Creative Momentum
Sometimes inspiration takes awhile to percolate, but other times it just hits and you can run with it... and this print was the latter. I spotted the inspiration when I was doomscrolling and a Temu sticker ad hit my feed. I was instantly drawn to the collage-style lettering: Canva stock letters that gave off an enthusiastic scrapbook energy. But even more than that, I was struck by the irony of how it was being made and sold. The dots clicked and I tossed my phone aside.
After a few quick draft sketches, I arrived at a simple grid-stacked design. 15 minutes... tops? I transferred it to a little chunk of lino block and carved out the letters and basic block shapes, then hopped right to printing a proof. I knew with the first pull that it needed more... pizzaz? and that I was going to go back in for more carving, but I still liked its simplicity and printed a small edition anyways.
I rinsed off all my tools and scrubbed the block, then dug back in. I carved more curve around the boxes and added a little more thickness to the letters. After pulling another small edition of the updated version, I stepped back to compare the two prints. Side-by-side, the subtle changes popped out as I looked back and forth between them. A curved corner here, a variation in line over there.
The feeling of making this print was spontaneous and playful. As much as possible, I wanted that delightfully messy energy to transfer into the print itself: imperfect edges and marks, leading to bold and simple vibes. Two hours, two versions and a dozen prints later, I felt satisfied with the progress I'd made and put away all my tools. Some of the playful feeling had transferred into the design, but not as much as I'd hoped. I wasn't discouraged though, in fact the "almost but not quite" result excited me to explore the concept even more in future designs.
Chasing a feeling and translating it into art is a challenge I've wrestled with a lot in the past, and it hasn't always been a fun or smooth experience. Grip the feeling too tightly or take yourself too seriously and you'll crush your vision, but if you're too detached you'll lose it that way too.
inspiration image (from temu) draft sketches carving round 1 version 1 printing version 2 (with version 1 still on the counter) red paper = version 1, white paper = version 2
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