Run-DMC Brochure

Objective

Create a tri-fold brochure on a specific topic, in this case, Run-DMC. This piece includes use of typography techniques and basic digital publishing knowledge.

Run-DMC was started in the 1980’s in Queens, NY by Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and later joined by their DJ, Jam Master Jay. The group released 7 studio albums, toured with Aerosmith, and paved the way for the DJ/Rapper relationship in Hip Hop. Unfortunately, in 2002 Jam Master Jay was shot and killed which lead to the retirement of Run-DMC.

Iconography

Run-DMC was known for having iconic styles with their bucket hats, DMC’s glasses, and their partnership with Addidas. I wanted to capture their style with my illustrations and overall feel of the brochure.

Color Palette

The Run-DMC logo is another very iconic logo in music. The red and black colors with the bold typeface works very well together. I wanted to keep this color scheme when creating the brochure.

Quote Typography

About this Piece

Use my typography skills to create a powerful image based on some of my personal favorite quotes. A lot of these quotes come from the music that I listen to.

Typography

To start off I first look for typography options that will work with the quote and good font pairing options.

Style

I choose the style of the poster based on the song, album artwork, music video (if there is one), and the general artists brand.

Leave a Comment on Increase Your Market as a Hip Hop Artist

Increase Your Market as a Hip Hop Artist

In this blog post I will tell you how to increase your market as an upcoming hip hop artist. In a world full of people that do the exact same thing as you, it is an effort to stand out and even just be noticed. You don’t want to feel like all of your hard work is for nothing do you? Read along to find out how you can be noticed and get the recognition that you deserve.

Social Media Interaction

Whether you have 50 followers or 50,000, you need to be interacting with as much of them as you can. A simple reply or like should get the job done because people like to be acknowledged. If you want to go the extra mile, try striking up a conversation with your followers to keep them engaged. Do these things often and you will see growth on your social media platforms.

Advertise and Promote

First of all let me make something clear, advertising is different than promotion. To advertise means that you are buying some kind of space and promotion is to constantly push your content which costs nothing but time and effort.

There are different ways you can advertise:

Ads on specific websites like YouTube and Google
Ads on social media
Ads on services like Spotify

Social media advertisements are huge nowadays, I highly recommend this option for advertising because sites like Facebook will allow you to really pick out your target audience from age, interests, location, etc. There are many artists that I have found because of an ad they ran on Facebook and now I am a fan of their music.

Eye Catching Album Art or Promotional Graphics

A lot of people might feel that the music is important enough to grab attention but that might not be true. Some people may dismiss your music if it has weak graphics without even listening to it. Whether it is conscious or not people gravitate to album covers or promotional pieces that look really good.

If you have weak graphics then you might want to think about learning how to create better artwork. Another option is to find someone who specializes in this kind of thing, a Graphic Designer, like myself. Check out some of the album redesigns I did over time and see for yourself!

Don’t Go Unnoticed

Leave a Comment on Social Media Influences in Hip Hop

Social Media Influences in Hip Hop

Hip Hop has been around since the 70’s and has many various eras of change. In the digital age that we are currently in, social media now plays a major part in hip hop. Artists and other media outlets can use social channels as a way to gain a following and promote certain products.

More and more artist are opting to release their music independent and social media creates a way for these artists to share their music and become widespread without having to be signed to a major record label.

Record labels will also want their artists to have a good social media presence in order to better sell music. Some artists in my opinion are not even that talented but have ridiculous social media marketing that blows up which makes record labels excited because they can easily capitalize on them.

Examples of Good Social Media Marketing

KXNG Crooked

One of my personal favorite rappers, KXNG Crooked, is really good when it comes to playing the social media game. His twitter page gets really solid engagement because of the content he has to offer.

One of the best things that Crooked does on his twitter page is ask questions and be interactive with the hip hop community. He actively talks the lingo with his followers and has real discussions/debates about certain topics.

On This Date in Hip Hop Instagram Page

Another really good example is an instagram page titles “On This Date in Hip Hop.” This page relives classic and new important event in hip hop history. Anything from album releases, awards, etc. are posted almost daily.

This page also does community polled awards called “InstaGrammys”, around the same time as the real Grammys, in which the community will vote on who they believe should win. This really gets people involved because everyone wants to voice their opinion and this gives a way for their favorite artists to be recognized even if the music industry won’t acknowledge them.

Green Day Revolution Radio Psychedelic Poster

Psychedelic Tour Posters

Objective

For this project I wanted to bring back the 60’s psychedelic styled posters for concert flyers. I took a look at a bunch of inspiration from old posters from the 1960’s so that I could get an idea of what these pieces should look like. I really like the fact that this style can be applied to modern artists for a tour poster.

Strictly Strange 17 Tour

Tech N9ne and his crew at Strange Music are launching their Strictly Strange Tour again in 2017. I created an illustration of Tech N9ne in Adobe Illustrator first then brought it into Photoshop to create the final poster. I then created the text and warped it accordingly like the other posters.

Savageville Tour

For this piece I first grabbed an image of the rapper Hopsin and brought it into Adobe Photoshop to edit it to give it that psychedelic effect. I put a posterized effect on it to give it a “comic book” feel, then overlayed a gradient map over it to add the pop of color. After that I had the space to add the text and warp it around Hopsin’s body.

Revolution Radio Tour

When Creating these posters I first wanted an illustration of the members of Green Day, so I went into Adobe Illustrator and created a black and white digital illustration. I then brought the illustration into Photoshop where I created the final piece. In Photoshop I wrote the text out that would be on the poster and warped it to look like the classic psychedelic posters. I also added a minor effect over the background to enhance the final product.

Need Something Animated?

Illustrations of People

Illustration of Green Day Frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong

Overview

Most of the illustrations here are musicians, this is because I love music and find listening to music very inspirational for creativity. Sometimes I will just be listening to a specific artist and just get the urge to illustration them in my free time. Doing these illustrations is something I very much enjoy because it gives me the freedom to be creative and listen to music at the same time.

Outline

First step I take is to use the pen tool in Adobe Illustrator and create a basic outline of the subject. I make sure I outline everything that needs to be filled in with color. It is also important to make sure every path is closed.