Live music is one of my favorite things in this world. It is an art form that is ever evolving and changing how we think, feel and act. In the same vein, concert or gig posters are a way to inform fans where the next show is in a fun and intriguing way. My purpose for this project was to create a gig poster for my imaginary band, "Jolt". Below, I will discuss my process and thoughts behind the work. 

I was excited to get the ideas flowing, since I was given full reign on themes and other elements. To start out, I listed out different elements that I would potentially incorporate with my design.

For some reason, I really liked the idea of a punk lunch lady, so I ran with that idea. At this point, I liked "Hailey and the Boppers" for my band name, but it didn't necessarily fit with the theme that I had envisioned.

The drafting process, as usual, is always difficult. I soon found that I was in over my head with attempting to correctly draw a human form on Illustrator. Someday I'll get it, but it wasn't in the cards for me in this project.

Here, I wanted to do a close up view of what what happening with the lunch lady's hand. The fingers were a little funny in this stage, but I was just working on getting the forms down. The "hate" tattoo also added to the punk motif, but I wanted more connection.

By this point I was thinking of 4-letter words that I could use for the band name, and JOLT stood out to me. I used "The Lost Canyon" font to give it a more tattooed look. I also added star tattoos and adjusted the black nails 

In between these two drafts, I adjusted elements of the tray. It felt weird leaving an open circle on the tray, so i eliminated it and moved the circle to balance out the sides. I also  adjusted the "Big Bloke BB" typeface hue to give an illusion more of dried food than printed ink.

With further fine tuning, I was able to incorporate changes suggested from fellow critics. They suggested that I change the background color to work with the tattoos to give more of a relationship with color theory. I also filled negative space with flies so there wasn't so much open air. I was given advice on typography and how that can truly tell a story just by itself. I am always grateful for feedback that can give fresh eyes on projects.

This project was creatively demanding for me, as it pushed me to think outside of the box and create a story as opposed to just slapping random things on a poster. Being a punk band, I wanted to incorporate edginess with tattoos and black nail polish. The food she's serving up doesn't necessarily look appetizing, but thats kind of how music is. Everyone has their own taste and no matter what you say, JOLT is going to serve it up piping hot! The flies show that whatever is being served up, it will draw a crowd. I also included the venue from my home area, and even threw in an opening band. Overall, I'm proud of this gig poster, and it is something that I think is intriguing, tells a story, and leaves you hungry for more!