Inside Llewyn Davis is a 2013 Coen Brothers' film that follows musician Llewyn Davis and his struggles to achieve solo stardom in the Greenwich Village folk music scene following the death of his music partner. I looked at a lot of 1960's illustrated folk album covers to get a good sense of what direction I should take, whether that be to feature the artist prominently accompanied by type on the side, or to take a more representational, graphic approach that played with geometric shapes. I decided on an illustration that evoked wood-block printing (similar to the album covers of Pete Seeger) depicting a cat sitting in one of two empty wooden chairs. I wanted to use the chairs to represent the bygone era of Davis' duo career with his late singing partner, whom some theorize manifests as the cat that Davis is tasked with caring for as he housesits. The final product, inspired by a Hank Williams album cover, uses a sketchier, handwritten writing for its title.
