Posters - Mike DuBoisdifferent posters and two triptychs (consisting of a three inter connected...
Transcript of Posters - Mike DuBoisdifferent posters and two triptychs (consisting of a three inter connected...
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DEATHS FILM
1100 am ETJul 3 2015 ART
COMMENTS (2)
mdashArt design by Justin Helton for Global MerchandisingServices trade amp copy 2015 Grateful Dead Productions
Grateful Dead lsquoFare Thee Wellrsquo Meetthe Artists Behind the Limited EditionPosters
FARE THEE WELL GRATEFUL DEAD
By JOHN JURGENSEN
This weekend offers Grateful Dead fanstheir last three chances to see the band livemdashand to scoop up official concertmerchandise
At Chicagorsquos Soldier Field stadium therewill be 22 different pieces of 50thanniversary apparel available from skullshyandshylightning bolt tieshydye Tshyshirts todancing bear onesies along withtchotchkes like coffee mugs and pins in fivestyles But the swag that hardcorecollectors are salivating most over are theconcert posters sold exclusively at thevenue which in most cases are differentthan the ones hawked at last weekendrsquosDead dates in Santa Clara Calif
For the grand ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo finale inChicago the band commissioned ninedifferent posters and two triptychs(consisting of a three intershyconnectedposters) Most have been printed in limitededitions ofmdashwait for itmdash2015 and will besold for up to $70 each
ldquoIf we only had one or two designs wersquod need to print so many that it would be far lessspecialrdquo says Ted Mattes Creative Director for Global Merchandising Services Thecompany also makes merch for acts like One Direction and Motorhead and won theexclusive rights to produce gear for the Deadrsquos 50th anniversary concerts
Mattes recruited the artists who produced the posters including some who had notcreated stuff for the Dead or similar jam bands before such as UK illustrator RicheyBeckett (His poster featuring a nude maiden clutching an American flag is said to bebassist Phil Leshrsquos favorite)
ldquoThe thing that happens in this world is that the stuff for Govrsquot Mule starts to look thesame as Widespread Panic which looks the same as Furthur Irsquom not interested in thatrdquo
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Songs of the SummerAccording to Twitter
mdashArtdesign by Mike DuBois for Global MerchandisingServices trade amp copy 2015 Grateful Dead Productions
Mattes says Still the Dead inspired some of rockrsquos most famous iconography and fanswant to see those skeletons roses and flying eyeballs in their souvenirs Mattes adds ldquoAtthe end of the day itrsquos commerce And Deadheads in general are quite pickyrdquo
They can also be obsessive when it comesto Dead symbolism Mike DuBois aWoodstock NY artist who created his firstofficial design for the Dead in 1986 sayshe has been fielding nonshystop questionssince last weekrsquos premiere in Santa Claraof a holographic poster featuring an UncleSam skeleton riding down a golden road ona motorcycle Not only do fans want signedcopies they also what him to decode thesymbols such as the appearance of JerryGarciarsquos handprint on a pyramid
DuBois says he incorporated imagesinspired by about 15 different songs intothat poster assembling them ldquolike apuzzlerdquo As for the handprint itrsquos not a clueabout a secret Garcia tomb in Egypt oranything else ldquoIt just worked there in thecomposition Itrsquos completely randomrdquo hesays
For the holographic piece (printed by GoodThoughts Printing in Boulder Colo) hedrew and painted much of it by hand then
scanned it into a computer and used a digital drawing tablet to finish it His triptych whichincludes one poster for each of the three Chicago concerts took him a couple months tocomplete and was handshydrawn with pen and ink then colored using a computer
New York artist Taylor Swope first got the idea for her postermdashfeaturing the Uncle Samskeleton giving a female skeleton a ride on a Harleymdash11 years ago after watching aremastered version of ldquoThe Grateful Dead Movierdquo which included an animated version ofCycle Sam
