My written study for Unit 3 is going to be used as an aid for the practical work that I do. Initially, I will look at the history of gig posters. This will enable me to find out the origins of these posters and give me an insight to any particular styles of poster that have emerged in the past that may still have an influence on work today. It will also help my understanding of whether these posters are still in use today, for example if gig posters have been getting fewer over more recent years. Following this I will do some analysis/case studies of particular pieces of work. I will try to find gig posters that are very contrasting in style, which will make sure that the writing is interesting and finds out different parts. This will also aid in finding out a variety of techniques, influences and reasons behind creating posters and hopefully they will be so different that a broad spectrum of these will be found. Doing this should give me some ideas for my final pieces and demonstrate to me the variety of things that I can do. After these I will look at some current practitioners within the field and then how said practitioners have influenced my work, be it experiments of pieces that could be used as a final piece. Again I will try to look at artists who have very different styles so I can maintain an interest and see how different the work that artists create can be. Finally I will do a conclusion, which will contain what I’ve found out over the course of the assignment, how I’ve been influenced by these findings and what I think the future for gig poster design will be.
Posters have played a big part in society for many centuries, with posters advertising musical or theatrical events following shortly afterwards. Gig posters are used to often emulate the style of the performer and relate to their sound with some sort of link. In regards to musical events these were first introduced for circuses and carnivals in the mid 1800s. These Early American style posters would often include a variety of typefaces and are still a big influence in contemporary posters.
The next largely popular style of gig/event poster were the ‘boxing’ style posters in the 1950s/1960s. These featured a lot of block lettering and often a picture of the performer, with the time, date and location on. These were used for most events and were quite generic, but with a distinctive style. Sometimes the poster would feature another colour where there was important information, such as the date, to draw emphasis to it. Boxing style posters were often used for black R&B artists as they had no airplay on white radio stations, meaning that posters advertising their concerts were one of their only ways of promoting themselves. With these R&B artists, the posters were more colourful and had some artistic effects to them.
The 1960s saw the emergence of the ever popular psychedelic gig posters which are one of the most famous types of gig poster. Within these posters you can identify the influence from Art Nouveau style work with artists from that era such as Alphonse Mucha and Aubrey Beardsley. These posters helped to define the ‘hippie’ rock scene of the time and were representative of the type of music that they were used for. Bands that were particularly prominent at that time and involved with this type of poster art were The Doors, Santana and Led Zeppelin. These psychedelic posters were known for their swirls, vivid colours and bold typefaces. Some famous artists from this era include Wes Wilson , Rick Griffin and Stanley Mouse.
In the 1970s and 80s, the psychedelic era had been moved on and the ‘punk’ style gig poster was the new craze. These posters were directly associated with punk music from the time, for example with The Ramones and The Sex Pistols. These posters were less perfected than the previous psychedelic style, with a very ‘DIY’ and collage feel to them. They would have a scrawled type of font, with low resolution images and bright, contrasting colours. They would be cheaply photocopied and often have offensive images on them. Sometimes the typeface would be in a ransom note style, as seen with The Sex Pistols. Popular artists from this era include Jamie Reid & Linder Sterling.
The 1990s saw colour again being introduced with screenprinting, as the past 2 decades of punk style posters had seen not as much colour as the psychedelic era. The 90s were also a reintroduction of traditional rock posters becoming popular again. The ‘grunge’ scene took influences from punk but used a lot more colour and illustrative style to them. Popular artists from this era include Chris ‘Coops’ Cooper and Frank Kozik. The style of illustration in these posters were often described as ‘lowbrow’ following the lowbrow art movement. This was art fueled from graffiti in the 1970s and was often humorous.
From the late 1980s all the way to the early 00s was a significant time for ‘raves’ and rave flyers were a very popular form of gig poster art during this time. Rave flyers varied in size between A3, A4 & A5 and were used to promote rave events all around the world. They often featured a lot of colour and the design style varied from sci fi to fantasy to retro. Some popular rave flyer artists include George Georgiou and Jim Tang.
More contemporary posters from the 2000s to now have all drawn upon previous styles of gig poster, including the punk and the psychedelic style. The aesthetic of the poster is very much dependant on the artist, the music genre and their own style as they posters are often created to fit a very specific style rather than generic, such as boxing style posters were. With technology people are much more likely to find out dates and information on gigs on the internet rather than a physical poster, but some artists have started to hire independent designers create these posters again, as they are an effective way to transmit information but also tell a lot about an artist and their style too.
The first poster is one that has been designed to advertise an upcoming gig. It was designed and created by the company Talkseek. The poster doesn’t have a specific title but the biggest text is ‘Wolves Like Us’, which is the name of the band the poster is advertising. The main themes within the poster is music and the music scene the band are in. The designer has incorporated a wolf's head onto a human body, which links with the bands name which is ‘Wolves Like Us’. The band are in the rock genre and therefore the human part of body might be based on what they look like as it has a lot of tattoos on it, which also may link into the name of the band. It also features writing at the top of the poster, which is information about the date and the location of the show the band are playing. The work has a similar style to the other work of the designer, particularly the illustration on it. The work has been solely created to advertise the gig and a limited number of copies were created. Due to the fact that it is a poster, there is no narrative. However, there are links to the bands name and style to the illustration which help to make the poster have the same attitude to the band and give it some depth.
