Introduction
These are the various poster proposals I presented to IDARTES on 2013, and with them the illustration of how the processes transformed these images to fit what the client had in mind. The guideline was always to create a world, to envision a new way of approaching the idea that everyone had about Rock al Parque. In previous years, although the contest was open and the guidelines strict, the outcomes had not been sufficient and in 2012, the contest for the festival's poster was cancelled.
This year (2013), the idea was to give Rock what belonged to it. Character and depth. The limit of how much character the poster had, was the public's acceptance and the fact that it is an event organized by the government. The other great limit that had to be tackled was the definition of rock and what image would actually represent what rock is. Needless to say, any poster that were to be published as the festival's image would be criticized and so careful design and planning would be necessary.
Lourdes Pitch
The Lourdes poster (named after the gothic church with said name; an architectural landmark in Bogotá) was the first one to be put forward. The idea was quite simple: To give rock the night and all the creatures that are born with it. One of these is the privacy and loneliness needed for real expression. A lone girl in the middle of the night with her bass guitar and music oozing from her eyes and ears. Just another bogotano in just another night.
Rock would then become that which comes out of your mind and soul at 3am on a random tuesday. The everyday thought that takes control of you for five seconds and then lets you go, reminding you who is in charge. The thoughts that don't need your keys nor permission; they just break in and steal nothing.
The idea was still very ample and as the pitch was blind-sighted almost, the typography handled was pertinent to many genres of music and would maybe portray a more pop or electronic version of rock. This idea was one of the two finalists and was modified several times as well.
Spiral Pitch
The Spiral version aimed for a more amicable scene of rock, maintaining its usual underlying aggressiveness. The face of the central character was the element that most antagonized the utility of this design. Too angry or meaningless at times, the idea was solid but not well taken. Rock would then become the identity of an individual immerse in the highroads of an eclectic city, Bogotá.
The use of color yellow became the most accepted and aimed to make the poster a bit livelier and friendlier in the end, to avoid the crude reality that the character's expression was indeed way too harsh. The simple drawings swimming around this character's elongated arms are landmarks of Bogotá, including the buildings portrayed in the official poster. The dressing fashion of this man was probably limiting rock to a certain type of rock, and was also undermining the use of a woman as a central figure to represent the female idea of Bogotá.
It was all analogue using a calligraphic marker to achieve a balanced line outcome. This poster has a very strong visual pressure towards this central character and the variations in line that occur in the central title. The figures on its side washed this pressure and made it something worth posting in Transmilenio, but that would definitely scare some away from the event. The idea was kept as a secondary plan and was also modified a great many times.
Eagle Pitch
The eagle is the symbol of Bogotá. It is found chiseled into rock in many of its colonial structures as well as in the evident center of its coat of arms. Most ideas were focused towards the idea that all the symbols of Bogotá are deemed female by spanish language despite cacophony corrections. This worked out perfectly with the increasing amount of female participants in the festival, this year being one of the most powerful displays of rock coming for example from Eruca Sativa and Sacred Goat.
This particular idea was focused on the intent of making something more respectable out of the festival, as in previous years it had gotten out of control and its image had been deteriorated. Rock as ample as it was has various times resided on symbols tending towards certain animals, and many of its posters feature raging animals. The initial idea was a street dog barking and fangs shining in the night, but the idea had been presented by another artist as a pitch and was thought of as too aggressive and typical. The eagle came to mind.
The eagle, being stout, powerful and aggressive enough was then the perfect marriage between non-aggressive aggressiveness and Bogotá's symbols. This was a poster that was quickly discarded as a possibility due to its lack of clear and evident connection to rock. It still is one of my favorite pitch ideas.
Plug Pitch
Something way more celestial and deeply in contact to the average person was needed. Rock lifts us up where we belong, without us even knowing. The idea of a plug being connected into someone seems to be frowned upon with ease, and this poster was not the exception.
Even if it is one of the most epiphanic pitches, and probably one of the most impacting and powerful, it was deemed too aggressive as well, and in that I concur. It is an aggressive image, and it is probably best if used for a different target public.
Part of the problematic born from this image was the fact that most people that were to observe it would not understand that the plug coming from his chest was that of a giant 1/4" audio cable and instead thought it was an oddly powerful celestial vacuum cleaner.
This was also the second time the buildings from the 26th Street appeared as background. They were recurrent and useful for the higlighting of the central character of the poster. They would be eventually used for the official poster as well as a referenced vectorized poster line.
Girl Pitch
It was evident now that the use of regular typographies was not viable. It was also evident that the central character had to be a person, a woman in the night with something to say. The buildings from 26th Street were going to be used as a background. A referenced vectorized poster line image was about to be born.
Taking Andreas Gradin's photo as a base, the image of this lovely lady was constructed and modified into the defined shadows that would give her more edge. She is the eagle that symbolizes Bogotá; the coat of arms features the black eagle holding two pomegranate fruits in its claws. Pomegranate in spanish is Granada Real, that could also be misunderstood as a 'real grenade' (as in frag grenade). Taking advantage of the duality permitted by language, the concept took shape. A girl holding one pomegranate and one grenade surrounded by the open nine pomegranates would give birth to the rock version of bogotá's coat of arms.
A clear reference to chivalry was then used in the final image. Wielding heavy weaponry was not the optimal representation of a peaceful event, and thus the symbol of the pomegranate was erased from the pitch along with any grenade-like object. A microphone was held instead of a grenade, and I thought the change to be ironically counterproductive, and made the image way more aggressive than what I expected. The link to rock was evident and the buildings in the back reminded us of the battlefield we have to face everyday. All the letters in the final poster were hand drawn with calligraphic brushes and later traced and given volume.
The final image was a success. The shirts that were sold in the festival featuring the image were sold out. The final poster was featured in various blogs and newspapers. Debate over rock representation rose as expected. Ridiculos polemic about the correct use of a stock image rose as well.
"La presencia de Cannibal Corpse, Simphony X, Bosnian Rainbows y Havok, de Estados Unidos; y Vita Imana, de España, alegraron a los seguidores del rock alternativo por un lado, y del metal por el otro. (...) Sin embargo, ninguno de estos nombres por más poderío y decibeles que represente, ha logrado la mitad del ruido obtenido por Arturo Gutiérrez y su creación gráfica. "
- El Espectador
06/17/2013
