals and lyrics that express head-over-heels in love or dealing with heart break, Larkin Poe is someone I can listen to over and over again and never, ever tire of listening to.  Not many of the artists I listen to I can say that about.
That is why I created an artwork for them as a way to say thanks.  This digital-stained-glass artwork shows Megan on the dobro on the left and Rebecca playing mandolin on the right.  All five EPs are highlighted through the background elements and fox.  The bottom left green grass is the "Summer" EP, the red tree is the "Fall" EP, the snowy-leafless tree is for the "Winter" EP, the flowers in the grass bottom right are for the "Spring" EP, and the fox is for the "Thick as Thieves" EP from the lyrics of the  song "Fox."  "KIN" is highlighted to represent Larkin Poe's newest album: "Kin."  The moon is from a lyric from my favorite song of theirs: "Trance."  The red bird flying from the cage represents another favorite song of mine: "Free Like a Bird."  The ravens surrounding the title represent their family connection to the one and only, Edgar Allen Poe!  Please check out their music and follow these incredible musicians! Here is the link to their website: Larkin Poe
And here is their youtube channel: Larkin Poe




Detail shots above.


Above is a progression of the artwork.  I always start with a very crude sketch.  I easily can translate what's in my head to the paper/computer and only when I am not working on a personal project will I bother to do a more detailed sketch.  For this I mainly wanted to make sure the window shape and spacing would work.  Next I sketched/painted Megan and Rebecca from photo reference in separate files and brought them into the final photoshop file.  I began to refine the sketch and eventually created a color rough before I began adding final colors and textures.  The entire process took over 400 hours.


My camera can't do it justice, but this is the gift I gave to the Lovell sisters just before I shipped it to them just in time for Christmas!  Merry Christmas, Larkin Poe!  I gave them a custom made lightbox with the help of Blue River Digital to illuminate my work as if it were an actual stained-glass window.  It is layered so it has an appearance of depth and the color is more brilliant and rich than you can see here or even in the first image posted at the top of this post.  I hope that they enjoy this gift.  From one artist to another, thank you to Larkin Poe.  Keep making such wonderful and amazing music!