Behind The Artworks: WARCALL - Dead End Pt 2 (2021)

For our latest releases, Dead End pt. 1 and Dead End pt.2, we chose to work once again with the Russian artist Timur Khabirov. It is the third of our albums Timur did the artwork for and as usual, we are really pleased with the final result. He is very reliable and understands the vision we want to put out. The process we have developed working with him is very straightforward: we send him ‘’napkins drawings’’ of the ideas we have and he basically brings them to life. We also like the fact that his drawings start with pen and paper and it is only for the final coloring and details that he transfers to the computer so it gives a very real and organic final result.

For the cover artwork of Dead End parts 1 and 2, we wanted a simple image that would be easily identifiable whatever size we print it on, not unlike a logo or a crest. Since these two EPs would be released as digital albums, for now, we wanted to make sure the thumbnail either online, on Spotify, iTunes, etc., would be easily recognizable. We also wanted it to be monochrome or at least, minimalist in terms of colors. We doodled some ideas and in the end, we chose one of our drummer’s drawings. An asymmetrical skull, split in 4 that resembles a warning or hazard sign of some sort. We thought it would fit well the post-apocalyptic imagery we wanted for the album. The skull is made of four different skulls pieced together to represent the 4 band members. We chose red as the color of part 1 to represent the violence and aggressivity of the EP and green for part 2 because it is the traditional color of WarCall. So, we sent Timur the doodle with our instructions and the final result came back pretty much spot on. It is now released online in the form of our 2 EPs, printed on shirts, hats, etc and the result is really what we were looking for!

As for the band pic, this was also a pretty straightforward process. Because of the 2020 restrictions in our area, but most importantly our respective availabilities to get together and do an interesting photoshoot, we opted for a drawing of ourselves. We were really confident Timur would do a good job because for the cover artwork of our album III, we had a similar concept of us depicted as zombie warriors in a ’60s-’70s war context and it was excellent. We sent Timur some mug shots of ourselves with the instruction of drawing us as post-apocalyptic warriors in a world of doom. And he delivered!

We have a last piece of artwork for the physical copies of the album. It is not yet revealed, but I have included the doodle we sent Timur to give a preview of the concept. The final artwork is very well done and totally in line with the initial concept.