Let's take a look at the last of three posters I was involved with for "Weird Al" Yankovic's just-concluded Strings Attached tour! This is one I'm really proud of (I'm proud of them all, but you know what I mean), and I'm even happier that the venue for this one happened to be San Diego. I just missed this concert as it was held two weeks after the last day of Comic-Con! So close!
For this poster, we knew that we wanted to go for an "Another One Rides the Bus" image, so we made the decision to draw it in profile rather than vertically. I found this image of a VW bus cross-section that was very helpful in determining what it would look like.
Above you can see the sleeve artwork for the Dutch release of the original 45 - it's the only version with cover art, it's really tough to find, and it's really bizarre just to begin with (the image is of my copy, because there aren't even any good-quality pictures of it online that I know of). I wanted to do something in a similar vein, capturing the madcap quality of this version.
I contacted my friend (and Black Terror contributor) Mark Welser about working on the poster. Mark's got a very detailed style and he's a big Weird Al fan as well, so I knew that he could do a great job with the art. We talked about different ideas for what we wanted the final image to look like and what all we wanted to squeeze in there.
A little while later, he came back with some of these images. We both agreed on having Dr. Demento be the bus driver (it was only fair). Obviously, I knew right away that this poster was going to be everything I was hoping it would be.
Up near the front of the bus, you can see...well, both me and Mark. I've made it onto an official piece of "Weird Al" Yankovic merchandise. Truly, this is a great moment in my life.
Here's the inked version of the poster, in all of its detail and glory. Mark fit a ton of references into the image, including the Hooded Avenger from the Weird Al Show, one of Al's tour managers (and the guy who coordinated the whole project), a hamburger from Big Edna's Burger World, and quite a few references to the actual song.
I took it upon myself to design the bus ticket, which I hoped would bring everything together, and would serve as a good place to list tour information. I used an actual ticket stub and swapped out info that you might find on bus tickets from years past.
We had initially considered including the ticket as is, but Mark wisely decided to take the original image and draw it in a way that matched everything else.
And here's the final version with everything included! The coloring, I thought, really captured a MAD Magazine-like feeling that complemented the line work really well. Al is, of course, at the back of the bus (as in the song) and properly highlighted.
For a while, we were also considering going with a blue color scheme. I think the red and yellow version was the right one to decide on, but I do like the blue as well. After the show, we had some copies of both printed out (and because it only uses two colors, I was able to get the blue version screen printed). Are they for sale? Why, yes, they are! You can find both versions, and the other tour posters I worked on, in my new online store.
Now that I've finished taking an expanded look at my three posters, let me just state (as if it weren't obvious) that this was just thrilling to work on over the course of a few months. I'm a huge fan of Al and his work, so to get to be a small part of a big tour was a true honor. I owe a lot of thanks to Jeff McComsey, Duane Redhead and Mark Welser for helping me to make this all a reality.
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