TUESDAY, MAY 15, 1990
David Vogler, of David Kaestle Inc., offered an assignment that I've always wanted to do: lettering in the style of the 1960s psychedelic poster era. The Kaestle studio handled the art direction and design of Laughtrack, a program distributed at comedy clubs. The topic of the May issue was the 1960s, and in particular, Timothy Leary. The title of the article was “Leary of the 90’s”; David wanted title to reflect the psychedelic poster era. He provided a photocopy of the Leary photograph.
Later that evening at home, I looked through my small collection of Bill Graham psychedelic concert postcards (reduced versions of the posters) and selected a Wes Wilson design.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPL8-ubWedv4uB0nZdP9FJviKkWaWi1U9HMiY6M6evQo_l2WwFojJEfiGd5Ru7FHtuG5BYnjV2EezbHrcc7zifiTyiZnA2a2-DQISrTfNTMK0rx-pgn1oluXJnc6OB0sUrgcRRriWHO1n8/s400/WesWilsonPostcard.jpg)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1990
The next morning at my studio I began sketching out the design. David supplied a rough layout, which I do not have in my file. The title and text was on the left page of the spread, and, on the right, was the photo of Leary and a caption. In addition to the title, I had to include the writer and photographer’s names.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwoWaQtf6zcXAonAjBmyFLAgo40eKQhN32XjM976pFwFyx5cvshznxER4YrcLRXbZ58V6idhQewMK4bxFxjTc2l9jTgpMFbsdFspFiEVfS3q-R9qrjQRnf1ziM0PhyX1Nq1XXdmlrYgVhg/s400/04Leary.jpg)
I enlarged the sketch and began refining it. There were two graphic elements that David wanted in the layout: the peace sign and a flower.
On the third refinement, I positioned the peace sign over Leary’s head, like a halo; the flower was moved to the left page. Tracing paper was placed on top of the sketch, then the lettering and swirls were refined.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrfLO23UwUu0PvU89hpyzG-NIaUEIh31L6Cj9CDC-1ZMbvuraXDeliB208vuOT3i9ckealQTG1GTJyXmRi192QGdz-dNWtIQC0z8GyqctdHgCwRzYeWkQCW1q_JnK230ob836WHAkyZ_WL/s400/09Leary.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSS8Y6ZyuXx0wdUEOGsgKd0vWd0i-J4EMuIz2iGHXZTz24JYE6cfdHnsQLgtvwaKotwNYIgXsAaQxp8WbYvzysPR2vbpvYDORwUB1qgVxvi7YLkRc6LHtO9gdC05z85NP6_ioS-0IC1oWi/s400/10Leary.jpg)
In the afternoon, I showed the layout to David, who got a laugh out of the halo, and he approved it.
(Today, October 22, is Leary's birthday; Tomorrow: Part 2; related posts: Psychedelitypes, Psychedelic Poster Postcards)
Beautiful art!
ReplyDeleteNice Typography
ReplyDelete