page_title: David Edward Byrd
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: David Edward Byrd / Career
caption_attribution_description: English: David Edward Byrd in front of the poster he created for Forest Lawn The poster featured in this photograph can be seen at Forest Lawn Poster with an explanation by the artist.
context_page_description: David Edward Byrd is an American graphic artist, designer, illustrator and painter known primarily for his poster designs.
context_section_description: After graduating, Byrd moved to New York City where in early 1968, work was started for Bill Graham for venues in the new Fillmore East Ballroom in Manhattan's East Village. Byrd was reportedly hired on the spot after showing his portfolio to Bill Graham and signed on as the exclusive poster and program designer, beginning with a poster for the upcoming Traffic event. In the period 1968 to 1973, he and Fantasy Unlimited created posters for Jimi Hendrix, Iron Butterfly, Jefferson Airplane, Ravi Shankar, Traffic, and Bill Graham favorite the Grateful Dead.
  In 1969 Byrd created the original poster for Woodstock, ultimately unused once the festival had to be relocated.
  He designed posters for notable stage musicals including Follies, Godspell, The Robber Bridegroom, The Grand Tour, The Survival of St. Joan, Jesus Christ Superstar, Little Shop of Horrors, and others. Byrd worked with The Who for their rock opera Tommy. From 1970 to 1979 Byrd taught at the Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts.
  In 1981 Byrd came to Los Angeles to work on the Van Halen World Tour. After that he did more poster creations in and around Los Angeles for, among others, The Mark Taper Forum, The Ahmanson Theatre, The Doolittle Theatre (in Hollywood, CA), The Pasadena Playhouse.
  From 1984 to 1986 he was Art Director of the national gay news magazine The Advocate.
  From 1991 to 2002, Byrd was Senior Illustrator at Warner Brothers Creative Services, creating illustrations, backgrounds and style guides for all the Looney Tunes and Hanna–Barbera characters. His other tasks included working with writer J. K. Rowling on the first three books to make a visual cornerstone for the Harry Potter films that were to follow.
caption: David Edward Byrd in front of the poster he created for Forest Lawn in 2005.
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