In the early 90's Nirvana changed the lives of an entire generation of slacker teens, for better or worse. I was certainly among them. This piece pays much needed homage to the loudest and most electrifying power trio to ever grace our cassette decks
18 x 24 poster
The piece was built on the idea of Kurt Cobain's "buzzsaw" vocals. The band was signed by Sub Pop records—repped by an Electro Harmonix Small Clone guitar pedal. "Bleach" was the band's first album—repped by an Electro Harmonix Big Muff guitar pedal. Both pedals were essential to Kurt's rig
This image represents the album art of the band's second studio release titled "Nevermind". On either side we see the iconic cheerleader outfits from the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video
Left of Kurt is Dave Grohl who, before forming Foo Fighters, was Nirvana's second drummer. Behind him are the hammers of Thor marked by three overlapping rings that were famously attributed to Led Zeppelin's legendary drummer, John Bonham. Placing them with Dave represents a passing of the torch
From Dave's storm cloud comes a lightning bolt that both represents his thunderous drumming as well as the stormy skies typical of the band's hometown Aberdeen, Washington
In the early 90's Krist Novoselic was an odd, outspoken punk rocker who rarely took anything seriously whenever the band was interviewed. He was also essential and an altogether brilliant bassist
Here we see Krist destroying "Corporate Rock" a term he often referred to when describing the problem with the music industry at the time
The center of the piece is tied together by the anatomic angel from In Utero's album art. In her hands she holds a "Heart-shaped Box". Within the box is Frances Bean Cobain, the daughter of Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. At the angel's feet is a stained glass window that represents the near-fanatical level of fame the band achieved
Kurt's arms frame the piece in the Nirvana machine that ended the reign of corporate rock. The sleeves come from the iconic striped shirt Kurt wore in the "Smells Like Teen Spirit" music video and he's playing a Fender Mustang from the In Utero tour
If you know, you know: Krist Novoselic is 6' 7", Dave Grohl drums like the Hulk with baseball bats and formed Foo Fighters after Kurt's death, lithium pills fall to the stage and Kurt dives into a drum set ("Dive In Me" is a B-side track) which was a stage antic captured in the "Lithium" music video
I begin with a perspective grid. A lot can change from sketch to line work. The final sketch featured a "Nirvana" header that I later ditched. Kurt's eye's were Tesla coils and instead of an amplifier framing the bottom half of the piece, there was a television bursting with the adoring fans Kurt never wanted
I make my lines as clean as possible using Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Cinema 4D depending on which application is most efficient for what i'm trying to make
After final lines I use a vectorization software for the sole purpose of prepping the line work to take advantage of the best color fill tool on the planet, Adobe Illustrator's LivePaint
