At the beginning of October 2013, we received an email asking if we would be able to produce a series of merchandise designs for a globally recognised band. That band was Rammstein and this is the first of those designs.

Initially, Faye and I set about familiarising ourselves with their existing merchandise, videos of their live performances and their lyrics. With any band project, it is usually a mix of all these things that will give us a starting point. We were given completely free reign in terms of subject matter and the final aesthetic of the design, so we just went mad with this. Gathering all of our ideas together, we settled on the concept for this first piece, before sourcing photographic reference for the animals and the open-mouthed skull. Then the real fun began.

We usually create all of our designs with no prior sketches, going straight to final artwork. This is ideal for turning work around quickly for our own clothing, but for any big client, there will be a concept/amendment/approval process before final artwork can begin. The sketches for these designs were created ¼ size and we used pencil/ballpoint pen and diluted ink to block in large areas. We tried to pack as much death in to this one piece as we could! It was a real turn around for us in terms of technique and it actually changed the way we work in general.

The words and smoke were added to the sketch after the first amendments were made. Why don’t you see if you can find out what they mean? A lot of the elements for the final piece were resized and shifted around, and detail was added at the inking stage. This was one of my favourite drawings to work on for one of my favourite clients. Wait until you see the next design!