Invincible Gate Mind of the Infernal Fire Hell

Is at the printers. This record took about a year to write, 4 days to record and mix and over 6 months to get the artwork complete. It will be out late July/August 09 on vinyl, followed by a CD release 2-3 months later.

Since I get a fair amount of inquiry about working on projects I wanted to go through the general creative and production process for creative/design projects I work on.

First, get the music done, to the point where I am fairly comfortable there won't be any major changes to the lyrics or music. Often this is the day after tracks have been committed to a master. After 10+ years of this stuff, a very specific pattern has emerged on everything I've been involved with. Changes are made right up until material is committed to tape. This has led to everything from lyric sheets with completely inaccurate lyrics to designs that had to be rebuilt from the ground up because there was suddenly a need to fit twice as much information in the same space.

Next, begins the discovery process. This can take anywhere from a few weeks to a year in the most extreme cases (especially when large projects are on the table and multiple concepts are developed and taken to a point that can be evaluated beyond some sketches or ascii). This latest HD project had a very short incubation time. I saw the works of the photographer Chen Zhun and was inspired.

Then comes the budget. My ideas often far out strip the budgets attached to projects. With about $250 left to spend on the art, I made the personal decision to start liquidating collectibles if I even wanted to approach the vision I had in my mind. At the end of the day, we still didn't have enough $ or time to create my "true vision" of the project, so I scaled and worked with materials available to get as close as possible. It turned out pretty good I think ^_^;

At the end of the day, we spent over $1500 on the production of this specific piece including photography by Mr Scott Kinkade, wardrobe by Michelle Bowlin of Assassins Boutique, modeling by Hannah Craft of Rabbit Hole Bakeshop and finally the cosmetic works of Jenny Kline aka facemakerj. Each one of these people played an integral part in making the art come together and look the way it does. Note: that figure above doesn't include the original Scratch Trigger Era comic that comes with the record! Featuring the writing of Mark Gilson + Jon Chang with the artistic talents of Mr Stan Sakai we are finally releasing a prologue story to STE! And yes, it's that Stan Sakai! When it comes to making the stuff shine, I don't half ass anything ^_^

However, none of that $1500 includes the time I spent in post working the art to its finished state. I spent about 2 man weeks to produce 3 different layouts before I picked my winner. I've found that this horrific burn rate of man power and time is what it takes to bring something in at a quality level I consider professional.

Projects with a decent budget get decent creative. Projects with proper budgets, come out looking amazing. Projects with low budgets, I/we simply pass on. If it's not worth doing well, it's not worth doing.

Have a better one!