Typographic Poster for Design Course:
They Might Be Giants
2020
Program: Adobe Illustrator
Time Spent: approx. 15 hours
Subjects: John Flansburgh and John Linnell (left to right)
Assignment Goal: Create a 11" x 17" portrait of a band/musical artist of choice in Adobe Illustrator, using only letters, numbers, and alphabetical symbols.
Audience: Fans of the band They Might Be Giants, especially those who enjoy their earlier works and albums from the start of their career
Intended Attitude: Energetic, bouncy, playful, crafty, quick-witted, crafty, light-hearted, animated, spunky, jovial, odd-ball, kitsch
Copy Points: Spunky, whimsical, and catchy music, with themes of songs most often following a lighthearted and playful story told through unique wordplay in lyrics. As stated by the artist of their self-titled album’s cover, Rodney Greenblat, the music of They Might Be Giants is known for its “funny, quirky, personal, original” qualities in the themes and tone of the music the two Johns produce
Production and Inspiration: photoshoots and posters from They Might Be Giants to come up with color and attitude inspiration, as well as to browse and select a reference image for the final poster
Photo Grid 1: poster collage (attitude, potential color palettes)
Photo Grid 2: photoshoot collage (attitude, potential references for poster)
Final Reference Image and Color Palette Inspiration: Photoshoot and album cover back (from They Might Be Giants' Self-Titled album)
Works in Progress:
Image 1: First pass at John Flansburgh. The eyes, eyebrows, nose, and mouth are in their initial stage of completion, and are edited and revamped later on in the project's span. Included is the Layers tab in Illustrator, showing how this project was composed (as well as including the album cover used for color reference).
Image 2: First pass at John Linnell. Note that the teeth were later deleted and redone after this point. (included side-by-side is an image of the reference photo).
Image 3: Second passes at Flansburgh and Linnell. Note that hair and ears have been added to both subjects (although Linnell's hair would later be edited somewhat to be darker, as seen in later images), as well as some minor details in wrinkles. As well as this, the aforementioned features that were in need of tweaking are now closer to their presentation in the final product.
Image 4: Continued progress of Linnell and Flansburgh. Linnell's hair now has darker segments, and his hands are near completion. Teeth have been re-done as well.
Image 5: Progress being shown on Linnell's turtleneck. Included in the sidebar is the color palette group used for this project, displaying the variety of colors included in said turtleneck.
Final Product & Close-Up Details:
