** Bronze Award Winner - Society of Illustrators of LA 58
WILLIE: LIFE & SONGS OF AN AMERICAN OUTLAW (Willie Nelson: American Outlaw)
I was humbled and honored to be asked by Blackbird to create the art and branding for this once in a lifetime concert event for one of my personal musical heroes, the legend, Willie Nelson. As a lifelong fan, I’ve drawn Willie many times over the years and was beyond stoked to dig in on this project. I really wanted to highlight the iconic nature of Willie’s braids, bandanna and hat in these pieces and use the negative space between the braids for concert info and art. Additionally I wanted to include Willie’s 50 year old guitar “Trigger” as a personification of Willie himself. The outer border was also hand drawn based on Willie’s actual guitar strap. The final art was created by a multi-step process, mixing traditional pencil and ink drawings and washes and then digitized and colored to create separations suitable for print. Type design and layout is then done digitally using Illustrator and Photoshop.
Art Direction, Custom Art, Illustration, Graphic Design, Type Setting and layout for Key Art, Advertising, web and social media, motion, on-stage graphics, and merch (Including 2 Sold out posters, Bandana and T-shirts).
Client: Blackbird Presents
Additional Art Direction and thanks to: Rob Rauffer
Gig Posters beautifully printed by the amazing Half and Half
More from the Blackbird site and about the show here :
This once-in-a-lifetime concert event took place Saturday, January 12, 2019 at 7PM CT at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. This historic event honored living legend Willie Nelson and featured his greatest hits performed by today’s biggest superstars. Willie: Life & Songs Of An American Outlaw featured star-studded performances by Willie Nelson, Alison Krauss, The Avett Brothers, Bobby Bare, Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, Emmylou Harris, Eric Church, George Strait, Jack Johnson, Jamey Johnson, Jimmy Buffett, John Mellencamp, Kris Kristofferson, Lee Ann Womack, Lukas Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Margo Price, Micah Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff, Norah Jones and The Little Willies, Ray Benson, Sheryl Crow, Steve Earle, Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks, and Vince Gill. This major event will was filmed and recorded for a major broadcast special slated to air on A&E Network in 2019.
Bottom Photo Credit: (Photo: Andrew Nelles / Tennessean.com)