Artwork by Ben Tipton
No matter how digital and internet-centric marketing your shows becomes, the allure of a striking concert poster will always remain. No only is it still a viable tool in promoting a show, but physical posters can be massive hits at the merch table and in your online shop.
These five artists create the kind of works that fans love to collect: limited runs, handmade, special. This bunch ranks among the big leagues, so most independent musicians probably can't stretch their budgets to fit the rates, but you can still draw inspiration from their amazing designs when you're creating your own posters.
1. Miss Amy Jo
Artwork by Miss Amy Jo
Throughout the course of her career, Amy Jo has created posters for the likes of Mudhoney, the Raveonettes, the Black Keys, and Black Lips, among others. She screenprints by hand, often employing ornamental elements and other swirly filigrees. Color and texture overlaps are also mainstays in her arsenal of techniques. Amy Jo is based in Minneapolis, where she owns a design and screenprinting studio and gallery storefront called Who Made Who.
2. Ladoscuro
Artwork by Ladoscuro
This Puerto Rican art and design collective is supremely loyal to its signature aesthetic, which appears built on the notion that less is more. In fact, it can be really striking. Whether they're creating for clients or their own cultural projects, be it a music video, marketing clip, or an event, Ladoscuro's visual M.O. never falters. Their flyer design, even if just a Facebook event banner, is equally integrated into that pointed overarching concept.
3. Ben Tipton
Artwork by Ben Tipton
Much of Ben Tipton's artwork is for Rock Candy Nights, a twice-weekly party he organizes at Hotel Vegas in Austin, Texas, or is related to his record label, Burger City Rock 'n' Roll. He might also create because he helped put together the show or developed a promo for his Good Vibrations festival. He may also be DJing at a show with his Rock Candy counterpart. Clearly, Tipton keeps busy. Somehow, his flyer designs are forever flawlessly cool. The style is reproduction '70s punk and rock 'n' roll, but there's a feel to the fonts, image placement, and color combos that firmly plants his work in today's underground rock 'n' roll scene.
4. Mollie Tuggle
Artwork by Mollie Tuggle
We discovered the work of this Northern California-born, Austin-based artist through the Levitation Festival online shop; specifically, it was her incredibly intricate Lee Ranaldo poster that caught our attention. Upon further investigation, it appears completely emblematic of Tuggle's style, which is '60s and '70s hippie-rock inspired to the last detail: all of these immensely detailed posters are actually drawn by hand.
5. Tara McPherson
Artwork by Tara McPherson.
She's earned accolades from ELLE magazine, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times; has worked with big names like Modest Mouse, Beck, and Mastodon; and has even published several books of her artwork. Paintings, sculptures, comics, and serigraphs are all in Tara McPherson's wheelhouse; of course, we're most concerned here with the NYC artist's poster work. Her style runs cohesively through it all, though: a futuristic comic book feel that occasionally sneaks a little humor into its whimsy. (Her own description of her Torche poster: “Baby unicorns farting sparkle dust! Oh my!”)
For more gig poster inspiration, check out these five additional artists.
Jhoni Jackson is an Atlanta-bred music journalist currently based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she juggles owning a venue called Club 77, freelance writing and, of course, going to the beach as often as possible.
