Before & After

I was approached with the task of taking this picture (albeit with a slightly different font similar to the one in the final design - not sure why this Windows computer was lacking the correct one and changed it this morning) which, at full resolution was about 3 inches tall, and enlarging it to be appropriate for printing on a t-shirt. Not just one t-shirt for a relative either, but nearly fifty shirts, which, to me, is a little crazy for a birth, but I guess some families are good like that. I don’t know if you can imagine off-hand what that picture would look like enlarged twice its size, but just try to visualize blue and green oatmeal.I decided all that was possible for this job was to start from scratch and create a completely new design based on the original concept (which was, of course, a Microsoft Word file making it even more fun! Luckily, though, I recently downloaded NeoOffice for Mac, which made opening it a breeze.) So, I started with a simple Google Image Search, and managed to find a couple photos I thought might work. Tragically, however, they also were very small and wouldn’t scale well to the size and resolution necessary for the t-shirt. I would have to do some line art on my own, and use to original files as guides, and for color. I kept the font close to what was provided (losing the red drop-shadow and vertical stretching in the original), and didn’t spend a world of time on minute touch-ups as this gig was more a favor than a job, but what I managed to come up with was greatly appreciated by the family, and, I think, a pretty good job on my part. What I think is important about this, and my reason for posting it this morning, is the way in which I tackled the problem. Rather than being frustrated with very poor materials, I pushed myself to take seemingly drastic action and completely scrap what I was given to start with a clean slate. I think that this is often called for, and perhaps too often shyed away from by most artists (including me!). It is much less scary to work with what you have, to keep pushing it, and this, in general, is a great way to work. But there comes a moment when the pushing crosses over to fighting, and the design begins to suffer as decisions become forced rather than grow organically and emerge through the process. I often feel such an allegiance to any work I produce, and any effort I expend on a project. Who wants to waste time, after all? But sometimes you just need to get away from the assumptions that have been made throughout the process, and question all of the decisions you made from the beginning.

I am reminded of the Choose-Your-Own-Adventure books of my childhood. If you die after making one set of decisions, you can always go back to the beginning, choose the other option, and pretend nothing ever happened.