DWITT Rogue Valley 'Fall Album' Process

[DWITT]

My friend Chris Koza and his band Rogue Valley had the ambitious idea to create, record, and release an album for every season of the year, and release the albums in one years time in each corresponding season. He asked me to create posters for each of the release shows. I've done the Spring and Summer, each appropriately different stylistically, and for the Fall poster I decided to again try something new and this time, record the process.

My idea for this poster was something more abstract. Many years ago I created a series of paintings in college at Bemidji State. Lots of color and layers, they suggested sky, trees, maps, landscape, etc... I didn't have a goal in mind while making them, I just worked on them, watched them develop and then decided they were done when I thought everything was resolved.
Here is one of those paintings:


so I did several pages of sketches, and settled on this one for the rough guide to creating the poster:

[DWITT]

Each layer of the poster is drawn out in ink on Graphics 360 paper, and laid onto my hand-me-down exposure unit ( This was the first exposure unit Wezzburlesque built way back in the day that I inherited when I helped them move into their new studio a couple years back), coated with oil to make transparent (despite moving to Saint Paul, I am still very much ghetto) and burned onto screens. Color no. 2 shown here on the unit post exposure:


with the first two screens ready, I get color #1 set up (hard to believe people still use wooden frames, eh?) Note my advanced registering system of 4 pieces of blue tape. I recently upgraded from three. Huge diference.

and here's how color 1 looks hanging in my basement

[DWITT]

color #2 ready to go:


and on the paper with color #1


with those two colors creating my base, I lay another sheet of Graphics 360 paper over it and rough out what I want the next layer to look like:

[boatdreams]

This is looking awesome. Keep it coming!

[El Roacho]

yeah this looks rad, love your process.

[DWITT]

Midway through inking color #3 when...


Wally patiently demands we go for a walk


we both have a splendid time on a nice mild autumn morning


get back home, finish inking color #3 layer,and burn screen after doing 1000 bicep curls with weights

while screen is exposing, eat breakfast of leftover toast/pickles/tomatoes from Mancini's Char House(a Saint Paul institution on west 7th) and a beer

[DWITT]

I decide to bring a little random action to the painting, so I chop up some scraps of paper


and sprinkle them on my exposure unit like leaves fall from a tree and then burn the screen for color #4


while that is exposing, I get the idea that instead of just suggesting leaves falling, I can use actual leaves. So I carefully select the best leaves from my yard


and then expose a screen on top of the leaves


and now I will watch the Vikings blow it once again while I think about which order to print these in and what colors to use.

[ben swift]

cool! I like the idea of just going for it without preplanning every color and screen!

[halfmassive]

Love the leaves! Looking forward to the finished product.

[Unitus]

and now I will watch the Vikings blow it once again while I think about which order to print these in and what colors to use.

wrong!