This post is about art, photography, inspiration and marketing? I think?

This is about creative process. 

I like handwriting, collage and layers of practical objects to create a totally original type of branding.  It's simple and resourceful and I don't know why but I'm obsessed with, for lack of a better description - "counter - marketing"???

 Computer graphic design has definitely enhanced and polished and speeded up one's ability to create but it doesn't suit me... 

Following is a bunch of photos of inspiration, marketing materials, and photographs from the last play I produced, "Candy & Dorothy" by David Johnston.  This was in 2018 and our budget was approx. 12.50.  I really, really wanted to be responsible for the artwork.  Looking back, I would have stood my ground more about the images I thought we should use, and the direction of all that and that turned into a valuable lesson in having confidence in my own knowledge of a thing and how to do it. 

The front of THE CATHOLIC WORKER , NYC 

^link^

The whole vibe of the play is the Lower East Side, NYC of old, so I knew we could make that whole aesthetic work for us and make it seem purposeful.  

Andy Warhol is also referenced quite a bit in the play, and we channeled that energy for sure.

 

OKAY - on with it... 

"Candy & Dorothy" is a play about Candy Darling & Dorothy Day meeting in the afterlife, FYI. There is a cast of 5.

The following ideas were early on and we used none of them.

(We ended up at a different (much nicer) theatre in Ogden.)

Looking back, one of the things I would've done differently is stop and refine these easy images and ideas, and not moved forward with practical photography, which would have saved us time and energy.  I also think the imagery and idea of the flyer look could have ultimately been more compelling as a marketing tool??? I don't know. I also created images with pre-existing photos of the cast and I liked the fact that we were incorporating existing "social media" images into the old school feel of the marketing.  

However, we did a photo session that was mostly fun and inspired. My stepdaughter used her Polaroid to take the shots. I think the inspo is clear.

We took the following photos with a high end camera and Daniela edited them, but they were not okayed by "the team".  I thought there was a lot we could have done with these images, but whatevs. 

I found random images from magazines and I basic printed a bunch of religious imagery and went over it with sharpies and highlighters and cut them out to add to the Polaroids.  

The whole process, including the rehearsal and physical production of the play felt very punk rock and very much about using what we had.  

So those photos and other physical items turned into these materials for the show- 

Primed for a cast reveal...

 

(It still makes me mad that we invested so much time and a set design in that dumb theatre.) 

Our final poster was along these lines

They looked beautiful printed up.  That background is a placemat I bought at Ross.  I can see in these how tired I was and how the venue change really didn't help design-wise.

I also did company logo stuff and business cards. This is just one sample of that stuff. 

The general vibe

(yes, original set design model was in lego) 

I also made some of the graphic props with the handmade feel meant to seem like the character that used it had made it.  

It was a very cool experience that I did not enjoy at the time because kiddo was not even a year old and there were 6 people doing everything from poster art to acting, which looking back is AWESOME but at the time felt CRAZY.  

I think I should probably do a whole post about this amazing play and my relationship with it. 

(link> CANDY & DOROTHY <link)  

This all came up because I was "hired" by Spacenerdz.com to do something for the site and I revisited this whole idea and found all the photos and it turned into a whole thing. 

Here is a photo of my new high-end studio

This was just for fun, for figuring out if I still like the effect, and I do. 

(That's a make-up bag filled with thumb tacks as the middle layer.) 

I don't know what about this lil process satisfies me so much!

This was interesting to revisit and maybe I'm nuts but I still dig the effect and think it's effective for the right thing. No matter what, I'm grateful to have had something to think about besides dumb 2020. 

 Learn more about and be inspired by badasses 

DOROTHY DAY 

& 

CANDY DARLING 

(links)

👄👵