The Tree Huggers: The Gig Poster

The Tree Huggers, Who Are They?

(they're not actually real, shhh)

adobe illustrator advertisement band poster gig poster student Tree Tree Hugger typography vector vector art

The Tree Huggers, performing on Friday

You know, every project I do for this class I am under the impression that this is going to be easy. And every time I am proven wrong. This project probably had the least time commitment so far, but that didn't mean this project had its own set of challenges. Except for just a couple parameters we had complete control on this project. Every single design aspect, from the band, to the look, to how we print it, completely up to us. Creativity was the challenge for this project.

The Project

We were tasked to create a gig poster for a band. This band could not be real, we had to include a place, date, and time, and we will have to get it printed (I am currently working on that). Lastly, we will have to include a texture. Beyond that, we are in control. Oh boy...

The Original Idea

So at the beginning of the semester when I had first glossed over this project I had began looking for inspiration and ideas, because for me finding ideas is probably the hardest part. I had decided to a poster based on one of my favorite bands, Greta Van Fleet. I had wanted to do a poster inspired by their latest album, The Battle at Garden's Gate.

Some of my original inspiration. I was planning on incorporating the symbols for each song (photos in the middle).

Unfortunately for me the day all our sketches were due I was told that we would have to create our own band, because most bands already have a style, which could constrain us creatively. This seems to be a common theme for me. I get really excited for an idea for a project and then it gets struck down for some reason or another, and then I have to completely start over the night of the first due date. *exasperated sigh*

The New Idea & Sketches

Back to square one. How do I create a fake band? What should it be? HOW DO I KNOW WHAT THE BAND IS?!! During class we did this sort of mind mapping activity to find ideas for what our band and poster theme should be. Basically we write down 3 words and then in 1ish min (for each word) we write down everything we think of related to that word. Then we combine 3 of those ideas and BAM!! You got yourself a theme.

My mind map, that was how The Tree Huggers came to be.

Now that I have settled on a band and a theme, it is time to figure out what exactly I want the poster to look like. We had to incorporate the text into the picture somehow, so I decided I would put it in the tree with the knots. Time to sketch!

If you look you can see the tree evolve to look more realistic, with branches up top instead of the leaves just sitting on top of the trunk. You can also see that a good chunk of my sketches were dedicated to figuring out how I wanted to lay out the text on the tree.

I wanted the tree to be obviously cartoon, but I also wanted it to look pretty realistic and not weird. To make sure that happened, I had to find plenty of reference images of tree illustrations. that way I could have a better idea of how a tree grew, stood, etc.

The Color Pallet

We were told to keep the color pallet simple, so I decided to stick with 3 main colors, and then a lighter version of the green and brown

The OG color pallet, YIKES

It was a nice color pallet, clean and simple. But it was way to vibrant. It kind of reminded me of an old cheesy computer program. Like an amateur made it. Besties I am not an amateur, I know I can do better. At the beginning of the project my professor talked about how for this project we shouldn't use complete black or complete white, add a little something to it. So that is exactly what I did!

My current color pallet, doesn't it look so much better?

I took a tan square and turned the opacity way down just to give the colors a little tint to them. I also added a slightly darker brown and green to the mix. I liked how the colors look a little bit muted now, but they also gained a lot more character to them.

The First Draft(dundunduuun)

oh boy, this sure is something...

This is the very first draft I submitted. It was good, but I could tell it needed to be better. I just could put my finger on it. So off to Slack it went for some critiques from my peers!

An evolution of my drafts throughout the week, before I got critiques from my professor.

This project was also an opportunity to try some new techniques and effects that we can't normally use.

The TikTok I used to do the text thingy.

I knew I wanted to include this, because we had to incorporate text into the picture somehow. But instead I clipped the main part of the trunk into 3 parts and made it so that the text was wrapping itself around the trunk. Here is a screen recording of me trying this on one of my first drafts.

This was one of my first drafts. (also GROSS look at those colors!!)

Critiques and Improvements

For once, the critiques are not as brutal. Woohoo!! First off, I needed to tone the blue. It was slightly too saturated.

My first test print. You can't tell in this picture but the blue is REALLY saturated.

I did a test print right after class and DANG that blue was very blue!

It was also suggested that I change the font on the tree to make it more flat. The whole poster is very plain, and it works, so you have to be careful and find that right balance of detail and no detail.