About this poster

When I started my run creating the event posters for Texas Frightmare Weekend back in 2017, I had a vision of trilogy; paying tribute to one of my favorite artists of all time, Alphonse Mucha by using his signature Art Nouveau styling while creating macabre elements to convey a theme from each year. With the trilogy wrapped up in 2019, I knew I had to create something new and exciting for 2020. It was pretty quickly established in my brain that I would now be traveling to a style which I know and love, the beautifully dark Noir style of the 1920's and 30's. It's a style I have embraced my entire career, as seen in my VICES series. And being that it is now 2020, going to 1920 seemed a perfect fit.

As which all the posters I have done for TFW, I have a general idea of what I want to do months before guest announcements are unveiled. I tend to adjust the concept in my brain as the guests get presented. This time, the concept I originally had won't fit with anything or anyone. It would have worked for sure, as it had a horror theme, but it was too broad. So I decided to put the poster idea aside and focus on the shirt design. It was a natural fit to go with a Candyman theme, given the main stars and creator will be attending and using the same Noir style I had in mind for the poster the concept came quick and the art was done. After completing the shirt design a lightbulb flashed in my brain. Connect the shirt design to the poster design, tell a story through the art. And sure enough a concept for the poster was born.

The rough concept sketch (image 1) was sent over to TFW for approval. Artists out there... your rough sketchs are just that... dont worry about being tight, controlled and perfect AND Let me just say, Loyd and Co. have been so supportive and open to new and exciting ideas every year and I couldnt be happier working with TFW...With a approval given, the final art began.

it took about 60 hours to complete the inks of this piece. It had to be done larger since it would need to be blown up and I was not willing to risk losing any small details. When it comes to pointillism, the closer to actual print size the better. The dots will expand out as it is enlarged, causing your darker areas to become lighter than what you see on the original inks. This piece was done at 15 x 20. The finished inks ( image 2) were then taken to be scanned.

I know some of you how I do it but to those who don't...All my main color separations are done by hand just like the inks. I use canson tracing paper over the original inks I am using and stipple in where I want each color layer to be. It's oldschool and gives it the feel I want. Each piece, just like the initial inks are then scanned in and placed. The colors are then changed in photoshop to whatever color I want.

Once the main art was 100% complete ( overall 80 hours), I began the fontwork which was relatively simple and didnt change much from the rough concept sketch. I did change the venue information font as the thinner font got lost in the final image. So the final poster was sent for final approval and here we are. - TP