This is a magazine spread and cover design for a feature of The Oh Hellos in Rolling Stone. The Oh Hellos are a contemporary folk band featuring a brother/sister duo and an ever changing ensemble of musicians backing them up on a wide variety of string, brass, and woodwind instruments.
Above Image: Magazine Cover
When approaching this project I was first a bit stumped by the pure lack of photos available to work with. I knew most magazines feature photos, especially on the cover, but eventually had to shift my approach to be more illustrative. Starting with the interior, I did a pen and ink drawing of the main duo and then a digital illustration for the cover.
Below Image: Magazine Spread
Above Image: Headline Type
The color scheme was inspired by their first two albums Euros and Noctos which both use rich background colors and a gold circle. When listening to their music, they consistently make me feel as if I’m traveling through middle earth, so I used that as inspiration for my approach to the headline typography. The patterned background was based on folky tapestries which often feature a single line filling an entire page while weaving and winding its way around itself. The pattern was created with a paint marker, then scanned and overlaid with gold.
Below Image: Background Pattern
Above Image: Interior Illustration
The illustrations, like the color scheme, were inspired by their first two albums. Each album features a detailed line drawing of either a crane or a firefly, so I when I needed to use illustrations I started there. The interior illustration was done first on paper with pen and ink. While the process was fun and a good break from my normal workflow, I was introduced to a lot of new complexities when trying to incorporate it with spread digitally. In order to keep the project from going on for longer than it could, I shifted my approach for the second illustration, doing it entirely on my iPad in ProCreate.
Below Image: Cover Illustration
