Jefferson Wood

Jefferson Wood
Born Jefferson Daniel Wood
July 6, 1973
San Bernardino, California
Nationality American
Education Savannah College of Art and Design
Known for Graphic design, Poster art
Awards Pollstar CIC first, 2004, 2009

Jefferson Wood (born July 6, 1973) is an American artist and one of the leading designers of concert posters and admats for the music industry. Wood is closely identified with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Sublime, George Jones and Todd Rundgren, designing some of their best known posters. His posters are featured in many films and documentaries, including the Runnin' Down a Dream (film)[1] As a comic book artist, his work appeared regularly in Image Comics Big Bang Comics and other titles in the 1990s[2]

Education

Wood studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design where he received a B.A. in 1995. He was the first in the world to graduate with a degree in Sequential art.[3] Wood studied under comic book illustrator Bo Hampton (who himself was a student under Will Eisner and Al Williamson).

Posters

Wood's illustration style is somewhat unusual compared to other poster designers. Consisting of brush line work and cross hatch shading. He is ambidextrous and can simultaneously pencil with both hands at the same time, or ink with one hand and pencil with the other.

Wood does not make his posters available to the general public. They are screen printed in small quantities and only made available to promoters for the advertising of live concert events. The majority of his posters are displayed and subsequently damaged by the elements. Because of the rarity of examples of his work in excellent condition, many of his posters have sold for thousands of dollars. In 2008, a high grade Tom Petty poster sold on eBay for $18,225.
An underground economy has grown out of this situation, that has resulted in people removing his posters often after only hanging up for a few hours for the purpose of re-selling. In response to this some promoters have used wheat paste to permanently adhere a poster to the sides of buildings. A collector chiseled around a wheat pasted poster and removed a portion of a wall to retrieve it.[4]

Awards and accolades

The poster that won the 2004 Pollstar competition.
The poster that won the 2009 Pollstar competition.

1st place Best Poster of the Year in the first ever Pollstar Concert Industry Consortium (CIC) poster contest (in 2004) with his poster for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.[5]
That same poster was ranked #18 best rock poster of all time by Billboard Magazine.[6]
His poster for The B-52s was ranked #1 Best Poster Of The Year in the Pollstar CIC poster competition in 2009.[7]

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Jefferson Wood Big Bang Comic on comics.org
  3. ↑ Bio on Wood's website
  4. ↑ Interview on LA Weekly
  5. ↑ Pollstar CIC Archive on internet
  6. ↑ The list of Top 25 Rock Posters by Billboard Magazine
  7. ↑ Pollstar CIC 2009 Website

External links