For this production of the 18th century, love and pain novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons), at the Canberra Repertory Society in Australia, Chicago based designer Lance Rutter created a sumptuous poster that looks as if it had been crafted in the same forgotten era as the novel was conceived. While the illustration and lettering are delightful and impeccably done, the production of the poster is what really caught my attention, and it wasn’t until Lance pointed out that this was printed on red paper that I finally grasped what made it feel so rich. But best to hear it from the source, as Lance explains:
Every part of the art was rendered with a Pentel Brush pen — which has a great line quality and the black is very black — on different tracing paper overlays (per color), then scanned on a small HP, blown up, and assembled into a multichannel Photoshop file for the printer.
I like to start with a middle-ground color, so I decided to print this on a bright red paper stock (Red Hot French Poptone). Then I used black and grey for the background and detail and white and pink for highlights and midtones. I added metallic gold for type and some subtle details on the cat, to make her a little more Baroque.
I had originally planned on using various opacities of white on the red paper to create the pink and white highlights, but Steve at D & L Screenprinting convinced me that using a match pink ink would give us better control to match exactly what I was looking for.
This poster (and others!) is available for purchase at the Legendre+Rutter store.
From sketch (above) to digital file (below) to the real thing.
Editor of FPO and co-founder of UnderConsideration LLC.
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FPO (For Print Only), is a division of UnderConsideration, celebrating the reality that print is not dead by showcasing the most compelling printed projects.
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UnderConsideration is a graphic design firm generating its own projects, initiatives, and content while taking on limited client work. Run by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit in Bloomington, IN. More…
blogs we publish
Brand New / Displaying opinions and focusing solely on corporate and brand identity work.
Art of the Menu / Cataloguing the underrated creativity of menus from around the world.
Quipsologies / Chronicling the most curious, creative, and notable projects, stories, and events of the graphic design industry on a daily basis.
products we sell
Flaunt: Designing effective, compelling and memorable portfolios of creative work.
Brand New Conference videos / Individual, downloadable videos of every presentation since 2010.
Prints / A variety of posters, the majority from our AIforGA series.
Other / Various one-off products.
events we organize
Brand New Conference / A two-day event on corporate and brand identity with some of today's most active and influential practitioners from around the world.
Brand Nieuwe Conference / Ditto but in Amsterdam.
Austin Initiative for Graphic Awesomeness / A speaker series in Austin, TX, featuring some of the graphic design industry's most awesome people.
also
Favorite Things we've Made / In our capacity as graphic designers.
Projects we've Concluded / Long- and short-lived efforts.
UCllc News / Updates on what's going at the corporate level of UnderConsideration.
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