This Is GWAR - Interstitial Illustrations

Published: This Is GWAR Motion Picture Documentary - National theatrical tour at Alamo Draft House, Streaming on AMC+ and other streaming services.
Exhibited: Fantastic Fest 2022

Awards (illustrations): Included in KC AIGA A17
Awards (film):

2021 Audience Award at NIGHTSTREAM
2023 Film Threat Award This! Award for Best Music Documentary

“Pick up the phone, human!”

– Oderus Urungus, lead singer of GWAR

This past year I got a call from my good friend and super talented documentary director Scott Barber.

“Do you know the band GWAR?” he asked. … I did not. But I was about to.

If you’re not familiar, GWAR is a heavy metal rock band of barbarian interplanetary warriors. The band members dress in outrageous costumes, star in a series of irreverent movies of their own making, and their shows come with the warning that audience members will get wet.

GWAR were the subject of Scott’s new documentary, and he needed some interstitial illustrations to help fill in some areas where no footage existed. GWAR’s music is not my usual taste, and Scott has a knack for finding what’s fascinating about any subject he’s into, and GWAR was no exception. After talking through the story of the band and the amazing artist’s collective behind it, I was in!

Researching the Jack “The King” Kirby

Comic books were a huge influence on GWAR, and especially the 1970’s superhero comics of Marvel and DC. An era defined by legendary comic artist Jack Kirby. The director asked if I could create some story illustrations to accompany interview footage in the style of these 1970’s comics.

This style of artwork is well outside of my usual aesthetic, so I spent a good deal of time doing studies and of Jack Kirby’s work, and the styles of the many inking artists he worked with - getting to know his unique take on things like anatomy and posing.

Jack “The King” Kirby - legendary comics artist.

Some take away elements for those who are curious:

Chunky Fingers - I did a lot of hand studies to help understand how to make those squared off digits look good.
Dramatic poses - no one “just stands there” in a Jack Kirby panel. There is always a sense of actions, and very often a great deal of foreshortening as the characters dive towards or away from the viewer.
Kirby Dots - this is the nickname folks have given to the unique patten of ink dots Kirby often used to fill abstract compositional spaces.

That Comic Look

Another challenge was how to achieve the right look to the artwork. GWAR was specifically brought up on the comics of the 1970’s, a time when comic printing techniques were all about high speed and low cost, creating a distinctive look of old acidic paper and CMYK process printing.

To match the look, I developed a set of distressed halftone brushed to mimic the look of the halftone coloring’s of the time, and then colored each of the panels with 3 color passes to mimic the 4-color process printing.

Here’s the final sequence from the film. You can also flip through the illustrated frames below.

Storyboarding

This first section I was asked to work on was the story of how lead guitarist Pete Lee (Flattus Maximus) was shot during a road trip through Baltimore.

We’re riding down 295...”
“We’re driving and I had to pee. ‘Pull over, i gotta pee.’”
“...comes past us almost, and then clips the very front corner.”
“This car next to us, turned very deliberately in front of us...”
“Guys in the car that hit us, immediately hop out...”
“So he floors it and we just take off, and they just start shooting at us.”
“...I see him pull the gun, he starts firing into the back of the station wagon...”
“It was like TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK...”
“Came through and hit me in the chest. Everything went slow motion.”
“there was blood all over his hand”
“Straz is like, ‘My mom worked at a hospital’ or something.”
“He hits the curb and I think, blows out the tire...”
“Pete is laying on that, and he sucking wind.”
“All of a sudden this brown sedan pulls up.”
“Everyone just bolts into the ghetto.”
“Dirks just stayed there with Pete.”
“Dirks just stayed there with Pete.”
“Freeze!! Gang Patrol”
“Freeze!”
“Eventually the ambulance came.”
“… and got to the hospital.”