Artwork for Polaris' "The Human Illusion" CD, to be released on September 7th.

According to their Myspace info, Polaris is "a 5 piece progressive metal band based out of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. The band combines technical instrumentation and creative songwriting with powerful vocals and a sheer intensity, to create one of the most original progressive sounds available these days."

I've been lucky to work with bands who play a music I love, most of the time - Polaris is no exception. I advise you to listen to "Oblivion and Persuasion" on their Myspace profile to have an idea of their musical universe. Melodic metal, that is.

Technical details:
- used my own stock for the character;
- the crystal balls, branches and plants are all painted;
- other stock pics provided by SXC.

A small making-of can be read on my blog (in French). As I explained there, at the beginning I wanted to use a more acid and vivid palette than the tones I'm familiar with (blue, purple), in order to stress the character's youth and energy. I got inspired by the fresh perfumes of spring, the sugar humidity you can find on flowers, if you wake up early enough to taste it. These green tones finally get dissolved in the greyish urbanity most of us are used to.

The version I'm submitting to deviantART is slightly different than the one which will actually be printed: for the "official" design (as seen on my blog) I had to remove the diamond pattern. I also had to cut off the branches on the right so that the credits could fit, and darkened the general palette on both versions, as requested by the band.

The version you can see here is the first version of the artwork, and also my favourite. Enjoy