Creating posters that both deliver all the necessary info and help the viewer understand the event theme is super challenging, but it’s the kind of challenge I love.
The unifying theme for most Topanga events defaults to the natural beauty of the canyon. Presenting that for several events over the years without getting stale or resorting to a background photo of the canyon itself is one of the reasons they keep asking me back. I decided to go with native plants and flowers. No one had to twist my arm to get me into the canyon to take reference photos.
Artistically, I love using hands. They can convey almost as much emotion as a face. For this poster I went with realistic illustrations, though I usually go for a more cartoon style. I think it works really well with the flower illustrations.
Originally I had a very plain cream background, but the President asked for lots of color and the flowers alone weren’t doing it for her. When I swapped it for my California sunset gradient, it instantly jumped off the page. Good call.
