The Production of Bram Stokers Dracula. In 2005 we produced a live production of Bram Stokers Dracula at The Vandivort Center Theatre. One of the most successful productions ever we and when we were asked to do another run in 2008 we knew it wanted to take it very different direction conceptually and artistically. From set design and sound design, casting, poster design and artwork, to music soundtrack and DVD release.

Dracula Poster Artwork and Promotional Design. When we started discussing artwork for this production we knew we wanted several different designs. After I designed literally 20 different posters each conveying different stylized emotions form the production we settled on 3 official designs and 1 teaser poster as seen below.

Dracula Teaser Poster Design. For the teaser poster I used a more provocative image printed on 8.5 x 11 glossy flyers. These were used several months before the production and main marketing campaigns began.

Dracula DVD Artwork and Packaging Design. For this run Filmmaker Justin Evangelista spent nearly 4 months documenting every aspect of production. He produced several behind the scenes webisodes as part of the marketing campaign leading up to the opening. After 4 months of filming and over 100 hours of footage later Justin began work on the official DVD releases of both the Production itself and a special hour long behind the scenes featurette. The special edition DVD comes in 3 collectors edition version each containing the award winning posters I designed as inserts. I designed the DVD packaging to use the same visual consistency of the rest of the marketing campaign. Below is the DVD Artwork and packaging for the upcoming release.

Musical Compisition and the Dracula Soundtrack. One of the only things we used from the 2005 production was some of the original scores composed by Bryan Arata. At the time of the 2008 of Dracula Bryan was in LA assisting in composition of the Family Guy and American Dad underscores. Often working by video conference he composed a whole new soundtrack that we intergrated with certain songs from his orginal scores in 2005 below is the soundtrack design for the CD.

Artwork and Design by Jason Arend
Original Character Photography by David Fleming

Album Cover Artwork and CD Design for MF Magazine. In 2005 I was asked to design the cover artwork for a special metal compilation album being released by MF Magazine (Music +Fashion). The Seattle based magazine tapped Matt Tuck, lead singer and guitarist of Bullet For My Valentine, to handpick the tracks. The CD features songs from Metallica, Killswitch Engage, Iron Maiden, and Ozzy Osbourne. For the covers, insert and CD design I created about a dozen types of grungy surface textures mixed with several different images of hands to give the feel of a metal concert and a kind of zombie horde.

Artwork and Design by Jason Arend

MF Magazine http://www.musicfashionmagazine.com

Evil Dead: The Musical. Dracula was such a huge success that we are back this year with a live production of Evil Dead: The Musical! Directed by Nathan Shelton, Evil Dead: The Musical will be performed live at the Vandivort Center Theatre October 9-31, 2009.

Evil Dead: The Musical Poster Artwork. I worked on several areas of marketing for the successful, sold-out production. For the poster artwork and design I created several versions, two were chosen for official use. Inspired by illustrated poster artwork from vintage horror films, one poster focuses on a graphic illustration and the other on worn typography. Each mixed with numerous layers of grunge texture, stains and creases.



Diablo Fiasco Poster Artwork. Working in conjunction with Black Box Revue a huge marketing event and party was put together in celebration of Evil Dead: The Musical. With several hundred people in attendance amazing performances were given by the Cast of Evil Dead, the up and coming duo Do-It To-It, The Black Box DJ’s and all the way from London England headliner Drums of Death. For one the craziest parties in the Midwest I created several posters, flyers and other marketing materials that were designed as an extension of the Evil Dead campaign. Again, one poster focusing on typography and the other focusing on graphic Illustration replacing the head of Bruce Campbell with the head of headliner artist, Drums of Death.



Artwork and Design by Jason Arend

Drums of Death: http://www.drumsofdeath.com/
Black Box Revue: http://www.blackboxrevue.com