十字架のデザインについて、デザイナーのビリー・ホワイト・JrさんがHTGTHフォーラムで真相を語る。
以下ＨＴＧＴＨフォーラムよりFusedArts （Billy White Jr）さんのコメント引用
Topic: The appetite for destruction cross.
Lies and slander! 
Hi, this is Billy White Jr., the guy who designed the cross, I lurk here occasionally.
The original design had Slash's hair as curly, I worked from photos I got from Robert John and looking at Slash in real life, when designing the skulls the one thing that I had to use to make them look like each member, besides the hats and such, was each guy's hair.
The design was changed to make Slash's hair *straight*, or more like Joe Perry, or that's what I was told, and then Slash made his comment on MTV, which cracked me up then, and still does!
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Hi Hoosier,
I'm the guy who designed it, thank you for your kind words.
I've never heard the CBGB's interview, all I know is that Axl was thrilled with the design when I finished it, and as far as I know still is. No big deal, tho.
Your dissection is interesting, and fun to read, considering it's my work, but not entirely accurate, here's a few notes:
The original concept was Axl's, he called me and asked me to design it after he saw a drawing my cousin Ed had. I met the band earlier through him, and Del James. He wanted a cross with skulls that looked like the band, the rest he left up to me. He told me what the cross meant, but it was a long time ago, and I don't remember everything he said to me, and I don't want to misrepresent his feelings and thoughts about it.
The placement of the skulls was intentional, for compositional reasons - placing the two dark haired skulls (Slash and Izzy) worked better vertically than horizontally - the one thing I have left of that project is a page from a sketch book with notes from a phone convo with Axl, and two variations of the skull's placement, and looking at it I remember the thought process behind it - the heaviness of the dark hair and their hats made them to "heavy" on the side arms. Axl was always in the middle, and I placed the others as I did to balance the piece to the horizontal.
The cross and the details in it are an informal tribute to Jim Fitzpatrick and Thin Lizzy, Axl and I are both huge Thin Lizzy fans. Axl already had Jim Fitzpatrick's Black Rose cover on his arm, so I felt confident doing it. I love doing that kind of intricate, intertwined line work, and this was a perfect design to use it. I designed that first, then copied it to another piece of paper, and added the crosses - as it was a tatoo from the start, I did the outlines first, got the design solid, then filled it in. I used a mixture of watercolor, india ink, and guache for the final, and it was 200% of the final size. I don't know who has that original, most likely Geffen has it. The cross-only page is long gone, lost in the many moves during college.
The colors, I don't remember why I chose them, but I was in the middle of studying for a degree in illustration at the time, so I was deep into color theory, and I was probably balancing the colors to make the reds and yellows and blacks of the skulls stand out. Wish I could remember, but it was a long time ago! I usually use instinct to pick colors, so who knows? Your comments about the contrast are spot on, tho - I was learning how to control contrast in college at that point, so it's reflected there.
The top scroll was in the original, and Geffen's art department added the lower one and set the type in both - and the type choices were to family them in with the larger "Guns N' Roses" lettering on the cover, which Axl requested and approved, from what i remember. They also redid the reflections in the sunglasses, and redid Slash's hair, but the rest of it is the original design.They also added the white outline, as the original was on white paper, with no background. If you look at Axl's tattoo, the top scroll has "Guns N' Roses in a handdrawn font (this was way before computer design, it was all hand-drawing then!), and no bottom scroll - that's exactly what I gave Axl. The guy who did the tattoo did an amazing job, I saw it right after he had it done, the colors were amazing, and matched what I did, and he did a amazing job with the detail work. (Robert Bennedetto? I think?)
Anyway, that's my recollection! Again, thanks for the kinds words. Who knew that the design I did in my dorm room would end up being this big? I was more impressed and honored then that someone was going to wear my artwork on their skin - and still is a HUGE honor. I would'nt change a thing, and I'm lucky to have had a small part in the bigger GNR story.
BWJ