Added on September 29, 2025 Sara Swanson

Meet Manchester’s own Jonathan K. Doyle, master of the concert poster

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page Send by Email

One of Doyle’s concert posters for Manchester Underground. Photo courtesy of Johnathan K. Doyle.

by Sara Swanson

Are you a familiar with concert posters of the past: the letterpress cardboard posters of the 1950s and early ’60s; the colorful screen-printed and lithographic psychedelic posters of the late ’60s and 1970s; the messy, xeroxed, DIY posters of the punk and new wave eras? You may be an admirer or even a collector, but what you might not know, unless you have been to a Manchester Underground show, is that Manchester is home to one of Michigan’s premier concert poster designers. Not only that, he and and his work will be featured at an upcoming expo celebrating the visual storytelling behind Michigan’s music scene.

Jonathan K. Doyle loves music, listening to it, making it. Art had always been a hobby, but making music is his life. While he is self-taught in art, he did receive an education and training in audio and music engineering. But when COVID hit, everything pretty much stopped in the music industry for a while. His mother was a musician and an artist and, he explained, had a way of looking at life in a unique and creative way as well as an ability to create things out of nothing. Doyle stated, “I lost my job and have a family to support so, on a whim I channeled my mother’s spirit, took a leap of faith, and started designing and screen printing ‘fan art,’ Billy Strings and Grateful Dead T-shirts, and selling them at shows and online, which eventually evolved into making and printing my own unofficial ‘fan art’ flyers and posters for local shows and events, which turned out to be more than I had expected in terms of positive feedback and genuine support from the jam band/bluegrass community across the country.”

Aside from making music and the creation of his artwork, his passion is screen printing. He stated, “I absolutely fell in love with the process after my first go at poorly designing and building my first screen and press then teaching myself how to make prints by hours and hours of trial and failure. Now, the entire process is like second nature to me.” In fact, he prides himself on being one of, if not the only, print master in the area who prints posters entirely by hand without any automated machines or other cutting-edge equipment. Doyle stated, “I honestly feel that when I print each poster, screen by screen, using nothing but a squeegee and my hands, I am transferring little bits of the love energy I have for this art into every piece of paper, making every poster I print just a little bit more meaningful to me, knowing it more than just a piece of paper and ink.”

Since he is self-taught, there was a lot of trial and error over the years, to figure out how to create the art he wanted to create that was also easily transferable via screen print. He typically leans toward a more organic style. This involves starting with a physical medium before converting to digital. He explained, “I will sketch or paint a concept for a poster on a traditional medium like paper, cardboard, or canvas (I have even used chalk and pavement) then I digitize it by taking a photo or scanning the image. Then I will upload and finalize the drawing on my iPad using nothing more than an Apple Pencil and the program PROCREATE. Once complete, I export from PROCREATE and take the digitized final poster and prepare it for screen printing.” He then prints it in his home studio and print shop here in Manchester.

He made the leap from “fan” posters to “legit” posters with his involvement in Manchester Underground (MU). MU started in May 2019 by high school friends Steve Girbach and John Mooneyham. The initial intent was to promote live original music in a listening room environment “unencumbered by the distraction of big-screen TVs and cappuccino machines.” Though it began with concerts on the lower level (or “underground”) of the Mill, COVID and a change in ownership and function of the mill resulted in a new venue in the River Raisin Distillery at 480 W Main St. Although always a nonprofit, last year MU became recognized as a 501(c)(3) and expanded their mission of bringing music and art to the community to include an outreach element of supporting programs and facilities for adults with special needs across Michigan.

Doyle got involved with Manchester Underground in much the same way he got into the poster-making world. A few years back he was scrolling on social media and came across a post promoting a show for “Black Jake and the Carnies,” a band he’s followed for years. So he made a poster for the show and sent it to the band as a gift, never really expecting anything to come from it. He explained, “About a week later, a mutual friend of Steve Girbach and myself contacted me and invited me to come meet Steve and check out the venue. Steve and I hit it off immediately. Steve asked me to come aboard as art director of MU and make the show posters for every show and it’s pretty much been going strong from there.”

He sells the posters at the shows and the proceeds go in full to the MU cause. Doyle stated, “I don’t take compensation for anything I do with Manchester Underground, because I truly believe in the cause. I donate the posters to Manchester Underground and I ALWAYS gift some to the bands as that’s really where the inspiration for the art comes from.”

He added, “I have definitely been familiar with some of the artists that have come through the underground but have definitely been blown away by several artists who I had never heard before. Zachariah Malachi and the Nashville counts as one of those artists. I always check out the artists’ music before the show and nine out of 10 times I get an image or idea in my mind within minutes of first listen, and that’s usually the concept I go with. Having total artistic freedom really allows me to do that and for that I am beyond grateful.”

