Floydfest 9 Breaking Ground :: Festival Art
Floydfest is a wonderful festival located 45 minutes from Roanoke, VA. Floydfest earns its namesake from nearby Floyd, a town of 500 people nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Prior to working with Floydfest, I had attended the festival 2 times and had become quite fond of the quaint locale and scenic setting. And well, the music lineup was always killer.
I was offered the opportunity to do the artwork during negotiations for my position as Street Team Manager by the promoter and owner of Across the Way Productions, Kris Hodges. We met briefly over lattes to discuss what he envisioned for the artwork. Working with Kris on a creative level was great because he had a clear vision of what he was looking for in the design which is usually a rarity among clients. Kris wanted a slick, flowy, Euro feel to it, bright colors. He specifically wanted a visually striking flower sprouting out of the music note seed. He also requested that Buck Mountain – an iconic mountain in Floyd, VA – be included and to somehow incorporate the number 9.
I ran with it and turned the final art over two days shy of the deadline. Less than a month later, a winter version of the original art donned 40,000 fliers and hit the street. 250,000 fliers later, Floydfest 9 Breaking Ground sold out. Unbelievable that so many people were exposed to my artwork. It’s like they say, life’s a garden… dig it.
Ana Sia :: Show Poster
Ana Sia is an electronic music performer from the Bay Area San Francisco, CA. So, when the show was confirmed, Third Eye Presents enlisted me to captivate the audience for her first appearance in Blacksburg, VA at Awful Arthur’s.
I was reminiscing about the poster days of old in San Francisco when the artwork pushed dimensions and tempted the boundaries of the imagination. I created the drafts for this in 3 pieces and pieced it together in Adobe illustrator lickety split. Threw in the color and moved the promo to the streets. My favorite part of the illustration is the white outlined space ships hovering with laser beams in the distant background.
The New Mastersounds :: Show Poster
The New Mastersounds are one of the most dynamic touring acts in funk music today. Their music calls to mind the bygone era of the late 60’s and 70’s when funk was pure & raw driven emotion. Live or on stage, The New Mastersounds easily captures a time of splendor, when acts like The Meters and James Brown first shook the stage.
When this event was confirmed for Blue 5 Restaurant in Roanoke, VA, I decided to thumb through the stack of old National Geographic magazines I have in my library, seeking vintage inspiration for the promotional poster. The ads from that time period – even those in black and white – were so vibrant and loud with texture and eye candy. I was in heaven.
After drafting some rough sketches, what began to emerge was a kind of Pam Grier, Super Fly, Spy Movie poster vibe, which I relish. Instead of redrafting finals and scanning the hard copies, I created this piece entirely in Adobe Illustrator utilizing my Wacom Bamboo Graphics Pen Tablet. This was my first official venture with the tablet and I was excited to see how the product would ultimately turn out.
The final result hit the mark with the band as well as the fans. The original pressing of the promotional poster billed Salvador Santana as the opening act. However, Santana’s last minute schedule change put up and coming Chicago power funk act Lubriphonic on the bill instead, the result of which left us with an abundance of spoilage from the initial run. So, as an incentive perk to the ticket buyer, we handed out signed copies of the print at the door.
Ooah of the Glitch Mob :: Show Poster
This show poster harkens to the glorious, now legendary time when I was booking live shows in Blacksburg and Roanoke, VA. Ooah of the Glitch Mob was the semester wrap party and I created this poster to commemorate our final show of the semester.
The artwork itself was crafted in essentially three parts. I drafted the foreground in pen and ink and added color via premium Prisma-tone markers. These are amazing markers that allow one to blend various shades to get a smooth color transition. The mushroom huts were inspired by Roger Dean’s album cover work in the early seventies. I grew up staring long hours at his album cover work for the band Yes.
Once I completed the foreground, I found a suitable sky/cloud photo from a stock photo site and tweaked out the colors. I was looking for something dreary with thick stratocumulus cloud cover. I placed the background graphic and then pen tooled the flying, black, gargoyle-looking arial crafts coming through the clouds. The overall feel I was going for was one of impending doom, for the sole purpose that Ooah was our last show and ultimately one of the last ever events at the Lantern before it closed for good.
The show raged epic that night. DJ RahBee and Savoy crushed the opening slots. One for the books. Ooah really enjoyed the artwork and I had him sign several copies for the archive.
Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band :: Show Poster
“Down the Winding Road the Booty Bumps”
The moment I heard the band name I knew I wanted to work with these guys. Coming straight from Asheville, NC, them cats bring the stank funk. Big horns, in the pocket grooves, fur, fuzzy dice and plenty of booty shake – that’s a Booty Band party.
Our paths first crossed at Camp Barefoot 2, in Gore VA back in 2007. I bum rushed the green room next to the main stage during their performance. I was carrying a stack of prints in a tube on my back donning a furry leopard beret Zicka-Funk style. After a brief conversation over some incense, J.P. Miller bought a print and commissioned me to create the show poster you see here.
This was created at size, 12×18, on heavy weight stock with acrylic and pen and ink. The inspiration came via the band’s mascot, a faceless afro-haired femme, well endowed with serious hiney. I coined the phrase, “Down the winding road the booty bumps” with the band in mind riding down the road in their tour van and then applied it to Yo Mama, changed the street into a golden brick road and called in a funky caterpillar to the foreground.
The painting debuted to the public at the farewell Thanksgathering held at the legendary Ziggy’s in Winston-Salem, NC in 2007. I had framed up the original painting and placed it on display behind the band’s merch booth where it caught the attention of Ziggy’s co-owner Bernard. He offered me a handsome ransom for the artwork and I packed it in paper wrap at the end of the night and said good by.