JUMP TO SOLUTION
The prompt:
Design an 18×24 poster for hip-hop artist Mavi appearing at the Capitol Hill Block Party
To my delight and surprise, I was assigned an artist that I turned out to really dig. I listened to Mavi’s entire discography on my way home from school last Friday and let me tell you, he’s a rapper after my own heart. The line that won me over needs a little context: Mavi is telling a story about a woman who asks him what kind of songs he writes. He replies, “The kind you gotta read, baby.” He’s right.
There’s no way you can absorb Mavi’s entire message just by passively listening to his music. Part of it is his speed. He’s definitely from the Kendrick Lamar school of hip-hop, and not the narcotized mumbly school so much in favor today. But there are also really interesting layers of meaning in his lyrics, layers that can be exposed by actually reading them.
Mavi’s visual aesthetic is earthy and warm. His recent album covers are drawn or painted, so I think he values a sort of arts-and-crafts (in the William Morris way, not the Bob Ross way) approach when it comes to his visuals. That was good for me because I love drawing and whenever I can make drawing my homework, I do. He also has a thing for bees. I kept seeing bees on his Instagram account. So I wanted to get bees in there.
My team in History of Graphic Design is studying Art Nouveau for our end-of-quarter presentation. I’m really digging Alphonse Mucha and Jules Cheret, and my first couple of sketches were my interpretation of their lines.
But it didn’t feel right. It looked way to much like a comic book. I realized that I really need to work on turning my sketches into finished pieces. But by this time it was like Wednesday night and I needed something achievable. So I started thinking about Koloman Moser and the whole Viennese Jugend scene. I have an awesome Moser book from the library, and I came across this fairly iconic cover:
Here is my solution, inspired by Koloman Moser and Jugendstile:
The reference photo of Mavi that I used to paint his image is was taken by Wyeth Collins for Pitchfork, 2022.