Out of the box, onto the floor

Something to think about when designing your stage is the fact that all surfaces are an opportunity to make a visual graphic statement and create atmosphere. Case and point – I recently worked on a couple of stages that took advantage of the stage floor to complete the visual graphic package. The more recent one was for Nickelback. Working with the stage designer, we illustrated his vision so that the floor surface worked seamlessly with the custom CNC cut drum and guitar risers, the video graphics, and even the base drum head graphics. The end result created a seamless continuity between horizontal and vertical surfaces and made the overall visual impact, once their fans entered the venue, unforgettable. Obviously the people in the lower and upper tiers were able to enjoy this effort more so than the people on the floor, but those fans are always in greater number in a venue, thus, the effort is well worth it.

Recent project. Retouch and get more mileage out of a piece of art.

Recently I was asked if I could help a band get “more mileage” out of their CD cover art. What do I mean by “more mileage?” In a nutshell, the cover art was a hand painted piece. The band name and title of the CD had been hand painted and integrated into the art as one flat piece. The challenge was, they wanted to use the CD art on a backdrop for their tour. The backdrop was 20′x 30′. As we all know, CD covers are square and, this piece had the title of the cd worked into the artwork so the text had to be extracted from the background and the elements, that you once had to imagine behind the text, had to be painted and “not” look like an afterthought. Using natural brushes and a few other tricks, I was able to extract the letters from the background, digitally hand paint the imagined graphic elements that would have been behind the text, extend the hand painted treatment to the left and right so that the art was now a rectangle and deliver a new digital piece. The band had print ready art for their backdrop within 48 hours, just in time for a video shoot.

Full Proof Aspect Ratio and Resolution-

I love what I do, and I honestly can’t think of anything I’d rather be involved in than creating graphics for shows of all kinds. Many of the projects that come in for production are already created and technically ready for press. My job is to take a look at the structure of the files that are going to press. I check to make sure the art has enough data (ie: resolution so that it prints properly). I check for aspects like file format, color mode and last but not least document set up.

Document set up, in simplest terms, is the deciding factor that dictates if you’ll get a 30′x20′ backdrop if that’s what you want. Lately I’ve found that some designers are struggling with proper file set up .This may be caused by the fact that many graphic programs and computers have limits on document sizes and amount of data that they will push through. This said, a method I’ve found, that has not failed me, is to set up my art at 1/4 scale. If you desire a 20′x30′ backdrop for instance, set up your file (photoshop) 90″ x 60″ at 300 PPI-(pixels per inch)- This will give us a perfect 20′x30′-75ppi file to work with (at size) and a backdrop that will print perfectly.

I’m using 75ppi as an example of a good minimum resolution. You can give your files more resolution if your computer system will handle it. I’ve found that 150 ppi at size is the most you should ever need to assign to any art file for it to print well.

I hope this helps.

Custom Guitar Design For Autism Charity.

Early last summer after meeting and becoming friends with jewelry designer Rich Wright, we started collaborating on a couple of design projects on the side and after the hours of our day gigs. A mutual love for music and all things rock-n-roll naturally guided us to try our hand at designing custom guitars. Collectively, we thought that these guitars might be a great way to give back to our community by selecting a few well deserving charities and auctioning off these guitars to create awareness as well as raise much needed money for those charities. Our latest effort goes to benefit the charity Artists for Autism. Artists for Autism utilizes various forms of art – drawing, music, and much more – to connect with people with autism.

To benefit Artists for Autism, Rick and I have created a Ted Nugent themed design we are calling “The Battle Axe.”  This guitar features custom designed sterling silver hardware, bear claw volume and tone knobs designed by Rich and Nugent Zebra theme graphics featuring an illustration of Ted that I created. Ted has offered to sign the guitar and has been very helpful in getting the word out about the auction. The Nugent Battle Axe Guitar will be auctioned off on Ebay starting near the end of March. Details and a link to the auction will be available at their web site within the next week .

Leader of the pack

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.

Sharkstooth Scrim with a twist.

Sharkstooth Scrim is one of those fabrics that is so versatile and fun to work with from a creative stand point. When properly lit from the front, Sharstooth appears to be opaque and when the front lighting is turned off and it is back lit properly, you can create stunning lighting affects that can be viewed right through the material. One thing you might want to consider is combining custom cut pieces of digitally printed opaque material with the sharkstooth. This will in effect give your design an incredible dimensional quality creating eye catching shapes, shadows that add to the wow factor of your show.

Collaboration-

One of my favorite aspects about what I get to do is the opportunity to collaborate with a recording artist and/or their creative team.
The process usually starts out with a “wish list” of what the artist or team is looking for. I’ve been approached over the years to create all manner of designs and Illustrations for everything from backdrops to concert t-shirts. “The more off the wall the better I say. ”
I’ve found one common denominator.  That is “We all want to bring something fresh and new to the world creatively.” What Drives my passion for collaboration? “The chemistry and contribution of different artists and creative thinkers coming together for a common goal.” Lets Collaborate.

Use the “forced”

Sometimes you really want to make elements in your backdrop seem huge. At the end of the day, we all have limits to the height we can go to in most venues.

One thing that can help create the illusion of great height is to illustrate the main elements of you backdrop in forced perspective.  What this means in the clearest terms is to illustrate in a way that creates an optical illusion that an object is nearer or farther away, larger or smaller than it actually is. This may be most effective with a building, mountain etc. This creates a feeling of great space or confined quarters to help pull off the feeling you’re looking for with your stage.

I’d be happy to talk to you about how forced perspective can help you.

3D meet 2D

Something that can give a stage a great deal of depth is the planning and integration of real world objects in front of a printed backdrop. It takes some coordination and planning can help pull off the effect but the end result is worth it.
Case in point, we did an illustration of a steam punk machine complete with all the cogs, wheels, bells and whistles for Motley Crue. ( you can see it on the header of the graphic design page on sewwhatinc.com)

The stage designer used huge barrels, copper tubes, oil drums and alike placed strategically in front of the printed piece to pull off a dark, fire breathing mad science steam punk effect.

People still come up to me and tell me how much they loved that stage. Isn’t that what it’s all about. A memorable experience.