Khöldstare Art

I had been tossing around the idea of posting my artwork on Lunar Hypnosis for a few months now. I was hesitant at first since it breaks the music theme entirely, but I figure since my artwork is almost entirely all darkly themed and somewhat macabre in character that some readers would find it interesting on a 'zine that is mostly focused on darker forms of music. I'm surely not posting these images with the thought in my head that I'm some superbly amazing artist, because I'm not, but over the years I've certainly received some flattering comments, which honestly were unexpected, but insanely appreciated and have always pushed me further and further with my work.

My art is entirely computer based, designed using Photoshop, and while I wish I was talented with a pencil in my hands I reluctantly gave drawing up shortly into the new millennium. All my creations are (usually) products of my own sources however, all textures, photos and what not were all created/shot by me and other than some basic tutorials in Photoshop twelves years ago I've mostly figured everything else out on my own.

In regards to the name, Khöldstare. The name was originally intended to be the banner I'd release all my art under with basically the idea of doing artwork for bands. This never really took off, though a facebook profile exists and I did provide a number of my creations for a friends projects a few years ago, but since then things have been silent. Its more or less my intention now to focus on creating quality images and eventually doing something with the name. I figure with it being nearly winter and with an over indulgence of horror movies lately that inspiration should come easy and often. Similarly the name was also intended to be the name of a musical project idea I had in mind, but due to my hesitant nature that never came to be.

Of course, if any bands should happen to stumble across this post and enjoy what they see then by all means leave me a message and when we can talk about something.

You 'zine regulars 'round here know that I do occasionally break the review rhythm and post other topics, therefore this will likely become a monthly extra around here where I post my finished products with a few words on them.

[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

This is one of my more recent creations, which I don't exactly have a name for, but 'Frosty Forest' has been the file name thus, so will go with that. This one uses a variety of photos, but specifically a lake shot and another of a statue in the nearby city that I took a few years ago. On that cold winter day I was fortunate enough to find that icicles has formed on the tips of the statues finger, which looked too cool and for years I'd wanted to do something with this shot, but just didn't come up with anything until now. Portions of this one were also used for a recent LH flyer, which will hopefully be manifesting itself in physical form soon enough.

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This was my last band related image, made for my comrade in the French project, Betray-ed. What you see here is the original version, the good version, while the final version that was used was simplified and ultimately ruined a bit. The major differences between this and the final version were that it lacked the clouds, the 'Woods of Eternity' and the leaf, and instead had the tracklisting on the bottom. It was also released in honestly the worst packaging I've ever seen in my entire life, but it was limited to just 30 copies. So, I guess basically know one seen it, anyway. At least the online streaming version still has portions of this original.

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This one has always been one of my favs and although a black metal band was going to use it back in '09 the release never came to be and thus thee artwork sits. The same party involved said it looked Katatonia-ish, which is obviously a pretty damn fine comment considering the usual high quality of their album artwork.

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I always sort of felt that this was not quite finished just yet, but either way I'm fairly pleased with what I do have here. I always called this one 'Angelmorn' and had hopes that some sort of Gothic or Doom/Death metal band would be interested in it, but not just yet. Maybe, some day.

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Last one for now. This is a bit of an older one that dates back to early 2007. It was essentially made for a good friend at that time who meant a heck of a lot to me, but, well, you know how things go... Anyway, the self-portrait was hers, but all other malformations and what not were all me. The title for this one was, 'La Transcendance de l'ame,' which is French for 'Transcendence of the Soul.'

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Thoughts? More next time.