The Fishtank | Lexington, Kentucky
I laid out this punk poster design for a local DIY show at The Fishtank. This venue has hosted local and touring acts near the campus of the University of Kentucky for decades. My own band has played there dozens of times, and it’s always a blast. We hosted Courtney From Work, a band from Columbus, Ohio we’ve played with often in the past. I wanted to infuse this poster with elements that my fellow scene kids used to promote local punk shows before computers were widely used.
Punk Poster Design With Mixed Media Elements
I immediately had a vision in mind for this punk poster design. The 1970s cut and paste “ransom note” trend took center stage. Many an iconic punk poster design came to mind, so I cut out letters from mailers laying around the house. I scattered these throughout the space, spelling out the venue name and show information.
The closeup image of a punk rock girl is cropped to focus specifically on her hand on her hip. Her attitude and style shines through, even without a facial expression. A trio of inset thumbnails depicts three more closeups of the girl’s face, shoes, and shirt. I set the image on a bright red magazine page, adding rips, wrinkles, and photo filters to age the montage.
Finally, I snipped passages from an old newspaper in order to create the black and white background. I added some discoloration and grit, but the background is still dull and monochrome enough to help the foreground image pop. This collage of elements forms an homage to old school and new school punk poster design. You could say it hearkens back to my beginnings as an artist, when Photoshop and other computer design apps were just coming into their own.
Hire Me For Your Next Concert Event’s Design
I’ve been in this game a long time. Trends come and trends go, but quality design will always be quality design. If you own a venue with a big event or festival coming up, you need eye catching art to promote it. Contact me today.
Sempervivi | Lexington, KY
I created this music poster design for my band Sempervivi’s crowdfunding campaign. We were raising money to release our first full length album, “Can’t Please Everyone”. I contracted comic artist Chris Schweizer to bring my concept to life. The band would be shown wrestling my childhood teddy bear Flash. The results were even better than I had imagined.
Music poster design with wrestling theme
While brainstorming the perks we would our backers, I determined that limited edition posters would be ideal. The old school wrestling theme could include many aspects. Ultimately, I decided to mimic a pivotal event in my childhood, the WWE wrestling spectacular Wrestlemania VI on pay per view. The larger than life “Immortal” Hulk Hogan met the enigmatic wildman Ultimate Warrior for the WWE Championship in Toronto. Posters depicted them in front of a frozen mountain range, with lightning bolts lighting up the sky. In order to faithfully hearken back to this classic image, I had my work cut out for me.
Wrestlemania VI promo art this music poster design is based on
I had already created a parody style logo based on the classic Wrestlemania logo. Next, I carefully reproduced the original metallic chrome and gold gradients. My striking tribute caught old school wrestling fans’ eyes. The retro neon pink and green subtexts also jumped off the landscape.
I then added images from our album art. The “Match of the Century” was on! Chris’s drawings show Flash with his championship belt. Meanwhile, the band stood in the locker room vowing revenge.
After I arranged the foreground images, I then built the fantasy background. Rather than a photo montage, I combined illustrations to create the stormy glacier scene. I had successfully paid tribute to the original 1990 WWE poster without outright copying it. Victory!
Contact me if you need a poster for your next event
All in all, this music poster design is one of my favorites. I always enjoy when I can combine my interests into one ad. Can I interest your band, record label, or music festival in a poster graphic design? Perhaps you’re a wrestling promoter needing high end promo art. Contact me today.