Can You Gig It?
Disclaimer: I am NOT a fan of animal cruelty; there were no animals harmed in the making of this vector graphic.
The magic of gig posters is that they are one of a kind. Each city has its own concert poster. Gig posters are created with their target audience in mind. The average Joe is not likely to understand the message being portrayed if they have never heard of the band. But the groupie at first glance will be able to identify the band right away and appreciate the artwork.
My challenge for this gig poster was to get an immediate reaction for a band that doesn’t exist. I was excited for the challenge and set personal objectives for the poster. I imagined my band playing some punk rock. To match the band, my gig poster had to be comical, ironic, with a slight touch of fierce rebellion.
Spit It Out!
I’ll let you in on a secret: not too long ago, my husband and I found mice in our apartment. GROSS. I’ll let you in on another secret: dogs > cats. So, when thinking of an idea to put on my gig poster, I found my sketches revolving around mice and cats.
But I couldn’t stop there. I had to explore other ideas. There’s an organizational theory that teaches you to brainstorm as many ideas as possible, without turning down any “dumb” ideas, and that will lead you to the best idea. And that’s exactly what I did. I tried taking familiar objects, spitting them out on paper and throwing in a punk rock twist.
After looking over my sketches, I went back to my objectives. I decided my idea of a giant mouse wrapping its tail around a cat, ready to feast, best fit my objectives.
A screenshot of my first gig poster draft.
Stick To Your Vision
My first critique was to get creative with my composition. And I agree- my first attempt was not very interesting. I was getting stuck on wanting to focus on the heads of the animals, but also needing to show the tail. It felt like I was dealing with two different planes at once. After bouncing ideas back and forth with my mentor, I decided on an overlapping approach to show more depth.
A screenshot of my second gig poster draft.
But I still wasn’t sold. There wasn’t enough proximity between the mouse’s head and the cat’s head. I needed them to feel more connected. So, I made the head bigger. My next two critiques were very helpful. A peer told me to make my text stand out more, and another told me to make the head attach more naturally to the ears.
A screenshot of my third gig poster draft.
I changed the location’s text to white and bold to add more contrast. I used reference photos to round off the ears and head, making it bulge toward the cheeks. To help contrast the text, I also added a shadow to the mouse’s head. A peer told me to lower the value of the ears’ pink to keep the focus on the cat. I was closer, but still needed to make a few adjustments before feeling like I had mastered my objectives.
A screenshot of my fourth gig poster draft.
A few adjustments here, a few adjustments there... until, finally, a finished image.
Wallah! – Bon Appétit
I am pleased with how my composition turned out. I wanted the focus to be on the cat because of my personal dislike toward cats. The mouse’s eyes, fangs and tail all draw the eye back to the cat. Another reason I wanted the focus to be on the cat is because it is the most ironic part of my gig poster. I’ll give $100 to anyone who has seen a cat tied up by a mouse’s tail ready to be eaten. In real life, the cat is much larger than the mouse.
This irony plays into the comical side of my gig poster. It’s so bizzare of a scene that it makes people laugh. I also dramatized the expressions of both animals to cause a giggle from the audience. My last comical touch was fluffing up the cat’s fur to show its distress.
I did not add any blood or missing limbs because grossing out my audience was not my objective; all I wanted to do was get them to crack a smile. The mouse’s fangs and slanted eyebrows make it a fierce predator. I also changed the band name’s text to make the serifs look sharper and more rebellious. I felt the previous font was too structured for the look I was aiming for. As mentioned previously, I made the mouse’s head extra large to exaggerate its fierce hunger.
So, you tell me: Are you scared? Or did you laugh?
Do you pity the cat, or are you cheering on the mouse?
