An
album's artwork can be the main deciding factor in drawing you in to
check the band's music out. It's almost as important as the music
itself.
Today's
guest is not part of any band of any kind but he has worked with the
following bands – Mastodon, High On Fire, Bongzilla, Thorr Axe,
Jucifer to name a few. Plus a band called Traitors Return To Earth
who are my fave all-time band that I have discovered through my work
on Sludgelord.
He
is a brilliant graphical artist and designer who has created some of
the best album covers over the last decade or so. His artwork is
admired through out the Sludge/Doom/Stoner Metal world for it's
vision and creativity.
His
work for STB Records is helping that label in releasing some
incredible vinyl covers and limited edition goodies that STB Records
is becoming known for.
Steve
STB – Owner of STB Records said this about today's guest.
“I
for one have always been envious of artists. To be able to take a
thought, sometimes twisted, and put that down on paper, canvas, or
even and album cover truly amazed me... I have always been drawn to
bands who had awesome cover art. To this day I will most likely check
out your band first if your art work is on point. When I was
introduced to W. Ralph Walters a mere year or so ago, I was instantly
blown away at his talent. The way he took things to the next level
with his own true style. The true genius of W. Ralph Walters is not
so much his amazing abilities, but his application to an idea.
We
have worked together on many projects now, and to be able to send him
a message like "I want Dracula killing another Dracula over a
virgin with lots of blood" and with in 5 minutes he comes back
to me with this insane renduring of exactly what my mind was thinking
plus more!!. He surpises me every time. His heart is huge and he is a
true fan boy like my self. He wreaks of passion for his art, music
and selflessly using his abilities to give to others. In life I try
to surround my self with positive like minded individuals who make me
a better person as a whole, W. Ralph Walters is one of those people.
He is a true renaissance man.”
But
I want to find out about the man behind the brilliant artwork and an
artist who I have came to respect and admire over the last 5 years or
so.
You
need more proof on how talented this guy is. We all know how picky
The Metal Archives website defines actual bands as Metal. We all know
how many bands have been refused a page on this website for not being
classed as metal. Well this dude has his own page.
Ladies
and Gentlemen, it's my pleasure to be talking to W. Ralph Walters.
Q1
– Hi dude. How's it going. Thanks again for doing this. Massive fan
of your work.
Thanks
man, I appreciate it.
Q2
– Can you tell our readers how you became involved with your chosen
career.
When
I was a kid, my mom had the biggest TV Guide collection I've ever
seen. Every freaking issue from about 1968 through the 80's. My
little sister and I used to play a game where one of us would read
off an album title, and the other would have to guess the band. I
really liked some of the album artwork in these ads, and as I got
older, not only did I discover I really loved metal, but I also found
it was the metal album covers I was drawn to the most. Guys like
Derek Riggs, Ed Repka... Jesus, I know it's not metal, but that Frank
Kelly Frees' cover of Queen's News Of The World – you have no idea
how long I would stare at that cover.
Q3
– Did you start drawing at a young age. What were your influences
when growing up.
My
mom said I started drawing at 2, and that I drew skulls for a year.
She used to have a photo album of them. She was a classic horror and
sci-fi movie fan, so my early influences came from that. From there,
it was TV Guide illustrations. Yep, TV Fucking Guide shaped me as an
artist. From there, I got into pulp illustration, then album covers.
Q4
– Did you major Art in College or University. Or are you primarily
self taught.
Primarily
self-taught. I'm severely colorblind – protanopic, to be exact. I
couldn't get through a color basics course in college, so I couldn't
major in art.
Q5
– You are mainly known for your artwork within the
Doom/Sludge/Stoner Metal scene. How did you become involved with that
and why that music genre and scene.
I
love the music. I got to see Crowbar, Eyehategod, guys like that, in
New Orleans in the early 90s. I'm drawn to the slow, heavy nature of
the music, like an electrified glacier slowly destroying the
landscape. It's the only music I can listen to where, if a good riff
plays, I automatically close my eyes and nod to it as though
hypnotized. It's poetry to me. I used to do tour posters for a
friend's company, Drowning Creek Studios, which got me the Kalas
album cover with TeePee. When I realized I could actually get away
with doing covers for doom and stoner bands, I started bugging bands
to do covers for them, and it ran from there.
Q6
– What was the very first band/artist did you create an album cover
for.
