How to art direct a metal band

in metal •  6 years ago  (edited)

Howdie

I love metal
I paint and draw since I am 6 years old.
Art school rejected me, si Ive been educating myself.... :)

Two years ago a friend of ine asked me to join his metal band as the lead vocalist. I didnt do any metal or singing until then. It sounded like a challenge, and I accepted gladly....

But with the music, there have to be some visuals. Something to engage the eye when you listen to the sound I thought... Something appealing, mystifing.... Something that wants to tell a story. If possible in accordance with the lyrics of the song.

Same thing with the whole band... I thought and still think: like a brand.... something that goes with the band all the way... look at these examples, recognise something?

cover.jpgkisspng-nirvana-logo-sticker-decal-nirvana-5acc4ee75a9c05.0385341915233389833712.jpg
gojira-logo-1.jpg

Every band has a visual representation, and visual merketing for obvious reasons. Likely money and recognisability...

So...

How did I start?
My thought process was as said before. We settled after long debates on the bandname:

Diabeu
The writing of the name is always essential... I invested a good deal of time in the font design. There were many iterations....

diabeu varianaten.jpg

compilation.jpg

Ater two months I settled on:

17.jpg

With the name there comes already a clear visual message… and thats good.
My initial tryout was like this:

only logo.jpg

But I didnt like it too much... and I looked for other forms. I did like the idea though, some kind of head above the bandname...
Next step:

turntable title.jpg

The band liked the design. Its clear connection to the name. Since this was the first picture with the font, I decided to take the art direction journey from there...

Please lilke and share if you found this inspiring...
Feedback is key, please tell me what you think...

JD

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i think you need to be more creative with it comes to this. detailed yes it is good but it is not too pleasing to consider

  ·  6 years ago (edited)

...hmm well Its not supposed to be pleasing, it supposed to rattle your cage.. XD

I think you're doing just fine. And art school is overrated. I've learned more valuable lessons over the past 5 years than any art school could have provided AND I'm not in debt paying of an education that I didn't even use like 80% of people :/ keep up the good work and keep progressing !