The colour palette isn’t that varied and uses colours that have been dulled down slightly, with the pale blue and cream colour. There is a lot of black used, for example for some of the writing and for some details such as tattoos and the facial features. The colours are equally distributed with all colours being used contrastingly and as there are only 3, it allows them all to be used a fair amount. The textures are quite important within the poster as they give it a feel that it isn’t overly perfect, it’s worked on. The texture is shown with flecks of black in some areas which again adds to this feeling. The texture of the hair of the wolf is also shown by not colouring all of the hair in black, making it look how shiny hair would. The colour is used in a decorative way to emphasize certain elements of the poster and to give it a certain effect. The space within the work has been represented quite traditionally, with a centered person with their head turned sideways slightly. However there is no shadow or sign of depth in the background which could’ve been done to keep the attention on the main subject of the picture, the illustration.
The work holds together in a successful way, with the drawings, colour and typeface all flowing together and complementing each other. The artist may have chosen to create it with the materials they did to fit in with the style of the band. The poster has been very specifically designed and tried to make look like it has been slightly random but in fact very precisely created. The composition of the poster is organised in a traditional way, with the name of the band and the top and a simple illustration in the centre of the page. This enables it to keep the poster uncomplicated and put emphasis on all of the important elements. The poster has evidently been designed in a specific way as it has the illustration which has been cleverly created to link into the band.
The production process will have started by the designer roughly drawing out the image of the wolf/human first, with him then following over this with brush and ink. The image would have then been scanned and put into photoshop. In photoshop the colour palette would have been decided and then added to the drawing, along with the speckles of black along the side to make the image seem like it may have been screenprinted. The text would then be added to the poster, such as the name of the band and the date and time. The poster would then be printed off (usually in a limited number) and also put on the designers blog. The artist would have had to have specific skills, such as the ability to use brush and ink, and also to use a variety of techniques in photoshop such as add the typeface and the speckles of black. The piece would have taken about 2 weeks to create entirely. This is because there is a lot of steps involved such as creating the initial idea and the brush and ink. The work shows elements of clues of process used, for example the detailed fur which has been done in brush and ink. However, the artist has attempted to make the process look like it’s been done differently. This is through adding speckles of black to the poster to make it look like it was screenprinted when in fact it was created quite digitally.
The element that initially drew my attention the posters was the illustration of the wolf in the centre. I thought this was a clever design as it was a wolf’s head on a humans body and also the wolf was drawn quite abstractly, with 3 eyes. I also thought that the colour was effective as it wasn’t too bold and kept the focus on the illustration. It makes me feel intrigued as it’s different and unexpected for a gig poster, but also links in well with the band and their style. My favourite piece of the poster is the head of the wolf. I think the detail of it is very striking and stands out the most. As the band are called ‘Wolves Like Us’ and this is the first thing you see it may be a way to identify the band on the poster quickly.
This is a gig poster created by the designer Mike King, for the band The Decemberists. The poster features a tree with it’s roots extending out, with the dates on the tour underneath each root. The tree has quite a nautical style to it, with anchors dropping from the tree and swallows holding up a scroll with the name of the tour across. There are more scrolls across the tree, with name of all the acts playing in separate scrolls. In the tree there are a number of people/objects protruding from the tree including an Asian woman and a mother and child. The poster doesn’t have a specific title but the first piece of text that you see is the name of the band. This initially demonstrates who the poster is for and whose tour it is. One of the main themes of the poster is nautical/traditional style with the swallows, scrolls, anchors and the typeface used. The work is clearly influenced by the style of the band, as their songs often feature events from the past and folklore. This is shown in the use of archaic looking people in an almost achromatic colour style. There is a reference to a poem in the poster, which even though is not a drawn element it still enables the viewer to visualise the bands style and the imagery they’re trying to portray without listening to them. The work has been created to promote the bands tour, including dates, locations and support acts, in a way that represents the bands style and what genre they fit into.
