Austra

Continuing with the band posters theme, here's the one I did for the band Austra, easily one of my favorite groups right now. I'd rank their debut album, last year's "Feel It Break", in my Top 5 (or Top 2) of 2011 without question. The initial idea for this poster (the blood-soaked hair), as seen in the thumbnails, was inspired by their song "Trip" which has some great, evocative imagery in its lyrics. Once I decided on that, I sought out reference of singer Katie Stelmanis, ultimately working from a still taken from the music video for "Lose It."

Thumbnails:

RAW pencil illustration:

Photoshop explorations:

Final image:

I love the idea of the blood-drenched hair and the nose-bleed being separate events, the latter being a last-minute idea that came from the still I was looking at. I don't know if that theme comes across or not, but if it does, hopefully it adds some intrigue to the piece. The various debris and typography that frames the image was an attempt at a.) acknowledging the title of Austra's album ("Feel It Break") and b.) drawing the eye back to Katie's face, which should be the visual anchor, despite the downward motion of the overall illustration.