All posts by Aidan Hughes

Aidan Hughes was born on Merseyside, England and was formally trained by his father. His influences include Golden Age comic artists Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko and Jim Steranko, the Russian Constructivists, the Italian Futurists and the work of woodcut artists Frans Masereel and Lynd Ward. Despite having never attended art school, he entered the world of commercial art producing artwork and storyboards for clients such as Warner Bros. the BBC and The London Evening Standard. In the 80's he began a long-term collaboration with industrial band KMFDM, created BRUTE! pulp magazine and worked extensively in radio, TV and the media. Hughes other work includes designing and art directing, computer games, short film making and animation. Official Wikipedia entry
art, for sale, illustration, kmfdm art, original inks

BRUTE! Tohuvabohu Swordgirl Original

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Another element from the Tohuvabohu art file.

This is the original ink art that was scanned in to complete the album cover.

Hand-drawn with brush-pen and rapidograph, this 5”x7” illustration was the definitive final version before I traced it in Illustrator and coloured it.

I am now proud to present it for sale, price 275 euros (incudes shipping and handling). Contact: bruteprop@gmail.com

(If unsold in three weeks, I will then put it up for auction on eBay).

animation, art, rough art, superdoodles

Doodle from 1993

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Way back in 1993, I was in Chicago, art directing the KMFDM animation ‘Drug Against War‘ at C-Pop studios. In one room, the techies slogged (doing the animation tweening and compositing) and, in another, much sweatier room, I worked night and day with the cel animation team or ‘inkies’, as we called ourselves.
To keep spirits and morale up, the team and I engaged in Art Wars: denigratory and derogatory cartoons aimed at humiliating the other animators. Pretty soon, we had a huge wall covered with these gems and I am proud to present, courtesy of ace draughtsman, Peter Moriarty (who also worked with me on ‘Sonofagun’ and the ZPC: No Flesh Shall Be Spared game for Zombie Interactive), one of the best. In between our punishing 36-hour shifts, the team shared a love of pool which we indulged in in bars such as McNeill’s and Hoilday in the city’s Wicker Park area.
Here is one of the crowing cartoons I posted one day after a typical trouncing on the green baize.

art, for sale, kmfdm art, original inks, rough art

KMFDM rough art from Tohuvabohu

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Tohuvabohu Swordgirl rough 01


Tohuvabohu album cover concept rough sheet

Tohuvabohu swordgirl figure concept sheet

I‘m often asked how much preparatory work goes into each album cover I do and this series of rough conceptual work goes some way in illustrating how the final design comes about.
3 months before the final artwork was completed, I started outlining the various ideas I had for the sleeve and a slew of pictures emerged from the process which Sascha and I discussed before I began to build the final image.
Now, I am able to present these images for sale. Anyone interested, please leave your contact details in the comments box below or contact me via our Gmail account bruteprop@gmail.com and I’ll provide prices and size details.
All the above are rendered in black indian ink and signed.

Stay in touch for more KMFDM concept sketches