The colour palette of the poster is quite narrow, with few colours used but just varying in tone. The background is coloured using a uniform fill of a cream colour, which contrasts greatly with the other elements of the piece. The main element, the tree, is done using traditional natural colours such as green and brown. These natural, earthy colours dominate the piece as they are used for the rest of the typeface as well as the tree and the people coming from it. Some parts of the details use colour that isn’t very saturated in order to create natural looking highlights, for example on the tree and the people. These also contribute to help create the textures within the piece, for example the bark of the tree has been done in the same colour but frequently varies in tone to create shadows and highlights. The colour of the poster is used decoratively but could be used emotionally to aid the archaic style of the poster in general. The perspective is traditional in regards to the tree but then becomes quite surreal when you look at the people protruding from the tree, as they are coming from a variety of angles and doesn’t make sense when you look at them all together, however this aids to the uniqueness of the poster. Despite this, the work holds together throughout and looks complete, even with surreal perspectives and quite a lot of detail coming from different places. The tree is in the middle of the page with the scroll with The Decemberists on in the centre of the page, showing that it has been planned and has a specific composition. The artist would have chosen these materials and to do it in this way to create a certain style of poster for the band and enable it to have the traditional style that it does. Everything seems to be controlled, with certain things in specific places and highlights and shadows all very precisely done. The composition has been done quite traditionally, with things centred on the page and done in a hierarchy, for example they put the name of the band whose tour is is, then the support acts underneath, then the name of the tour and finally the tour dates at the bottom. This is to enable the viewer to see the actual tour and who is on it to see if they’re interested before actually looking at the dates. The poster has been done on photoshop so there are no specific elements that show you of the hand that created it, but you can tell that the scrolls and other things such as the swallows have been drawn by hand, as well as the tree itself. The poster is specifically designed as it has elements with connotations to the band and the style, which indicates the artist may have researched or thought quite a lot about the band and their style before starting the design process.
In regards to the process, the designer of this work has a certain way of working. He initially creates doodles of separate elements and then goes on to create finished pencil drawings. The next step would be to scan the images into the computer and to print them out again on a larger scale, followed by redrawing them. He would then scan the images back in again and reprint them, and then lay the images out and try to work out the composition of the poster. The layout of the poster is created on illustrator alongside the typeface, giving it elements of being both hand created and computer created. The posters would then be screenprinted, scanned and put on the internet. The artist must have a variety of skills to work in this way, including illustrator skills using layers and adjust composition of things such as colour. They would also need to be able to draw in a variety of ways to cater for all different type of artists and the visual style they want their poster to have. The poster would have taken about 1-2 weeks from start to finish. The very specific alignment of the type could give an indication of the fact that illustrator was used, as it would be very difficult to create the writing in that much of a straight line. The scrolls, anchors and swallows however look like they may have been hand drawn and then scanned in and added to the drawing.
What initially drew my attention to the poster was the decorative scrolls and the intricacies of the drawings, such as the tree and the people coming from it. The nautical elements remind me of traditional tattoos which may fit in with the bands style of music. The poster for me gives out a captivating feel, as when you look closer at it you see different things that you may not have noticed before and it makes you want to carry on checking for different elements. I like all of the elements of the poster, specifically the roots as I think it’s a clever way of creating a way to display the dates of the tour.
Throughout my research I have found that most, if not all, current gig poster designers use the method of working in a design programme such as Photoshop or Illustrator. I tried to apply this method to my artist copies, for example the copy of a Vanhalla Studios piece which I completed. Initially I drew out each of the singular shapes of the birds, text and clouds using the pen tool and went on to colour them. This process turned out very successful and is something I’d consider doing for my final piece.
Through researching the history of the posters, I have found out some things which I have been able to apply to my work. I have found that most artists over time have created the posters according to the style of the musician and not in a generic way. For example, the psychedelic poster style of the 60s associated strongly with the musicians they were made for. This still applies in modern times, for example this is shown in the artist copy I made of the artist Adam Turman. The artist has a very distinctive acoustic/folk sound and the traditional tattoo style font on the poster created for him could be a link to his music.
I have also been influenced in regards to the composition of my work from the work of Brian Biggs. Despite him not creating gig posters, his style of work is very clear and interesting, with a certain edge to it. I have recently looked at his work and noted that he sometimes works in an isometric style to create almost a 3D effect, especially when he is drawing buildings. I used this isometric style as an experiment and almost an emulation of his. I used the subject matter of buildings whilst drawing and continued the isometric style, however I then tried to link it to my own work and what I might do for my final piece. With this, I took an idea I had and incorporated it into the photo, and then added the gig poster conventions to it to make it look genuine. His work has definitely influenced mine and is something I will most likely use in my final pieces.
To summarize, through my research and experimentation I have found that since the emergence of posters for musical events in the 1800s, gig posters are still very important. Despite the technological era where most people can find information about events and gigs on the internet, there are still many artists that continue to design and create these posters, and still many musicians that have posters created for them or even create them themselves. I have found that a very significant factor within these posters are the use of design programmes such as Illustrator and Photoshop. From looking through many artists work and their preferred method of creating the posters, it is clear that most rely on these digital programmes to keep their work to a high standard. Despite this, most designers follow the method of drawing out their design initially either as a whole or as separate elements, then ink over them,scan them and then compose the poster in one of said programmes. Even though they probably aren’t the primary way for people to find out these events, they are still popular forms of design and websites such as gigposters.com reinforce this. They act as a platform for the designer, and they probably will continue to do so for many years to come, as they are a way for small designers to popular designers to broadcast their work to many.
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