Jimi Hendrix 1970
When you think of a famous historical event where does your mind go? Mine went to Jimi Hendrix, known as the greatest guitarist of all time according to Rolling Stone Magazine. There were many days that came to mind in his life, but I chose September 18, 1970. This day is important in particular because it's the day he died. Jimi died at the young age of 27, making him one of the members of the infamous 27 club. I wanted to take a sad day in music and turn it into something more celebratory of his life and accomplishments. The poster was meant to communicate both the darkness surrounding his death that consumed a lot of people in the music world, but also the light and happiness that his music brought to people. Feel free to listen and be inspired as I was by the infamous Hendrix.
PROCESS
This is the original poster that was submitted. The colors chosen were to reflect the 1960s and the period of time where psychedelic music first took root. Jimi Hendrix was a very large contributor to this, participating in different drugs at the time. There were even rumors as far as Jimi cutting his forehead and then putting LSD in his bandana so it could be absorbed through the cut. This was laid to rest by many people however saying that they never saw a cut on his forehead.
Original 2018
This is the new revised poster after making some adjustments based on suggestion. The rainbow coming out of the guitar was altered at the bottom so more of the green was showing and the blue has a smoother contour. The guitar was also enlarged to hold the text better and the typeface was changed to fit better with the type found on posters in the 60s. There is also the subtle change of brightness in color in the repeated faces of Jimi to make them stand out against the similar background colors.
Revised 2021
Faces of Jimi Hendrix
Dark Purple. This is the color that represents Jimi when he is playing his music and he is in that state of mind. This is when he feels the most whole, even with all the other faces around him playing a factor in his life and how he felt. It also matches the dark purple background that represents the darkness and sadness around Jimi's death.
Red. This color represents the anger that Jimi was under when he was drinking. A lot of people would say that he was a completely different person when he was drinking. This is why this face is tilted closest to the purple, because it was almost like a different side to him that people didn't see often.
Orange. This color represents the creativity he felt in his music. A lot of times he would take drugs before he played so he could use his trips to inspire him while he was playing.
Yellow. This color represents the happiness that Jimi feels in his life. This is the smallest face in the poster because of the fact that a lot of his other emotions and fame would overshadow his happiness.
Green. This color represents his growth in fame and also the money that he was making. This also overshadowed most of his life and career in music which is why it is the biggest face in the poster.
Light Blue. This color represents the somberness around Jimi and his death, but it also represents the calmness that Jimi felt at times in his life. Whether that calmness was through his music and playing for fans or if he was just by himself playing, or if he was just with friends relaxing.
