Copy of Jay Ryans Work

When doing my research I used this book to help me have a wider idea of different styles and approaches i could take for  gig poster. Whilst looking i found Jay Ryans work (who i have already researched for successful gig poster designers), and a particular piece with a style i thought would be effective in portraying Fleet Foxes style of music. 

The poster was created for the Decembrists by Jay Ryan for the 13th of February 2007 in Knust, Hamburg, Germany. It was hand made by himself with 5 different silk screens on manila cover weight paper. I think that the more hand-drawn quality of his work would be a key aspect in my Fleet Foxes poster as it has a 'natural' feel to it, which is a theme used throughout their songs. 

This poster in particular captures that idea so i wanted to do a copy of it, to allow me to get a grasp of its colour combinations and also the layout.

I started by doing a free hand copy off the poster using an HB pencil. I photocopied the poster so i could try and keep my copy as accurate as possible and then a piece of paper the rough size of the piece. I then started to sketch the poster.

This is the final version of the outline. I decided that instead of doing a print screen for the copy I would just try and understand the structure of it, constructing it using photoshop instead.

I scanned the outline onto my computer where i placed it into photoshop, altering the levels to get a defined edge on the outline and creating a clearer white. (I first changed the threshold ('Image', 'adjustments', then 'threshold') of the image but this made it too harsh with some detail being lost and some becoming too prominent. Changing the levels worked better) I then changed the threshold as it now worked more effectively. This then allowed me to use the magic wand tool to select the white and remove it from the image.

I then created a new layer and placed it underneath the outline layer for the background colours. I used the paint brush tool, and the colour picker tool to alter the colours to what they needed to be and then place them onto the background.

I then created a new layer for each colour added, to help alter them if i needed to easily. I started with the yellow tones in the poster, changing the levels to get an accurate hue. I then did this with each colour for the whole poster.

After getting as close as possible to the colours as i could, I selected all the layers so that I could change the opacity of all the colours. This would help make the hues look more natural and not as bright or striking as they were.

I chose to keep both the gradual darkening of the cliff background the same opacity as well as the outlines. This helped keep the strength of the poster like it is in the original.

The last thing i altered was the canvas size, where I took in the edges slightly to complete my copy.

Final version of copy