2012 Great South Bay Music Festival Mermaid

2012 Great South Bay Music Festival Poster

(If you are interested in a copy, please contact me. There may be some printed copies available)

2012 rolled around and the organizer/producer of the festival wanted a NEW Mermaid and a new look for the poster. We wanted to do something a little different and new, but again, the problem is always that the image and look must be easily adaptable to the variety of sizes we need. 

This was a tough one - I had an entirely different idea and I really LOVED it (and still do). It's a little conceptual, but, to me, in the land of poster design, it wasn't that much of a stretch.

But that one didn't fly...so, back to the drawing board. We moved her around, re-proportioned the festival and the water, but he felt he need to see more people at the festival (making the festival itself more important). 

Some more sketching and we/I came up with a "cartouche" style (is that the right word?) that would stand alone with the name and date and the schedule and other info would go on an area outside the scene.

Oooh THAT mermaid's face is baaaaad. I REALLY liked the other mermaid, so I photoshopped her into this new look.

See? Much better.

With a few revisions - adding a banner at the top, adjusting the banner at the bottom and making it a little prettier and flowy-er. and here's the drawing on the 140lb hot press Arches watercolor paper.

It's sort of light. Can you see it? 

Here it is close up

I like to play with the mermaid's jewelry. Earrings, necklaces and bracelets are so much fun.

I want you to notice that there are NOT hoards of people at the festival.

I love that bird (common tern, for the curious).

This is 21" wide, by 14.5" high and most of those little teeny people are 3/4" high or less. 

Watercolor, colored pencil and ink marker on Arches 140lb hot press paper.

Finally coloring in! The best part. 

I like to borrow from the past mermaids and then add something new. This mermaid is playing the guitar that the 2011 one is riding through the sky.

And, just to cut to the chase, here's the finished piece. Hand lettered. I would like to point out the billions of people in this scene. Every time I showed him the progress he would say - "More people! I want people to know it's a festival! That it's a happening place!" O.M.G. This was a really intense piece.

I had to buy stronger reading glasses after this. 

There are some really fun little people in there - a strong man, a hula hooper, a guy on stilts...lots of people.

As usual I had to scan and piece together in photoshop.

More borrowing: In the finished poster I used the sky from the first painting and the braiding and corner pieces from the second. 

Overall, I think the mermaid in this one is my second most favorite. So far, which is your favorite?

Next up: Mermaid 2013.

The 2011 Mermaid for Great South Bay Music Festival

Great South Bay Music Festival Poster 2011

(Please let me know if you are interested in purchasing - copies are in storage somewhere.)

While I'm working on this year's mermaid, I thought I'd share the making of her "sisters." 

In 2011 the festival organizer wanted a new mermaid. We would still use the original for "branding" and for general ID, but a new mermaid every year would give new interest moving forward. I was able to use the same sky and most of the festival grounds, but I had to eliminate the carnival altogether and add a larger stage and ADD MORE PEOPLE. Teeny tiny people.

We went through a number of drawings and ideas. We liked this one, with the floating guitar and the mermaid giving the peace sign, the best.

The original sketch idea (l), and the working drawing of the merm and her flying seahorse guitar (r).

Close up of the merm's face.

Finished merm on guitar with seahorse and bubble holes and moonshell head.

Corner pieces of the border.

New, bigger, badder, gianourmous stage added on left...and more people.

I drew/painted the new stage and new people and placed them in photoshop. The new mermaid, braided border, corner pieces and banner were also painted separately and assembled in photoshop.

Materials: For the mermaid and the festival scene, I use Arches 140lb HOT press paper and a combination of watercolors, colored pencils, and pitt pen. I feel that it allows me to get more detailed,  though I have to give up the lovely grainy textures of the cold press paper. The sky, however, was painted with watercolor on Arches 140lb cold press paper. The moon (in the original painting) was also painted on cold press paper.

Coming soon: 2012 Mermaid.