Because creating the MU posters is something he does in addition to his full-time job and already full home life, he tries to keep the design as simple as possible, which gives him more time to work on the process. Each poster can take anywhere from an hour or two to eight or more. One poster on the extreme end of things was for the MU Black Jake and the Carnies Halloween show in 2023. He based the haunted house in the poster off a house here in town and it took him almost 11 hours to draw. “Every line, every shingle … it took forever,” he stated.

His poster work for MU has started opening doors to more music poster work as well. Most recently he was approached by an attendee of one of the MU shows to make a poster for the Ann Arbor District Library’s after-hours concert The Pontiac Trail Blazers. And in a month and a half, Doyle will be representing MU as well as showcasing his own work at GIG — The Art of Michigan Music & Visual Art Experience 2025, taking place on Saturday, November 8, noon to 10:30pm at ART 634 in Jackson. GIG is a one-of-a-kind event celebrating the visual storytelling behind Michigan’s music scene, from concert photography and poster design to album art and videography. While a $15 ticket is required for the live-music portion beginning at 7pm, earlier in the day, the art gallery, market, student-poster exhibition, food trucks, and workshops are all free to attend. Find out more at www.gigartmich.org.

It was actually through MU that Doyle got connected with GIG. He stated, “Chuck Marshall [who organizes GIG along with his wife, Brenda] is a huge supporter of the underground. I was approached by Chuck and Steve last year and asked if I would represent Manchester Underground at GIG.” He went and got a great response during the event. He said, “It was really refreshing as an artist to have access to networking with other Michigan artists involved in all types of projects all across the state. I do plan on attending as well as having a booth this year. I’ll be manning and supporting Manchester Underground table as well as adding my own table this year.”

Though he was raised on “good music,” as his mom would have called it — lots of the Grateful Dead, Tony Rice, Doc Watson, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, and music from that era — he truly loves music and all aspects of sound, so he tries not to discriminate. However, if you pin him down to picking a favorite, he says that these days his Spotify pretty much stays on Billy Strings 24/7. Doyle states that Billy String’s music, the subject of some of his fan posters that helped break him into the music poster world in the first place, is what most resonates with him. He says, “It’s so damn real and genuine, his music lives rent free in my head at all times. … Also, having the privilege to have been on the Billy train since day one and to see him conquer the hearts of the world so quickly and with such passion, humility, and love for his fans, his band, and his family, when I see Billy play I can literally feel the emotions of the music as if I were sitting on the floor in front of him … everything that is Billy Strings and what he has created continues to inspire and motivate me to keep going, ‘get off my ass and get on my way.’” One of Doyle’s biggest goals is to someday have the honor of designing a show poster for him. He added, “I still listen to a lot of classic Dead, but Billy Strings plays that, too!”

Even if you haven’t seen Doyle’s Underground posters, you have definitely still seen his work. He’s done design work for River Raisin Distillery and logos for other small businesses around town. He is a full-time graphic designer and print master at the Irish Hills print company in Tipton, so he’s designed countless signs, banners, logos, etc. for small businesses outside of Manchester as well as larger corporations. He’s even done work for a couple of cities like Brooklyn and Adrian. He was also the winner of the 2025 Manchester Canoe and Kayak Race T-shirt design competition, which means he sometimes sees people wearing T-shirts with his design around town. He stated, “For me, it’s always an awesome experience to see my work ‘in the wild.’”

If anyone is interested in contacting him or commissioning work from him, you can reach out via his website at jkdoyleart.com or by email at contact@jkdoyleart.com or jkdoyleart@gmail.com. He says that his website is a little out of date but will be updated soon.

Doyle concludes, “If you’re interested in experiencing an intimate one-of-a-kind concert experience or getting yourself some Manchester Underground posters, hoodies, stickers, T-shirts, etc., or simply saying “hi,” I am at EVERY Manchester Underground show on the third Saturday of every month, except July and November, manning the ticket door and selling MU [merch] by donation.” The next concert is the Winestoned Cowboys on Saturday, October 18, at 7:30pm, at the River Raisin Distillery. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased on their website. Go to https://www.manchesterunderground.org/ and click on “Upcoming Shows”.

Or stop by and say hello to him at GIG in Jackson in November!

Doyle signing a poster at a show. Courtesy photo.

This is the poster Doyle sent to Black Jake that let to meeting Steve Girbach and joining the Manchester Underground. Photo courtesy of Jonathan K. Doyle.

Doyle’s screen-printing set-up. Photo courtesy of Jonathan K. Doyle.

The first screen Doyle ever made from Cricut-cut sticker vinyl and a screen he built from wood and filter screen. Photo courtesy of Jonathan K. Doyle.