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Wednesday 30 May 2012

Jazz poster - thats the way to do it!


 I came across this Illustration blog article based on the creation of a jazz poster. I know I've already done a similar exercise but I thought it might be of use to future students.  Its really interesting how the artist, Christopher has shown his method of working, from his initial brief, to his conception and ideas, right through to the finished article. It all looks so simple now, but I guess thats the beauty of a great job.
About the author
Christopher King (aka Wing’s Art ) is an Illustrator & Graphic Designer based in Somerset, UK, specialising in hand-drawn & digital artwork for posters, flyers, books, toys and advertising clients.

I love working on gig posters. I don’t get to do them often enough. Luckily for me Pat West of the blues band,  The Steady Rollin’ Revue called me up earlier this week needing a little something for their upcoming show at The Gipsy Hill Tavern, in London on 22nd April.
Here’s a quick making of;
After a quick telephone conversation with Pat about the band and their sound which has a British Blues Boom feel (think Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall & The Blues Breakers, Cream) he emailed me a few visual influences and a couple of their tracks to listen to. I later drew up a quick rough showing the basic layout I had in mind which was quickly approved.
The guitar in my original rough was drawn straight from memory so I wanted to make sure the guitar in the final poster was appropriate to the band’s sound. Pat’s guitar turned out to be a Sunburst Gibson 335 which after grabbing a few photos from Pat was used in the final design.
Taking influence from show flyers of the late 60s, I knew this should have a traditional screen-printed look that called for a simplistic use of colour and detail. I opted for a two colour treatment with the guitar shape made up from the negative space created by the two side stripes, with a few essential guitar details to seal the deal.
An illustration of the guest vocalist Bruce “Mississippi” Johnson was a must too, so after receiving a promo shot I set to work on his portrait, hand drawn in good old brush, pen and ink.
Once this was finished, it was scanned in, brought into Photoshop and cleaned up. Much jiggery pokery later with textures, painted outlines, laying down text and messing about with dissolve effects and you’ve got yourself a poster. And to finish the job we put together a few colour variations.
This has got to be one of my favourite jobs of the year so far. Smooth from start to finish. Here’s hoping for a few more like this.

1 comment:

  1. Thanks Rob, a useful reference - I haven't got to that project yet.

    I thought you'd made the poster at first - I was very impressed! But I could easily believe it.

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