Zombie spacemen, sinister ravens, stags with seven-eyed reapers and the odd Cthulhu...all in a day's work for Godmachine. He's one of our favourites artists and has produced a signature design for Sonisphere ever since the festival's conception. Why are we talking about him now? Why not? Why don't we talk about him more? Not entirely sure, but his first fancy book has just come out, so that gives us an excuse.

"It's a collection of my work from my short and bizarre career. It contains a lot of work I never had the chance to or was too lazy to show anyone and a lot of great quotes from some amazing artists and friends. Plus, it is big and awesome so you can cut pages out of it and frame them if you want. But buy two if you are going to do that as defacing books could land you in a special place in hell."

Always creatively inspiring with a wise word or two thrown in for good measure, we asked Godmachine for the story behind each piece of artwork he's produced for Sonisphere.

1. The Spaceman, 2009

"Spaceman was my first piece for Sonisphere and it shows my old style changing to my new ways completely - the new lines with the old colours. This was also the piece I used to produce my first-ever screen prints. After I paid for two days of tuition to learn how to screen print with a master of the process I managed to print in all only eight pieces. This has some fond memories. It was just so simple but I have seen it copied on loads of band t-shirts since."

2. The Skeleton With An Orb, 2010 

 

3. The Crow, 2011

"I loved doing this one. Crows are one of my favourites and this was one of my first. I remember loving drawing all the little bugs and figuring out what the light was hitting and how to make it look like it was hazing things. I loved adding the red too."

4. The Stag With The Six-Eyed Reaper, 2012

5. The Cthulhu