Ricardo Cavolo

Sometimes you discover an artist and you feel a bit sick because they are so good and you think, if I could draw like anyone it would be them. For me Ricardo Cavolo is one of those artists. His creations are totally delightful and seemingly effortless. You just know he's the kind of illustrator who never ever stops doodling, in fact he's probably been sketching these same curious folks since he was a little boy. You can see more at his blog here.

The Dead Weather

I've recently made a poster for the Dead Weather gig I went to last year. As usual I had a strong theme in mind, particularly in terms of colour which I knew should be a palette of moody greys. They are definitely the most gothic of Jack White's bands and so I wanted to evoke this darkness. I suppose in a way I was rather literally translating the words 'Dead Weather' by using the idea of a traditional weather house but subverting it so that it became more like a haunted house, the sort of place that the band might hang out in. This is actually the first poster where I have had to use a number of techniques to achieve my vision; the band members and text are hand-drawn, the house was made in Illustrator and it was all brought together in Photoshop.

Detail of house and band (below)


Original drawing for Jack and Alison (below). Where have you seen them before?

Close up of hand-drawn text (below)

Finished poster (below)

The Cribs

Looking back through my photos from Berlin I found the perfect photograph to turn into a poster for The Cribs. This rather amazing/disgusting public toilet in a squat in central Berlin seemed quite appropriate as a symbol of the kind of raw punk undertones present in their sound. I imagine that as a young band they probably played some real dives and had dressing rooms that were probably just as filthy.

All I really did to the original photograph was change the colours so that they were really saturated and in-your-face then added some text. Simple, my quickest poster yet.

Before

After