Leader of the pack

Downtown for the Holidays.

So you want to create your own downtown scene and make it either quaint or edgy, uptown or downtown, back alley or main street. This is not a problem.

We recently created a downtown scene for a theater group in Deadwood S.D. for their Christmas show, and the end result was impressive. The objective was to make a believable looking street in Downtown Deadwood. The problem was they needed stores and shops that are not necessarily in the same proximity to appear on the backdrop as if they where actually there.

Using several provided digital assets, we created the new custom street digitally, complete with window decorations, snow, wreaths and the like to make the audience feel like they where standing in the actual street days before Christmas.

The end product was not only believable, but it put you in the mood for the holidays at first glance.

Urban fabric graphics-

Sometimes you want your show to convey an urban edge. Nitty Gritty, concrete and steel, graffiti and decay. Attitude! I recently designed just such a graphic for a touring band. Using several concrete photographic assets, I created a 40′ wall that looked like it was straight out of south Detroit.

We added the band name in chipped paint like it had seen seven years of rain and snow. The thing that I think would put it over the top would be to have custom cut graffiti letters sewn to sharks tooth scrim and drop down over the wall like the logo and wall had been tagged.

The power of the progressive unveil. Something to think about when planning your show.

Architecturally speaking (Creative Juice)

Something that is often overlooked today when in the throws of the creative process is the use and/or influence of architecture. I am lucky enough to have lived near Detroit for the last twenty plus years. I know to the rest of the world Detroit has a less than desirable status but I can tell you the people are great and the old architecture is second to none from a creative standpoint.

My point here is to take a look around you at the architecture near you. It’s often overlooked or taken for granted yet it standsthere in all its glory and history, either grand and opulent or rundown, burned out and beaten down, you can find beauty and creative juice right in front of you if you look.

Take a look at the backdrop we did for Flogging Molly for example. A grand old building in Detroit with busted windows makes an awesome digitally printed backdrop. (http://www.sewwhatinc.com/graphic_design.php)

What is Steampunk? (Creative Juice)

According to Wikipedia, “It involves a setting where steam power is still widely used- usually Victorian era Britain- that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy.” Many times you’ll see the use of futuristic machines made of brass and copper, dials and gauges and cogs that make the impossible seem likely or at least somewhat possible.

I bring it up today because I think the fantasy quality of it allows for amazing creative opportunities in a stage setting. The use of printed backdrops on a grand scale with real world brass, dials and gauges on your stage can make your audience gape in awe of your next production. Just some creative juice if you’re struggling. (see header graphics here for an example- http://www.sewwhatinc.com/graphic_design.php  

Image resolution and quality

It’s the time of year when Holiday shows are ramping up. Sets are being developed, designed and produced. I’ve worked on a couple of shows lately creating winter downtown areas complete with decorations like ribbons, wreaths, decorated trees and the like using supplied photographic assets. The one thing I’ve run into lately that I felt some people needed help with is understanding the importance of starting any design project with the highest quality imagery you can get your hands on. If you’re creating the design in house using photographic assets and assembling them to create a desired look, it will help you in the long run if you either shoot or have shot the desired photos. You can also use a stock photo house that sells royalty free high res images. Some photo houses now allow you to download up to 25 images a day for a nominal cost. Resolution, quality and image size add up to a better quality printed piece from us, and will enhance the production quality of your show.

Festival Stage

This was a very interesting project to work on. With this stage we used both our Heavy Knit product for the more opaque pieces like the main body of the backdrop and we used a Supreme Mesh product for the legs and the eye in the center of the main backdrop so that a large video screen could be viewed at a particular times during the show, through the eye, yet appear opaque when lighted from the front during the rest of the show. The challenge on this project was to make the two piece come together and appear seamless. The background art came to us as one piece and we digitally cut so it would print exactly the same size on the Supreme Mesh as it did on the Heavy Knit without excessive overlap. The end result is a stunning visual feast for the eyes. View pictures at by clicking here.

Little Big Town Drapes

A while back I had the pleasure of working with Little Big Town to develop a custom graphic treatment for their tour with Sugarland.

The band came to me with the idea of doing four drapes that would gather near the bottom. Their vision was to capture an antique damask motif like the old wallpaper you see in grand southern homes.

For me, this was an awesome graphic challenge to tackle. I’d never designed wallpaper before much less antique damask style wallpaper. I addressed it by gathering several pieces of reference material and  addressing the design of the main larger graphic first. Having the largest piece designed helped set the tone for the project and gave me a direction for creating the smaller supporting graphics that complimented the boarders of the main graphic. The most time consuming part of the challenge was making the pattern work in a way that repeated properly. Once the pattern was complete  and duplicated properly both left and right, up and down I duplicated the pattern and sized it to fill the designated image area correctly.  I then added age to the pattern with digital custom made noise and scratches, one piece at a time, keeping in mind at all times that the design, scratches and all had to work well with the lighting effects to create mood, look and feel. The end result worked well and allowed for a dramatic compliment their show. It can be seen on this link. 

What is Vector Art-(In understandable terms)

If you’ve ever wanted to get your logo reproduced on a backdrop, t shirt or vehicle wrap, chances are the graphic artist that was doing the layout asked you for a “Vector File” of your logo.

I could get into the technical aspects of what a vector file is but in the most understandable terms, think of a vector art file as a “wire frame” file of your logo. A wire frame will not fall apart and has structure, shape a form. That structure is the data that allows your logo to reproduce beautifully without falling apart. The most common file types are .eps and .ai files.

A couple of the best aspects of a vector file are the ability to assign spot or Pantone(tm) colors and the ability to reproduce your logo to any size, even the size of a football field, perfectly.

Michelle Branch backdrop

I recently designed the new backdrop for Michelle Branch for her 2011/2012 tour. I was approached by her creative team with the idea of putting together an eclectic stack of vintage amplifiers. The first task was to acquire images of vintage amps so that I could create a believable piece of art. As luck would have it, a music store that carries vintage amps was just ten miles away (Back Stage Music, Lake Orion) and they were willing to let me come a shoot all the pictures I needed.

The backdrop turned out fantastic.  Michelle liked it so much she invited me to her show, when they came through town, just to meet me and thank me for my work. No higher praise in my book.