I loved to draw when I was little... mostly, I'd draw album art from my favorite bands and hang the art as posters in my room, but I'd also create unique things like fashion designs and harlequin masks, which came purely from my imagination.

I've been working my ass off on getting an online store put up for Corvo, but as G and I discussed our goals, we realized that we didn't want it to be purely band merchandise; we wanted it to be a place to further express ourselves and proudly display our art.

I'm sure you've all heard of CafePress.com. It's been around for a long time, and I've seen a few of you sell stuff there. Since there's no overhead to start a shop, this seemed the best way for a starving band to get some t-shirts and stickers created for fans, without paying a ton of money and being stuck with a closet full of stuff we can't sell. Shortly after finishing our first two band designs, we started to come up with fun and original Gothic designs, which has been so much fun! Recently, I created a New Orleans Vampire themed design called "Lost Soul," and G created a creepy tree design called "Strange Garden."

For Halloween, I created a new design that I am so proud of, because I finally went out and bought myself a sketch book and illustrated my vision by hand. My idea was to create "wings" made of spider webs for the back of the shirts, and a black widow's "hourglass" for the front. Of course, Edward Gorey and Tim Burton are always huge inspirations to me visually, so... I'm sure you won't be surprised to see how my design turned out:

I even designed the widow herself! I am like a "proud mommy" with how this drawing turned out, and I'm already scheming to create more hand-drawn designs. The biggest surprise about this store is how I've reconnected with my ability to draw, which was buried a long time ago... I feel like a little kid again, and I'm having so much coming up with all sorts of deviant things.

So this is the part where I tell you to buy my "Widow Noir" t-shirts and accessories, especially if you want something for Halloween that nobody else will have! You'll help G and I with band expenses and you'll be contributing to a greater cause too. -We're donating 10% of sales from the "Dark Nature" collection to Oprah's Angel Network, to help continue to rebuild hurricane-ravaged areas of the United States. Not only are we donating 10%, we're going to match each 10% made from sales! Since black widows are the creepy crawly side of "dark nature," we've included this design in that collection, which will continue to grow [pun intended]. What's really cool about the Angel Network is that even $5 can go a long, long way. We realized this after watching what she and Jon Bon Jovi had done by building new houses for Katrina victims... and it inspired us to do something on a continual basis for people who are trying to rebuild their lives after having gone through natural disasters.

If you have any advice or input on the way we've designed our shop, or regarding ease of navigation, feel free to email me. I really want to make this a special place filled with unique and darkly artistic stuff that can help fund the band. What I'm really loving right now is that I want one of everything! It's really satisfying creating the kind of designs that I truly love myself, and would wear or put in my own house.

Labels: Accessories, apparel, black widow, Cafe Press, CafePress, clothing, gifts, Goth, Gothic, Horror, HorrorArt, illustration, Merchandise, Original Design, spider web, spiders, whimsical