ldquoBut I was a beginner artist at the timerdquo Swope recalls ldquoI didnrsquot know how to drawskeletons or rosesrdquo Her design skills bloomed along with her apparel company LittleHippie which specializes in licensed Dead gear for kids
She has two pieces of official apparel at the ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo concerts a childrenrsquos Tshyshirtand a womenrsquos tank top After her poster idea also got approved she had to crank it outon deadline By then she had learned a lot by sketching from books of flowers and ananatomical skeleton she had purchased ldquoThe kicker is then I had to learn how to draw amotorcyclerdquo she says
With most official products artists make money off each item they sell and pay apercentage to the Dead through a license administered by Rhino Entertainment The dealfor the ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo concert merchandise works differently The artists were paid a flatfee for their designs up front They also get to keep a small batch of ldquoartist proofsrdquo thatthey can sign and sell at a premium after the concerts are over
Justin Helton whose Status Serigraph studio is based in Knoxville Tenn has created artfor everyone from Phish to Queens of the Stone Age but he says ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo isthe biggest project he has ever worked on He contributed three tshyshirts and three posterstotal for the Santa Clara and Chicago shows
The job allowed him to create something for his musical heroes including Phishrsquos TreyAnastasio who is handling lead guitar for the Dead Helton also got to let loose with visualpalette that is very particular to the Dead ldquoA lot of bands donrsquot respond well to skeletonsItrsquos such a loaded imagerdquo he says
In his work he incorporates found imagery and old engravings created in the 19th centuryHis Chicago poster features the city skyline and a skeleton tipping a top hat as he sails offin a hotshyair balloon loaded with roses
The 34shyyearshyold artist says he put a lot of pressure on himself to perfect the illustrationsknowing theyrsquod be joining a long lineage that goes back to the lsquo60s when Bay Area artistssuch as Stanley ldquoMouserdquo Miller and Rick Griffin helped define the artform
Helton says ldquoThey had a huge hand in showing me what poster art even was when I wasyoungerrdquo
Michael Calia Erich Schwartzel
John Jurgensen Anna Russell
JenniferMaloney
Rani Molla
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1 SDCC lsquoStar Warsrsquo Panel Heavy on Nostalgia
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3 Early Reviews of lsquoGo Set a Watchmanrsquo Are Out Atticus IsNo Saint
4 SDCC See Cosplayers Dressed as lsquoMad Max Fury RoadrsquoCharacters
5 Paul Feig Tweets the First Official Photo of the NewlsquoGhostbustersrsquo Cast
6 SDCC lsquoThe Walking Deadrsquo Season 6 Trailer Hits theWeb
7 Review Revue lsquoMinionsrsquo lsquoSelflessrsquo and lsquoThe Gallowsrsquo
8 A GrownshyUprsquos Guide to lsquoMinionsrsquo
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Are AmericansWorking Less Thanthe Rest of theWorld
Should CongressAbolish the FederalDebt Limit
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3 Memo to ChinaYour Market MovesAre Doomed to Fail
4
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Articles Comments
mdashArtdesign by Taylor Swope for Global MerchandisingServices trade amp copy 2015 Grateful Dead Productions
For the latest entertainment news Follow wsjspeakeasy 397K followers
SPEAKEASY HOME PAGE
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Best Rated SUVs
10 Best Cloud Storage Providers
Top 10 Retirement Plans
2015 Luxury Cars
High Interest CD Rates
Real Estate Investing Advice
Accredited Courses Online
IRA Gold Investments
Luxury Sedan Deals
9 lsquoGo Set a Watchmanrsquo Marketing the Book WithoutHarper Lee
10 Rolling Stones Garth Brooks Fuel Surge in NorthAmerican Concert Ticket Sales
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Corporate Subscriptions
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Customer Center
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Guides
My News
Portfolio
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Topics
Video Center
Watchlist
