Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Axl Rose for REVOLVER Magazine







OK, I can share the rest of this piece with you all now. This is a full page illustration that I did before Christmas for REVOLVER Magazine. The idea for this piece was to show Axl on his throne with his Yoda near his side as a guide of sorts. I guess Axl had this weird little oracle woman with him at all times and the rest of the band made fun of her and called her Yoda, which may help explain why Yoda is in this illustration? You'll have to buy the magazine and read the article.

My first idea for this piece was to do a Norman Rockwell-ish painting, sort of like a Saturday Evening Post cover, I had a cleaner design behind Axl, a small circle with flames. It's a fun idea, Axl in nothing but a kilt and shoes with Yoda and all that painted in a warm and totally ideal American family setting, totally backwards of something Rockwell would have painted. Long story short, last minute and I mean the very last, the idea was changed dramatically and I had to trash that idea and paint flames everywhere in the background all in under three hours. This means that I had to also re-work a lot of what I had finished painting on Axl and Yoda, having to add warmer color, reflective light from the flames, and so forth so that they would feel like they were really within this surrounding.

* UPDATE * New addition to this post on 1-17-08. A few of you have requested to see the Rockwell version, so I've added the artwork to this post. This was the direction I was heading, it wasn't quite finished, the next step was to add some items to the ground around Axl, like bottled water and bowls of fruit and energy bars . . .

17 Comments:

Blogger Roderick De Jesus said...

this is pretty kick ass. i like how axel's body isn't what it used to be. that's a nice touch.

i have to say, i had NO idea that yoda was going to be in this like that.

4:39 PM  
Blogger Tim Bye said...

I love how you've done the hands - the lighting is just fantastic - and the soft edges too! Nice work on the hair too!

4:55 PM  
Blogger John Duckett said...

Looks Great! Thanks for showing the sketches also.

8:10 PM  
Blogger Faboun'e said...

my aim is to doing , one time, a thing like this ... just one time..
Love your art !

3:06 AM  
Blogger Mark Heng said...

Awwww...Axl's gotten all soft and flabby! Great illo, man. Any chance of posting the original idea? I'd love to see what you had in mind.

5:07 AM  
Blogger Neil Davies said...

Well I wasn't expecting that! Brilliant of course :)

5:22 AM  
Blogger Márcio Rocha said...

Muito legal mesmo. Fantástico.

7:08 AM  
Blogger Terry Elliott said...

That's awesome, Jason. Thanks for sharing the close-ups and sketches. That's what makes your blog so great. Very inspirational. Keep it up and thanks again!

8:39 AM  
Blogger William K. Moore said...

Flame on! Great job Jason... your ability to shift gears and move forward is amazing... your solid foundation makes it all possible. I'm really enjoying this painting - excellent... and axle might want it as a tattoo now - can you deliver that?

12:51 PM  
Blogger Marco Bucci said...

freaking AWESOME man. If I'm ever in Chicago, I'm coming over to your place to steal your skills.

4:00 PM  
Blogger Ryan Wood said...

This turned out fantastic! I like the story behind it as well. Bravo!

7:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

very impressive painting Seiler!!It's a pitty you couldn't go on with the rockwell idea.It would have been very very nice.

7:23 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is really cool.
I like the idea of the Rockwell-ish background.
Do you have a version of that available?
rg, enerene

9:25 AM  
Blogger SEILER said...

Thank you so much, I've been encouraged by your comments! Some of you have asked to see the first version, so I've attached it to the post. Marco, anytime you're in Chicago we should hang out for sure!

10:11 AM  
Blogger Kei Acedera said...

I love seeing your sketches and process! Faaaantastic!

10:43 AM  
Blogger Asier M. López said...

yeeeah!!!very nice that previous design.i think i like it more...

12:09 PM  
Blogger Dillon Thompson said...

I am blown away at your blog. Its nice to Axle back in the lime light.

9:59 PM  

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All artwork © JasonSeiler 2006 unless otherwise stated. All characters are copyright to their respective owners