Author Archives: Dusty

Metal art

When Dose of Metal asked me to do a regular guest column, I was sort of at a loss. On one hand, I love to write (even though I’m a much better artist than writer), but I was having a really hard time trying to decide what to talk about. I don’t particularly have any earth-shattering opinions on metal, I don’t have a band, and I’m also not a writer for Cracked.com and I really don’t have the time to research bizarre factoids and top 10 lists. So really, the only solution that I could think of that I know something about is art; heavy metal art specifically.

It’s not an industry that I am a seasoned veteran of, but I have been a professional artist in some capacity for about 11 years now. I remember what it was like to be 15 years old and see my favorite album cover, book, or comic and say to myself “I want to do that more than anything in the world”. So what I will talk about from here on out will most likely be less about “What’s your favorite metal album cover of all time?” and more about “How the hell do I get in touch with a band?” or “No one is writing me back! Does my portfolio suck?”. So if you are an artist aspiring to be in the heavy metal album cover industry (or maybe even not so specifically heavy metal, but any art industry), I think you will enjoy this column.

For my introductory article, I am going to start fairly simple and show you a little bit about who I am and how I approach a painting. And let’s get something straight here; yes, I am a digital painter. No, there is nothing wrong with that. There is a bad rap for digital artists that I see out there sometimes and it’s all bullshit. Someone who is lazy in Photoshop would be just as lazy with real paint. Photoshop (or any other program) is just another tool and in the hands of an experienced artist, he or she should be able to create something with the same amount of emotion as real paint. In a later article I will touch on this more, but for now let’s get to the art… After the jump.