Lettering: Leary of the 90's, Part 2

WEDNESDAY, MAY 16, 1990

Back at the studio I began work on the finished art. The last refinement was enlarged slightly on a photocopier, and then secured to the light box. I placed a sheet of two-ply bristol board over the photocopy and penciled the letters, swirls and ornaments. Using a variety of french curves and ellipse guides, I inked it with a Rapidograph technical pen. Corrections were done with white gouache.

The art was scanned in two parts and stitched together; the

alignment is slightly off in the middle near the top and bottom.

THURSDAY, MAY 17, 1990

I delivered the artwork in the afternoon.

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 1990

David called and said he wanted a few additional ornaments: three boxes, two running heads and three folios. The quotes from Leary would be inside the boxes. The swirling running head and folios would replace the standard ones used in the magazine. I delivered the art later that day.

MAY 1990

Later that month, I picked up copies of the Laughtrack from David. (I saw Leary at the 1976 San Diego Comic-Con. My recollection is foggy, but fortunately, memories of his attendance were recalled quite clearly here and here.)

Related posts: Leary of the 90’s, Part 1; Psychedelitypes; Psychedelic Poster Postcards

(Next post on Monday: Titan Missile Museum)

Lettering: Leary of the 90's, Part 1

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.

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.

I chose one of the thumbnail sketches and developed it further.

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.

Peace sign in the corner.

Flower above Leary’s head.

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.

Separately, I worked on the writer and photographer credits.

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)