After many years as a fan of the band, it's probably the most exciting concept I've ever had the pleasure of attempting. The competition is secondary for me really, it's just damn cool to be getting the chance to show my appreciation for music that shaped me as a person.

I'm sure this is going to come across as unashamedly *me*. I mean, where the hell do you start on a redesign of something as iconic as Vic Rattlehead? I think I was initially quite scared of even trying to do anything. So I figured, hell why not just do it in my own style anyways and try not to have any preconceived ideas. My first point of reference were the lyrics:

Prepare the patients scalp
To peel away
Metal caps his ears
He'll hear not what we say
Solid steel visor
Riveted cross his eyes
Iron staples close his jaws
So no one hears his cries

Pretty gruesome I'm sure you will agree. At the very least Vic has to have the features described in this, and that's how I took it. For me, the thing I find I like the least about the original is the Rayban-esque visor that Vic has. I think that is the thing that really defines the skull as it is. I figure I tried to at least change that one thing so I am a little original right? LOL The rest stays pretty much the same.

My take on this is from the horror aspect of it. It suits my dark style well so why not just through everything at it? I then had to reign myself in a little, as oozing pus and veins and stuff was WAY beyond what was needed. I'll do that in later versions.

anyways... more to follow I think. I don't feel I cracked this quite yet. I give myself 5/10 for a good start.

The main skull was created from scratch, the damn mouth and teeth damn near defeated me. There are stock from stk.xchange that I used either for reference (the wire) or included and then manipulated (the chains). All acheived in Photoshop @ 3600x3600.

EDIT: OMG, check it out, the deviation number ends in 666 > 28165666 < just how damn METAL is that! How very fitting RAWK ON!