WHY_NOT_MAKE_A_SACRIFICE?
entry_2.02_1st_sep_23
Firstly, I'm glad to be in such a position to keep making these pieces, so thank you for being part of this so far. Today marks the release of Part II of WALTZ-002-BSK: the Berserk capsule & with this, I wanted to continue the piece breakdowns, as people seemed to enjoy the last one.
With that being said, let's explore the pieces within this 2x piece delivery, the first being「 the_goddess 」. If you have not read Berserk, then warning, major spoilers ahead.
Depicting Slan of the God Hand, I decided that having already made pieces around Guts & Griffith, I wanted to look at one of Miura's other character's I found equally captivating, albeit having less content to dive into. The shirt itself was inspired by a couple of different layouts, but actually began with the back print.
I was originally inspired by this 1996 EYEHATEGOD Dopesick T-Shirt, and wanted to make a play between EYEHATEGOD & GOD HAND, playing off of Gut's relationship with the Gods/demons. I redraw the frame from the album cover from scratch, with a couple of tweaks & selected this image of Slan as I felt it matched up pretty close. I picked the teal colour for the title to match Slan's hair in the anime depiction.
Despite eventually changing the design, I knew I wanted to keep the framed element, so I moved this over to the back & coupled it with Skull Knight's description of her as the "Whore Princess Of The Uterine Sea" in Vol. 26 (19th Dec 2003), which I think is one of the most iconic and apt lines in the whole manga. I liked the boldness of the line, and felt messing with archaic font's would not do it justice - I like how old death metal shirts used to just blast offensive slogans in clean fonts, coupled with more custom logotypes elsewhere.
Moving onto the front of the garment, I knew I didn't want to reuse the last logotype from「 the_struggler 」longsleeve, as this garment has a different feel. I wanted something very evil feeling to match Slan's character, and whilst she doesn't use a weapon, I picked scythes to represent an impending doom. Lol.
I drew the logotype from scratch, first on paper then digitally. I'm really happy with how it came out.
Slan's awe-filled lust towards Guts is well documented throughout the manga, & I find her character fascinating in the sense that she is the only member of the God Hand who actually acknowledges Guts' strength & courage. Whilst Femto is very quick to brush him off as not worthy of attention, Slan takes a very different approach, one that manifests in a very dark way in their exchange in Vol. 26 (19th Dec 2003).
To show this, I was going to include the notorious image of their "embrace" into the original design, again referencing the 1996 EYEHATEGOD, with a play on the back print. The original shirt reads: "MY NAME IS GOD, EYEHATEYOU", & I was going to reimagine it as "MY NAME IS SLAN, EYEWANTYOU". Ultimately I scrapped this design in favour of the one you see now, but I thought I'd mention it just to show my workflow on this one.
I thought this version was just too niche in all honesty - maybe I'll make it one day if people want it.
The shirts themselves have a custom fit & weight to my own specification, designed to replicate the feeling of merch from the mid to late 90s. The pigment wash fade means the shirts are not a solid black, but rather look worn from sunbeach & general use. They also feature a distressed hem & collar, as well as slits and mothholes all over the shirt, mimicking the general wear & tear of 30 years of use. I placed specific holes in places that would receive more stress than others. Please note this carefully - if you are not happy with the idea of a garment with holes then this one is not for you.
The silk-screen printed graphics too have undergone a weathering process to accompany the distressed garment. The 3-step process itself was developed by myself & my friend Max who runs a printshop, meaning there were no photoshop brushes or textures at all used to make this one. The print has been intentionally distressed in certain places & will distress more over time. In order to look after the garment as best as you can I recommend washing it on 30, light cycle, inside out as infrequently as you can.
With this new direction, I came to the front print - I had the logo, so I wanted to find the perfect image to accompany it. I had already referenced the major story line in Vol. 26, so now I wanted to go back to her first appearance. Being the first of the God Hand to materialise at the Eclipse in Vol. 12 (27th Sep. 1996), I feel her character was extremely important, more-so than her companions, in narrating this defining moment in the story. I used her description of the events as "A Precious Sacrifice" as a metaphorical album title at the bottom of the shirt, & finished the piece with a strong image of her mid-Eclipse.
SIDE A:
1. BEHELIT
2. GHOSTS
3. BALL
4. GATS
5. MURDER
SIDE B:
6. FEAR
7. MONSTER
8. EARTH
9. TELL ME WHY (TV VER.)
10. WAITING SO LONG (TV VER.)
Whilst making this piece, I actually rewatched the 1997 anime from the start. I think something that anyone who has watched this version can agree on is that Susumu Hirasawa's original soundtrack is a thing of beauty, and perfectly accompanies the anime. In a lot of ways, I think his masterful composition is one of the reasons this adaption stands tall above all the remakes. I began listening to the score on its own & fell in love with it.
Whilst in the zone of making a death metal shirt, I decided on the idea of DIY-ing my own cassette, much like an album would have been at shows where merch was sold. Though the OST is beautiful and delicate at times, tracks like MURDER, FEAR & MONSTER feel equally as evil. With this in mind I sought to make the most evil looking cassette I could.
I used this horrific image of Griffith post-torture in Vol. 10 (29 Sep. 1995) as the cover, to really sell the idea this is a death metal project. The cassette comes with a fully printed, double-sided J Card inlay, with each panel documenting part of Griffith's fall from grace. There is the vision of himself as a child, the Kingdom he envisions for himself, the destruction of his soul from the sacrifice, and his eventual rebirth as Femto (all sourced from Vol. 12 & 13).
Please note, the inlay will not come as distressed as above. it will come clean & brand new, but with time it will age if you get it out etc.
The tape itself is a fully playable Dolby Stereo Digital cassette of Susumu Hirasawa's OST (1997) & the trackless is as follows:
