Todd Slater

Slater was born in July 1979 in Peoria, Illinois, United States. His father, Wayne Slater, is an author and has been a political writer for the Dallas Morning News since the mid-1980s; he has co-written three books with James Moore, including Bush's Brain.{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=John|title=Todd Slater Interview PART 1|url=http://www.smithbellcraft.com/2009/08/25/todd-slater-interview-part-1/|website=John Smith|accessdate=27 August 2015|date=25 August 2009}} Todd Slater's mother is an English teacher. The Slater family moved to Austin, Texas when Todd was five years old. Slater is married to wife Kristie{{cite web|title=Todd Slater (US Version)|url=http://crewchro.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/todd-slater-us-version.html|website=Crewkoos Rock Poster Artists Interviews|publisher=Crew.Koos|accessdate=27 August 2015|date=2011}} with whom he has three children.

Todd Slater graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches in Texas in 2002, majoring in art with an emphasis on design and minors in film and painting.

Slater learned about digital media during an internship with Dave Turton at The Graphic Library, a producer of stock illustrations for Istockphoto.

Slater realized that making concert posters was what he wanted to do after discovering gigposters.com. He started producing posters professionally when aged 24.

His first professional poster commission was for Pretty Girls Make Graves. He started sending unsolicited White Stripes poster designs to the band's tour manager and this led to him working with Rob Jones, who produced The White Stripes' gig posters, and later collaborations between Jones and Slater on gig posters for Jack White and Dave Matthews.

Slater turned freelance in 2004.

Todd Slater has cited a number of artistic influences including:

• 1966–1968 Chicago art movement The Hairy Who
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (an influence on some of Slater's imagery)
• Figurative painters including Steven Assael, Lisa Yuskavage, Jenny Saville, John Currin and Peter Saul
• Aesthetic Apparatus
• Ames Bros.

Much of Slater's work is for major alternative bands, although he also has produced tour posters for some established and mainstream artists. Although not a core part of Slater's work he has expressed an interest in album cover art, and produced six vinyl single sleeves for The Dead Weather in 2009.

Slater produces film posters for the Mondo Gallery.

Stylistically Slater's gig poster designs tend to concentrate on the imagery and minimize the amount and size of text. Most of his work is done on a computer with some elements done by hand. Each poster takes about 40 hours to produce.

Artists for whom Todd Slater has produced gig posters include:

File:Todd Slater poster - Arctic Monkeys October 28-30, 2014.jpg

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• Arcade Fire
• Arctic Monkeys
• The Avett Brothers
• Bad Religion
• The Beastie Boys
• The Black Keys
• Bob Dylan
• Bruno Mars{{cite book|last1=Slater|first1=Todd|title=The Rock Poster Art Of Todd Slater|date=12 October 2015|publisher=Flood Gallery Publishing|isbn=978-0-9928366-2-7}}
• CAKE
• Colonel Claypool
• The Cramps
• Dave Matthews
• Dead Weather
• Death Cab For Cutie
• Decemberists
• Eddie Vedder
• Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros{{cite web|last1=Wexler|first1=David|title=Q&A WITH TODD SLATER|url=http://janglinsouls.com/2015/01/13/qa-with-todd-slater/|website=Janglin Souls|accessdate=27 August 2015|date=13 January 2015}}
• Eisley
• Elvis Costello{{cite web|title=Ten Questions With Todd Slater|url=http://omgposters.com/2008/06/17/ten-questions-with-todd-slater/|website=OMG Posters!|accessdate=27 August 2015|date=17 June 2008}}
• Fleetwood Mac
• Foo Fighters
• Franz Ferdinand
• Green Day
• Guided by Voices
• Incubus
• Jack Johnson
• Jack White
• Keane
• The Lumineers
• Luna
• Madonna
• Mars Volta
• MGMT
• Misfits
• Modest Mouse
• Mogwai
• Morrissey
• Mumford & Sons
• Muse
• The National
• Neil Young
• Pearl Jam
• Phish
• Pixies
• Pretty Girls Make Graves
• Queens of the Stone Age
• Radiohead
• Reverend Horton Heat
• Slayer
• The Strokes
• Taking Back Sunday
• Tegan and Sara{{cite web|title=TODD SLATER Mixing my two passions - art and music - into a job|url=http://www.lacremedelacre.me/todd-slater|website=La Crème de la Crème|accessdate=28 August 2015}}
• They Might Be Giants
• Velvet Revolver
• Ween
• White Stripes
• Widespread Panic
• Wilco
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Yo La Tengo