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Advertise
Advertise Locally
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More
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News Archive
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Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Copyright Policy Data Policy Subscriber Agreement amp Terms of Use Your Ad Choices
Copyright copy2015 Dow Jones amp Company Inc All Rights Reserved
1 3 k 1 3 3
Subscribe Sign In
mdashArtdesign by Mike DuBois for Global MerchandisingServices trade amp copy 2015 Grateful Dead Productions
Mattes says Still the Dead inspired some of rockrsquos most famous iconography and fanswant to see those skeletons roses and flying eyeballs in their souvenirs Mattes adds ldquoAtthe end of the day itrsquos commerce And Deadheads in general are quite pickyrdquo
They can also be obsessive when it comesto Dead symbolism Mike DuBois aWoodstock NY artist who created his firstofficial design for the Dead in 1986 sayshe has been fielding nonshystop questionssince last weekrsquos premiere in Santa Claraof a holographic poster featuring an UncleSam skeleton riding down a golden road ona motorcycle Not only do fans want signedcopies they also what him to decode thesymbols such as the appearance of JerryGarciarsquos handprint on a pyramid
DuBois says he incorporated imagesinspired by about 15 different songs intothat poster assembling them ldquolike apuzzlerdquo As for the handprint itrsquos not a clueabout a secret Garcia tomb in Egypt oranything else ldquoIt just worked there in thecomposition Itrsquos completely randomrdquo hesays
For the holographic piece (printed by GoodThoughts Printing in Boulder Colo) hedrew and painted much of it by hand then
scanned it into a computer and used a digital drawing tablet to finish it His triptych whichincludes one poster for each of the three Chicago concerts took him a couple months tocomplete and was handshydrawn with pen and ink then colored using a computer
New York artist Taylor Swope first got the idea for her postermdashfeaturing the Uncle Samskeleton giving a female skeleton a ride on a Harleymdash11 years ago after watching aremastered version of ldquoThe Grateful Dead Movierdquo which included an animated version ofCycle Sam
ldquoBut I was a beginner artist at the timerdquo Swope recalls ldquoI didnrsquot know how to drawskeletons or rosesrdquo Her design skills bloomed along with her apparel company LittleHippie which specializes in licensed Dead gear for kids
She has two pieces of official apparel at the ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo concerts a childrenrsquos Tshyshirtand a womenrsquos tank top After her poster idea also got approved she had to crank it outon deadline By then she had learned a lot by sketching from books of flowers and ananatomical skeleton she had purchased ldquoThe kicker is then I had to learn how to draw amotorcyclerdquo she says
With most official products artists make money off each item they sell and pay apercentage to the Dead through a license administered by Rhino Entertainment The dealfor the ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo concert merchandise works differently The artists were paid a flatfee for their designs up front They also get to keep a small batch of ldquoartist proofsrdquo thatthey can sign and sell at a premium after the concerts are over
Justin Helton whose Status Serigraph studio is based in Knoxville Tenn has created artfor everyone from Phish to Queens of the Stone Age but he says ldquoFare Thee Wellrdquo isthe biggest project he has ever worked on He contributed three tshyshirts and three posterstotal for the Santa Clara and Chicago shows
The job allowed him to create something for his musical heroes including Phishrsquos TreyAnastasio who is handling lead guitar for the Dead Helton also got to let loose with visualpalette that is very particular to the Dead ldquoA lot of bands donrsquot respond well to skeletonsItrsquos such a loaded imagerdquo he says
In his work he incorporates found imagery and old engravings created in the 19th centuryHis Chicago poster features the city skyline and a skeleton tipping a top hat as he sails offin a hotshyair balloon loaded with roses
