I really enjoyed this project. Very creatively fulfilling and fun. It also stretched my knowledge of Illustrator so far and I definitely learned new things. I wish this band actually existed, although I think their music would consist of robotic haikus to tracks of sad space sounds.

Here is where this all started. I sort of had several ideas going, but the main idea was a post apocalyptic scene with a robot and a tree somewhere in there. I wanted the robot to be humanized with maybe shoes and a hat that it maybe picked up somewhere, but you'll see I ditched that idea and simplified a lot in my final design. I do like that concept though, so I'll probably just make something like that for fun. Anyways, this is where it all began.

Did I throw this together super last minute because I was at a Halloween party up in the mountains all weekend when it was due? Yes, yes I did. which is why it looks like the beginning of a thought that you have right when you wake up in the morning. You know the type. BUT I managed to get the two things that I wanted to be a constant in this: a tree and a robot. I have since named this robot Taylor 2.0 after my friend who hosted the Halloween party.

This next draft is getting somewhere. The ideas are still coming and I'm refining my thinking a bit. I like my tree but want it to be a solid object instead of a funky wisp. I did another draft of this design with a mushroom cloud by the city in the background, sort of contrasting the serenity of the scene with the robot and the tree. But I didn't like how much was going on, and changed it, but I did forget to take a screenshot with the mushroom cloud, so you'll just have to imagine it. I also made the robot kind of ridiculously tall, didn't think I would stick with it, but I ended up liking it. I also changed his name to Pablo 2.0.

Boom. So much has changed. I took a day and made the tree and the robot the main focus of the poster. I added a texture from a picture I took of a pyrite sphere to look kind of like a planet behind the scene. I added the name of the band that I made up for this poster. It's a reference to Avatar: the Last Airbender. I also added the date and location, and those are little easter eggs in and of themselves. This whole poster is kind of referencing a lot of my favorite movies, and maybe I'll reveal what they all are at the end of this post... or not, I haven't decided yet.

More simplification. Got rid of the weird black road thingys... You can tell by the way I refer to them that they just vibing with the rest of the poster. I had my textures all figured out for the mountain, the tree, and Pablo 2.0, but I wasn't loving the colors...... 

I played with colors of the background and the tree and decided that I liked the muted blue for the background and I made the tree into a sort of redwood, even though I don't think redwoods bloom white flowers like this tree. But within this apocolyptic scene perhaps it is a new species entirely of redwood with an Iphieon Uniflorum or 'White Star' blooming from it. Yep. Just decided that's what happened. 

Now for the easter eggs. 

I started this out wanting to do something with a robot because I love Iron Giant, so I knew it there would be a robotic element. I remember watching Iron Giant the way I watched many movies when I was young - for days on end, sometimes repeating the movie right after it ended. 

Something else this references is Wall E, with the robot finding new life on a seemingly dead planet. Didn't totally intend for that, but it's there. 

I calculated the date of my brother's birthday this year and converted it to a star date from Star Trek. This star date refers to December 12, 2020 and the time being 9:00pm.

The location is Montressor theatre which I use referring to the movie Treasure Planet which I also enjoyed a lot when I was young.

The last thing I reference is the Lord of Rings, with the destitute tree blooming forth a miraculous flower. 

There is a lot of symbolism throughout this that one can unpack in their own minds. I don't mean to guide the mind too much by giving reference to where all these elements came from my own brain. I hope anyone who looks upon this will come to their own conclusion on what is happening here and why. And I hope they want to attend this sweet gig.