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File:Todd Slater poster - Widespread Panic Fall 2013.jpg

Artist web pages featuring Todd Slater's work:

• Arctic Monkeys{{cite web|title=Arctic Monkeys's photos| website=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/ArcticMonkeys/photos/pb.9520450966.-2207520000.1439397371./10152482960690967/?type=1&theater|accessdate=30 August 2015}}
• Muse{{cite web|title=Muse's photos| website=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/muse/photos/pb.8762738724.-2207520000.1439397532./10151881456883725/?type=3&theater|accessdate=30 August 2015}}
• Primus{{cite web|title=Primus's photos| website=Facebook |url=https://www.facebook.com/primusville/photos/pb.105657322802566.-2207520000.1439397465./1024980467536909/?type=1&theater|accessdate=30 August 2015}}

Film posters Todd Slater has produced for the Mondo Gallery include:{{cite web|title=todd slater|url=http://mondotees.com/search?q=todd+slater|website=MondoTees.com|accessdate=30 August 2015}}

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• The Big Lebowski
• Boogie Nights
• Clerks
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind
• Evil Dead II
• Goldfinger
• Great Warrior (Star Wars)
• Jurassic Park
• Labyrinth
• Office Space
• Pacific Rim
• Plan 9 from Outer Space
• Planet of the Apes
• QT Fest 6
• Repo Man
• RoboCop
• Star Trek: The Corbomite Maneuver
• Stargate
• Treebeard (The Lord of the Rings)

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The following books feature Todd Slater's work:

• Slater, Todd (12 October 2015). The Rock Poster Art of Todd Slater. Flood Gallery Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0-9928366-2-7}}.
• Loren, Derek & Farren, Mick (November 2013). Classic Rock Posters. Metro Books, {{ISBN|1-4549-1192-1}}.
• Booth, Tom (2012). The Wall: Inside The Poster Studio Vol. 2. Badtown
• Rabin, Nathan with Yankovic, Al (September 2012). Weird Al: The Book. Harry N. Abrams, {{ISBN|1-4197-0435-4}}.
• Durchholz, Daniel & Graff, Gary (November 2012). Neil Young: Long May You Run: The Illustrated History. Voyageur Press, {{ISBN|0-7603-4411-6}}.
• Maiffredy, Didier (December 2012). Rock Poster Art: Sérigraphies de concert. Eyrolles, {{ISBN|2-2121-3470-3}}.
• Booth, Tom (2011). The Wall: Modern Day Music Posters. Badtown.
• Klanten, R & Hellige, H (May 2011). Impressive: Printmaking, Letterpress and Graphic Design. Gestalten, {{ISBN|3-8995-5368-3}}.
• Hunter, Dave (October 2010). Star Guitars: 101 Guitars That Rocked the World. Voyageur Press, {{ISBN|0-7603-3821-3}}.
• Hayes, Clay (April 2009). Gig Posters Volume 1. Quirk Books, {{ISBN|1-5947-4326-6}}.
• Klanten, Robert (April 2009). Naïve: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design. Gestalten, {{ISBN|3-8995-5247-4}}.
• Hellige, Hendrick (May 2007). Supersonic: Visuals for Music. Die Getalten Verlag, {{ISBN|3-8995-5186-9}}.
• Kaye, Joyce Rutter (editor) (2007). Print: Regional Design Annual 2007. Print Magazine, ASIN B0012HMZE4.

Other publications featuring Todd Slater's work:

• Gig Posters: 2016 Wall Calendar. Amber Lotus Publishing.

The following documentaries feature Todd Slater and/or his work:

• Died Young, Stayed Pretty / Dir: Eileen Yaghoobian / Norotomo Productions / 2008
• Just Like Being There / Dir: Scout Shannon / Avalanche Films / 2012
• Twenty-Four by Thirty-Six / Dir: Kevin Burke / Post No Joes Productions / 2016

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• [http://www.toddslater.net www.toddslater.net]

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Category:1979 births

Category:Living people

Category:American album-cover and concert-poster artists

Category:Artists from Peoria, Illinois

Category:American illustrators

Category:Artists from Austin, Texas

Category:Stephen F. Austin State University alumni