I really love to see the process behind creative projects, which is why I’m so fascinated by these blog entries by Airside this morning. As you’ve probably guessed, I’m particularly smitten by the handmade approach they’ve taken to creating the Airplot logo. Really beautiful work that allows itself to be used in a number of ways while still maintaining continuity.

Right now, I have my own process post to share with you. Last night, I finished up the first draft of my poster for OVAC’s Tulsa Art Studio Tour. It has some typical May elements in it– the texture, handwriting and skyscraper –but I feel like this is more refined. Definitely more photographic than the flat film work that I’ve grown so accustomed to making for screenprinting. Perhaps it’s just a part of the natural progression for me. Either way, I’m pretty happy with it and I hope OVAC is happy with it too.

I am such a sucker for copy machine textures & manipulation. Seriously. I dream of the day I can own a copier so I won’t feel like such a delinquent for sneaking into places at school and making copies (which, in case you were wondering, I don’t do anymore). This is a photo I took in Tulsa in Dec, 2006. (You can see the original here.) I copied this last year for a xerox transfer I was going to do for litho. Actually, I’m pretty sure a portion of this image did end up making it into that print. Anyway, I really enjoy the tones at the bottom of the image, so I cropped the photo and made this into the background for my poster.

From there, I started adding color and put in a modified version of the logo and handwritten text (list of artists, actually) as a textural element. There was a lot of moving and shifting and color changing before I got to the final composition. 

And here’s where I am right now. There are a few changes I can already anticipate making…such as watching the margins a little bit better, the size and placement of the logo, the fact that I have yet to add the sponsor logos. It’s getting there. For my next project, I’ll probably make an effort to stay away from the reoccurring elements, but for now, I’m satisfied with the progress I’ve made. I actually have a new project coming up, so you’ll be hearing about that in the near future.