The
first remotely related band was Kalas. Ha ha – I did tour posters
for High On Fire when they were with TeePee, and I got the Kalas
cover – I'm still holding out for a Sleep T-shirt design to
complete the Pike Trinity.
Q7
– You have designed for some amazing bands in your career,
Mastodon, High On Fire, Jucifer to name but a few. How did that come
about with you designing artwork for bands within the
Sludge/Stoner/Doom Metal field.
Through
tour posters. I did tour posters for Tee Pee Records for a couple
years, and that was a gateway drug to doing the covers, as well as
t-shirts, stickers, patches, etc.
Q8
– When you design artwork for a band. What influences you to come
up with the finished product. Do you research the band's music, Do
you speak to the band or do you just draw and design something that
comes into your head or wild imagination.
I'm
really ADHD, and I'm good at brainstorming because the brain is
always spinning. The band comes to me with whatever idea they have
(some of them fully formed, some of them vague and all over the
place, most fall somewhere in-between). The influences really stem
from the idea we decide on running with. Often times the inspiration
comes from the title or lyrics or overall concept, and the influences
are dictated by the concept.
Q9
– Which band and artists has been your favourite to design for.
Thorr-Axe
is preparing to drop their sophomore effort, and we're doing this
insanely high concept packaging. They'll let me do the most insane
things. Astralnaut is fun, as we've built the art around the concept
of the Cult of the Astralnaut, a coven of witches whose numbers grow
with every release (there's a new witch for each cover – the
Thieves, Beggars and Swine cover featured all four so far), and Steve
at STB Records is really open to ideas – I've had a blast doing art
for him. I love creating for most of the bands I work with, though.
I've been able to somehow make a semblance of a living doing art for
bands I not only like, but often geek over. I can't ask for more in
a day job.
Q10
– Are you an old school type artist mainly drawing by hand. Or do
you use Computer Software and Programs as well.
I'm
pretty old school. Not technophobic, I just love the feel of
creating art with your hands, the feel of a brush on a canvas, the
sensation of graphite on paper... I scan and color on the computer
using Corel Photopaint (because I'm the only guy who didn't get the
memo that no one else uses it), but I prefer going as old school as
possible.
Q11
– Do you have as set of rules or ideals a band has to meet before
you decide to do some work for them.
I
try not to, mostly. I like being thrown into a new situation and
being forced to come up with something I might not normally try. I
don't like assholes, so I try to avoid them. Otherwise, I've been
lucky enough to work mostly with bands I honestly love.
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Q12
– Most of your recent work has mainly been with STB Records. How
did you hook up with them as you have created some brilliant artwork
recently with Druglord, Traitors Return To Earth.
Traitors
Return To Earth was how I was introduced to Steve. STB released a
die hard version of Betting On A Full Collapse with my Spooky Space
Kook T-shirt design, and Steve and I started working together on the
Brimstone Coven release. I get to work with some amazing bands
thanks to Steve.
Q13
– Does Steve STB have any input into the designs or does he leave
you up to your own devices and wild imagination. Love the work you
recently did for Ancient Warlocks. WOW.
Thanks
man! That was both my first glow-in-the-dark cover and my first
wizard cloak. Steve usually comes to me with an idea, then we throw
the idea back and forth until we've come up with something we're both
happy with. He's easy to work with, and once we nail the initial
idea, I get to run wild with it. I absolutely love working with
Steve and STB Records.
Q14
– You currently live in Columbus, Ohio. I promise dude I haven't
been stalking you. HA HA. What is the local art scene like there. Do
you participate with the local art scene. Do you feature in any
exhibitions of any kind.
I
apologize in advance, this will be lengthy. The Columbus art scene
has limped along for decades. What sells here is 5 minutes of
splashing paint on a big canvas. There are some good modern artists
here, but not many, and they get swallowed by and drown in an ocean
of consumers who wouldn't know good art if crawled out of their ass,
showed them a resume, lit a cigar, and slapped them. So long as it
matches the furniture, they're happy. Lately, however, artists have
been working harder to create their own opportunities. There are
over 100 art groups in Columbus now, each of them setting up shows
for themselves.
Eventually,
these self-styled opportunities began to include other artists, not
necessarily affiliated with an art group. Suddenly, a handful of
artists realized they could get away with murder if they were
assertive enough and worked hard enough at it. Shows became events
occasionally. Now that the city is investing in an area in downtown
Columbus called Franklinton, intending on reinventing it as an arts
district, we have the opportunity to do much bigger things to help
influence the scene here. I try to curate two huge shows a year, I
take part in a lot of group shows, and I'm fine tuning the launch of
an art magazine. It's a good time to be an artist in Columbus.
