Anytime I get to post up some art from L.A.-based artist and all-around good guy Sean “Skillit” McEleny, I consider it a good day. The designer of artworks for Fatso Jetson, Dali’s Llama, this very website (note the header) and so many others continues his association with Wisconsin’s Days of the Doomed fest, following up on artwork contributed last year with a badass horizontal design — such is the way of things; an interesting byproduct of what shows up best on Thee Facebooks feeds and profile pictures — for Days of the Doomed IV, which rolls out starting on June 20 with Trouble, Egypt, The Mighty Nimbus and an impressive cast of others.

The poster itself calls to mind Madballs (dating myself) and any number of video game monsters, but notice the mountain druids in the background and things get even weirder and more complex. If you don’t at first see it, look on the bottom right side for where it’s noted that Days of the Doomed IV is honoring the late Jason McCash, who headlined the fest last year with The Gates of Slumber.

Click the image to enlarge for a better look:

Days of the Doomed IV is set for June 20 and 21 at The Metal Grill (formerly The Blue Pig) on Packard Ave. in Cudahy, Wisconsin, and is dedicated this year to the memory of The Gates of Slumber‘s Jason McCash. The lineup and runtimes are as follows:

Friday, June 20th, 2014 – Doors Open At 3:00 PM
3:00 – 4:00 Metal DJ
4:00 – 4:40 Ancient Dreams
5:00 – 5:40 Stasis
6:00 – 6:45 Wasted Theory
7:05 – 7:50 Witchden
8:10 – 9:00 The Mighty Nimbus
9:20 – 10:20 Orodruin
10:40 – 11:40 Blackfinger (featuring former Trouble vocalist Eric Wagner)
12:00 – 1:00 Las Cruces

Saturday, June 21st, 2014 – Doors Open At 11:30 AM
12:00 – 12:40 Flying Medusa
1:00 – 1:40 Moon Curse
2:00 – 2:45 Sanctus Bellum
3:05 – 3:50 Brimstone Coven
4:10 – 4:55 Spillage (featuring Earthen Grave guitarist Tony Spillman)
5:15 – 6:00 Stone Magnum
6:20 – 7:05 Egypt
7:25 – 8:10 Devil To Pay
8:30 – 9:15 Beelzefuzz
9:35 – 10:35 Jex Thoth
10:55 – 11:55 Age Of Taurus
12:15 – 1:30 Trouble

Skillit Art on Thee Facebooks

Skillit Art website

Days of the Doomed IV on Thee Facebooks

I gotta say, I felt like the coolest motherfucker on the planet when I opened the email attachment from Sean “Skillit” McEleny (website here) about an hour ago and saw the new banner for The Obelisk in all its glory. Feeling that way while checking my email is in itself is probably proof that I’m not, in fact, the coolest motherfucker on the planet, but the work still rules and I couldn’t be more stoked on it.

It’s up there now — click ‘refresh’ if you don’t see it — but I wanted to give a more detailed look at Skillit‘s design, because as you can see from the doomly purple octopus wrapped engulfing the obelisk in the red sky desert above, it’s fucking excellent.

Check out the dunes, ready for piloting:

And dig the sway of the cacti and the red sun, for which the logo (adapted and swaggered up from the original) has much blues:

In 760 pixels, Skillit managed to sum up so much of what this site is all about, the psychedelia, the heaviness, the doom, the stoner rock, and I can’t thank him enough for the time and effort he put into every little detail. Look at the shadows on the cacti! Or the waves in the red sky behind the octopus above. Or even the shading of the rocks. It’s all so killer, it makes me want to write copy that lives up to it.

So thanks once again to Skillit for making this possible. Make sure you check out the Skillit-Art website to see more of his work for SHoD, Days of the Doomed, Dali’s Llama, Fatso Jetson, Blaak Heat Shujaa, Admiral Browning and many, many more. His Thee Facebooks gallery is also home to much badassery, and a great way to get in touch with him to hire him for design work or just to tell him how awesome he is for coming up with stuff like this. Whatever else you do, I’d obviously recommend that.

As ever, much respect to Los Angeles-based artist Sean “Skillit” McEleny (interview here) for his new poster for the Days of the Doomed II fest, coming this June to a Wisconsin near you. I’m always happy to highlight Skillit‘s work, as his love of the music seems to come out in every line and color. Go ahead and click to enlarge. No exception here:

For more of Skillit‘s art, check out his website here. For more on the fest, hit up the Days of the Doomed website.

The comic book influence that Southern Californian artist Sean “Skillit” McEleny mentions in discussing his origins as a designer is readily apparent in his work. Whether it’s a giant bubbling worm creature on a poster for Stone Axe and All Time High or a team of three battleships taking on a giant robot in the middle of the ocean — as on the cover of Admiral Browning‘s latest (and recently-reviewed) album, Battle Stations — his figures and landscapes seem to be perpetually in motion.

Part of that has to be McEleny‘s use of bright, vivid colors. Where most think of heavy music as something dark, McEleny has tuned directly into the sweetness of tonality in desert rock and — as one can see in his series of posters for “Desert Rock at the IPAC” at the Indio Performing Arts Center — has managed to build an aesthetic that’s as much bathed in sunshine as it is held in check by thick borderlines.

As McEleny has aligned himself in recent years with the likes of Fatso Jetson, Dali’s Llama, House of Broken Promises and — perhaps most pivotally — Yawning Man, his posters and album covers have helped shape the visual concepts of desert rock, but he also maintains touch with his roots on the East Coast in his work for the aforementioned Admiral Browning, as well as several poster designs for fests and shows held in Maryland, near his former home in Washington D.C. Whoever is calling on his services, though, he maintains a consistent style while also serving the needs of bands and venues as only someone truly passionate about the music can.

In the conversation that follows, McEleny talks about growing into his own as an artist, his use of color, his deep-felt appreciation for the desert scene, and much, much more. Included with the Q&A are poster and album art images. As always, click on any to enlarge.

Please enjoy the interview after the jump.

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