The 34shyyearshyold artist says he put a lot of pressure on himself to perfect the illustrationsknowing theyrsquod be joining a long lineage that goes back to the lsquo60s when Bay Area artistssuch as Stanley ldquoMouserdquo Miller and Rick Griffin helped define the artform
Helton says ldquoThey had a huge hand in showing me what poster art even was when I wasyoungerrdquo
Michael Calia Erich Schwartzel
John Jurgensen Anna Russell
JenniferMaloney
Rani Molla
Whats This
1 SDCC lsquoStar Warsrsquo Panel Heavy on Nostalgia
2 SDCC lsquoGame of Thronesrsquo Director Told Obama aCharacter lsquoIs Deader Than Deadrsquo
3 Early Reviews of lsquoGo Set a Watchmanrsquo Are Out Atticus IsNo Saint
4 SDCC See Cosplayers Dressed as lsquoMad Max Fury RoadrsquoCharacters
5 Paul Feig Tweets the First Official Photo of the NewlsquoGhostbustersrsquo Cast
6 SDCC lsquoThe Walking Deadrsquo Season 6 Trailer Hits theWeb
7 Review Revue lsquoMinionsrsquo lsquoSelflessrsquo and lsquoThe Gallowsrsquo
8 A GrownshyUprsquos Guide to lsquoMinionsrsquo
Popular Now
Ellen Pao Is Out asCEO of Reddit
Are AmericansWorking Less Thanthe Rest of theWorld
Should CongressAbolish the FederalDebt Limit
Bunch of GrapesSells for Record$8200
Show 5 More
1
2
3 Memo to ChinaYour Market MovesAre Doomed to Fail
4
5
Articles Comments
mdashArtdesign by Taylor Swope for Global MerchandisingServices trade amp copy 2015 Grateful Dead Productions
For the latest entertainment news Follow wsjspeakeasy 397K followers
SPEAKEASY HOME PAGE
SPONSORED LINKS
Best Retirement Investments
Best Rated SUVs
10 Best Cloud Storage Providers
Top 10 Retirement Plans
2015 Luxury Cars
High Interest CD Rates
Real Estate Investing Advice
Accredited Courses Online
IRA Gold Investments
Luxury Sedan Deals
9 lsquoGo Set a Watchmanrsquo Marketing the Book WithoutHarper Lee
10 Rolling Stones Garth Brooks Fuel Surge in NorthAmerican Concert Ticket Sales
Wall Street JournalFacebookTwitter LinkedInGoogle+YouTubePodcasts GooglePlay AppStoreBack to Top
Subscribe
Why Subscribe
WSJ+
Corporate Subscriptions
Apps
Professor Journal
Student Journal
Customer Service
Customer Center
Live Help
Redesign Guided Tour
Tools amp Features
Emails amp Alerts
Guides
My News
Portfolio
RSS Feeds
Topics
Video Center
Watchlist
Ads
Advertise
Advertise Locally
Commercial Real Estate Ads
Place a Classified Ad
Sell Your Business
Sell Your Home
Recruitment amp Career Ads
More
Conferences
Content Partnerships
Corrections
Jobs at WSJ
Make Time
News Archive
Register for Free
Reprints
Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Copyright Policy Data Policy Subscriber Agreement amp Terms of Use Your Ad Choices
Copyright copy2015 Dow Jones amp Company Inc All Rights Reserved
1 3 k 1 3 3
Subscribe Sign In
mdashArtdesign by Taylor Swope for Global MerchandisingServices trade amp copy 2015 Grateful Dead Productions
For the latest entertainment news Follow wsjspeakeasy 397K followers
SPEAKEASY HOME PAGE
SPONSORED LINKS
Best Retirement Investments
Best Rated SUVs
10 Best Cloud Storage Providers
Top 10 Retirement Plans
2015 Luxury Cars
High Interest CD Rates
Real Estate Investing Advice
Accredited Courses Online
IRA Gold Investments
Luxury Sedan Deals
9 lsquoGo Set a Watchmanrsquo Marketing the Book WithoutHarper Lee
10 Rolling Stones Garth Brooks Fuel Surge in NorthAmerican Concert Ticket Sales
Wall Street JournalFacebookTwitter LinkedInGoogle+YouTubePodcasts GooglePlay AppStoreBack to Top
Subscribe
Why Subscribe
WSJ+
Corporate Subscriptions
Apps
Professor Journal
Student Journal
Customer Service
Customer Center
Live Help
Redesign Guided Tour
Tools amp Features
Emails amp Alerts
Guides
My News
Portfolio
RSS Feeds
Topics
Video Center
Watchlist
Ads
Advertise
Advertise Locally
Commercial Real Estate Ads
Place a Classified Ad
Sell Your Business
Sell Your Home
Recruitment amp Career Ads
More
Conferences
Content Partnerships
Corrections
Jobs at WSJ
Make Time
News Archive
Register for Free
Reprints
Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Copyright Policy Data Policy Subscriber Agreement amp Terms of Use Your Ad Choices
Copyright copy2015 Dow Jones amp Company Inc All Rights Reserved
1 3 k 1 3 3
Subscribe Sign In