Not long back an email dropped into my inbox asking me was I interested in doing a canvas for a project based around the new Green Day album 21st Century Breakdown. No brainer? I think so…
Not sure if you’ve seen the artwork for the new album but it’s all stencil stylee and was based on artwork created by Sixten. The album consists of 18 tracks and from what I can gather a number of artists were contacted to take a track each and create a piece of artwork based around the lyrics of that track.
I don’t want to give away too much at the minute as to what will happen with the artwork but I was given the track ‘Last of the American Girls’. I haven’t even heard the track yet but the lyrics can be found here and below is a selection of rough digital sketches that led up to the final painted piece. I usually start all my work on the computer using Photoshop and a wacom tablet as it helps me quickly sketch things out and change colour and composition with minimal fuss.
Hmm, not sure if the BIG paranoid works in the background.
Quite liked this one, nice comic cover feel to it, but would it work on canvas?
Getting a little closer. This composition feels tighter.
Let's throw more colours in the mix. Too obvious though?
A Little less in your face, but the blue could still be a touch too obvious.
Bingo. I know it's a bit odd adding drips a digital file but it gives me a better idea of how the painted piece could look.
The last image is a photo of the final painted piece. I’m pretty happy with it. It’s graphic enough to tick the boxes for album artwork and looks good as a standalone piece of art on canvas. It feels pretty ‘Green Day’ to me and relates nicely to the track lyrics and the general ‘America is screwed’ themes that can be expected from a Green Day album. I’ve no idea how much the piece will be used, if at all! But it was awesome to be asked and an interesting theme to work with. If anything goes further with the piece I’ll let you know.
