Methane Studios, based in Atlanta, is the team of Mark McDevitt (pictured here, left) and Robert Lee (right). For the past several years they've handled a great deal of tour and gig-poster work for bands like Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam, Beck, moe., and Wilco.
-
The two Ohio-born artists moved down to Georgia in 1992 and opened up their studio in 1998. They began by specializing in screenprinted posters and have subsequently expanded to include CD art, packaging, logo design, T-shirt design, branding, and brochures. Lee also has handled a lot of work for NASCAR licensees.
-
Both McDevitt and Lee attended Columbus (OH) College of Art & Design where they majored in illustration. In 2006, they were hired by Sony to design the official poster for the Pearl Jam tour that year. Some of their most spellbinding work has been for Dave Matthews also during that time.
-
Here's Robert Lee discussing the Matthews poster for gigs in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (pictured above):
-
"The last leg of the tour was described to me by DMB as "All Roads Lead to Home," so that's the imagery I played with. We did sooooo many different shows for them in all different cities across the nation, so, yeah, they are definitely a traveling band. They have the same kind of following as Phish and other jam bands--a true dedicated audience who follows them from city to city in some cases.
-
"Originally I had an electric guitar in the piece, but Dave uses--primarily--an acoustic, so I changed it up a bit. I guess the intertwining roads feel like some of the music jam bands play, with a lot of twists and turns going in different directions but ending up at the same destination.
-
"The last show of the tour was Charlottesville, VA, which is Dave's home town. I guess the tour traveled many roads and through many towns but the final destination was always going to be "HOME."
-
McDevitt adds, "We have a two-part design process. First, we come up with a concept. Second, we do everything we can to make it look good! For us, it's enjoyable when a good concept turns into a successful design, and especially when the type and illustration work together. With regard to the Dave Matthews pieces, they sometimes ask us for something specific but most of the time they give us free range. I think it helps that they let us do what we're good at and the results have been the proof. We usually provide about 3-4 sketches for them to look at, and most of the time they approve one of those. Once a sketch is approved, it usually takes 4-10 hours to illustrate and design the art. The printing can take 2-3 days depending on the amount of colors and editions of the print. Sometimes it comes right down to the hour--when we personally have to speed over to the venue and make delivery."
-
You can see much of Methane's recent work, and learn about their history on their website, www.methanestudios.com. Some gems from their earlier work also were portrayed in my and Dennis King's ART OF MODERN ROCK (Chronicle Books, 2004). In addition, there's a fine interview with McDevitt at www.daveposters.com/articles/int_methane.htm.
-
-
No comments:
Post a Comment