Q15
– Do you have any plans to release a graphic novel of some sort as
your style of artwork is perfect for that medium. Are you fans of the
graphic novels and comic books.
My
dream as a kid was to do cartoon strips. An old buddy of mine Jordan
Hillyard and I self-published three comics in the early 90s before
finances shut things down. I used to really get into comic books,
but started reading a lot of non-fiction and doing research just
because I like learning about odd things instead, which I eventually
began using as subject matter for some of my paintings. I'm not
opposed to doing a graphic novel – I was actually working on one in
'95 about a doom band who accidentally triggers the apocalypse with
an ill-advised tour. Might pick that up again.
Q16
– What is your favourite bands of all time. Regardless of genre.
Any particular band or album that made a lasting impression on you.
Christ...
that's a tall order. I worked at a record store for about a decade
in my youth, and I listen to a little of everything but folk. The
first thing that comes to mind is Sabbath's self-titled. I know
citing Sabbath is fairly typical among our crowd of friends, but the
song “Black Sabbath” completely changed my concept of what music
was and what it could do. There's nothing bad about that song –
even as an adult, I get tingly when Ozzy sings “please God help me”
and the fucking hammer falls. So good. I love Sleep, Dopethrone,
Black Pyramid, Early Man, Pombagira, Buried Blood, Headless Kross,
Major Kong, Kongh, Junior Bruce, Wolf Lord... I could do this all
day. I absolutely fucking love Twisted Sister's “Stay Hungry”
album. I get obsessive about it. I love jazz before the fusion
movement, I love roots reggae and dub, I love traditional country,
from a karaoke standpoint there's nothing better than smarmy 70s
pop... I'll quit for now. I'm such a High Fidelity-style music geek.
It's embarrassing sometimes.
Q17
– When I was doing research for this interview. I came across some
old pod-casts that you used to participate with. Sci-fi comedy themed
style podcasts with The Frequency Of Fear. Can you tell our readers
about that as it sounds insane. Funny as hell but insane. Are you
still involved with that stuff.
Those
were a lot of fun to do. It was my chance to be a horror host,
another occupation I've wanted since childhood. I have a huge
collection of horror and sci-fi old time radio, so I did these silly
wraparounds for theme specific horror radio shows. I'll send you a
couple of episodes – it was really turning into something
impressive, but I was spending all my time working on that, and not
on art. I'd burned out on art for a few years, so it was a nice
distraction. I'd love to work on them again, but time doesn't permit
right now.
Q18
– If you could give any advise to any budding designers, graphic
artists out there, What would it be.
Being
an artist for hire is an interesting job. I'd make more money
selling intestines door to door. It's often amazingly thankless.
Despite all that, I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. If you
want to be an artist for hire, you need to understand your work, and
how it can be marketed (and what you're willing to slap your artwork
on). You need to be incredibly honest with yourself about your skill
level and what opportunities it offers you. You have to grow a thick
skin – not everybody is going to like what you do, and no, not
“fuck them”, they're allowed to hate your work as much as they
like. You have to be willing to work your ass off – sleep, food,
pfft, these aren't necessities, creating art is your only true need.
You
have to be willing to be a real pain in the ass for a friend or
significant other, because a successful artist is one who puts their
art before their relationships more often than you'd think. Stay
busy. Gain a sense for business as it applies to your market (a lot
of artists aren't born with one, but I'm living proof you can attain
some semblance of one). Don't give up. As animals, we are designed
to survive and conquer. So do it.
Q19
– Well dude. Thanks for doing this interview. Do you have anything
to say to your fans as you have quite a lot amongst our readers.
Thank
everyone for supporting me! I'm living a 12-year-old boy's dream
getting to do album art for a living, and I couldn't do that without
the support of art lovers and bands. I hope I can keep cranking out
interesting art for the bands we love until I'm dead (although I'm
working on a way to continue drawing and painting after death –
wait for the Kickstarter campaign for details).
Thanks
for doing this interview. Really appreciate it. Can't wait to see
what future artwork you will design in the future.
No
problem Steve, and thank you.
Check
W. Ralph Walters from links below.
Written
by Steve Howe
