Shankill Sketches

I've been on another Decemberists kick lately and whenever I listen to their music the artistic wheels get a spinnin'. So I am starting to make good on my longtime desire to do some artwork based on their songs. [sidebar: if you haven't heard any of their music or have no idea who I am talking about, you should check out their site via the link above. Great stuff that's part folk, part sea shanty, and part rock opera. Their songs and albums are all very story driven with rich lyrics and visuals]

I started out a few days ago doing some panels for a larger "Hazards of Love" spread (I'll get to posting those when they are more complete), and this week started working on content and composition of older songs. Today I was particularly fixated on the song "Shankill Butchers", which is all about a father telling his young daughter to be good and treat her mother well or the titular butchers would come to take her away and chop her up with cleavers and knives. Rather chilling song, actually. Tried a couple different depictions of that scene from a couple different perspectives. Leaning towards the first one if I were to choose one to develop further.