Methane Studios Creative Process

Methane Studios is located in Sharpsburg, Georgia. The studio was co-found by Mark McDevitt and Robert Lee in 1998. They make illustration and silkscreen prints. They are now world-widely known studio printing unique style prints. They sell the prints online and offline. They do not own a personal offline shop, but they sell prints in various wholesale shops. McDevitt and Lee also placed their award-winning prints in “Wilco, Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, Rilo Kiley and others” ("Artist"). They emphasized that all of the process are “hand-on and personal,” because they actually don’t use a computer in any print process. The first process in Methane Studios is sketching on paper with pencil. The artist put a transparency on top of the sketched
paper, and then use a black marker and trace the image on transparency paper. There was a photo of McDevitt and Lee checking the illustration on transparency paper by holding it up in light. I thought the reason behind tracing the illustration with black marker on transparent paper was to check the design with bold lines since the pencil sketch does not have a clean industrial look. Based on the observation of the photos, I think the actual reason is that because they don’t use computer to print the illustration in black chunks on transparent paper, they need a solid black blocks to expose the screen with UV lights. The next thing after they actually finish printing, they check the colors very carefully. “Each color is applied, one at a time, and checked vigorously for accuracy to maintain consistency on every poster” ("Our Story"). Once they finish their prints, they compare the color on print with color swatch chips. Comparing the color with color chips are the step that I never tried. First reason would be that I do not have a color chip set, and secondly, I valued the illustration more than colors. As I observed Methane Studios, it seems like they value colors more than anything else. The colors have to be exactly how they want it to be. One of the way applying this technique would be collecting several color swatch chips in Walmart or The Home Depot in remodeling house section.
Mainly Methane Studios deals with prints.
Other than prints they did not post any work beside it. But there was something interesting facts in their website. There are five different categories of prints they offer: Art, Gig, Dave Matthews, Tea Towels, and Greeting Cards. In Art Print section, they posted all kinds of screen prints. Some of them have completely straight lines with neat illustration that looks like they were done by computer and some of them looks cozy that it literally seems to be done by hands. In Gig section, all of the prints have unusual titles, such as “Blitzen Trapper – Truth” or “Lorde –Bottle.” Gig prints are the pieces that Mark and Robert made by the inspiration by the bands around the world. Because of that fact, the prints look completely different from any other sections. The colors are much more vibrant and colorful, and the illustration looks expressive by the title or the mood of the band. I never heard of the most of the bands in Gig Prints, but I was able to see what kinds of music and album each of them makes. Dave Matthews section seems to have a similar look like in Gig Prints, and that is because it is an American band called DMB. The Studio started to produce DMB concert posters since 2007, and it became the main poster producer from 2008 to present days. The studio is selling the 2015 concert posters only. The Tea Towel and Greeting Card section is based on the previous prints and made into a different practical
items.
They posted that their main inspiration is “family, friends, and culture.” As the inspiration is varied, their print subjects are varied too. Subjects are from daily life objects like bicycles to typography. Art prints possess the pieces inspired by family and friends. Most of the prints have round shape and soft edges and happy colors such as bright green, orange, yellow, and sky blue. Subjects are from portrait, animals including monsters, daily life machine or houseware to landscape. Even though they have a print with skull, they fill the skull shape with flower illustration with soft pastel colors. When it comes to culture, they are much more experimental with designs. Gig prints are the example of the cultural inspiration. Mark and Robert mainly tried to bring the image or object concept from the title of the band album. For example, they put a key hole design in print for Key Hole by Jack White and birds filling the skull shape for Bird Skull by Greensky Bluegrass. I never heard any of the song of these bands, but by looking at the design mood, I definitely see a genre of the songs and what kinds of thoughts are behind the songs. The Methane Studio implied its own various styles of illustration technique and printing method depending on the subject matter.