by Oona Lei & Gian Montes
by Akane Yasuda & Grace Rosenman
Halloween has for decades been a cornerstone of the CalArts experience, and the accompanying posters are much of what people connect with our design program.
Annually, the fourth-year graphic design undergraduates (BFA4) are tasked with realizing these posters, and it’s quite exciting: “It’s such a statement project, it’s the project you look forward to do ever since your first year” (Gian Montes). The CalArts theater department organizes the event and decides on a theme, from which the designers distill number of creations, which are then screen-printed.
This year, the theme was Twisted Candyland. A board game popular in the USA since the ‘50s, with an added twist of degeneracy. Students showed different responses to the theme, for example Alex Cerutti and Avery Jagre imagined “Candyland, but you’re eating everything you see, including yourself; everything is wonderful.” Oona Lei and Gian Montes on the other hand looked in another direction, interpreting the theme as a “demonic presence that had taken over Willy Wonka and his Oompa Loompas.”
by Lyla Zhou & Marina Liu
by Alex Cerutti & Avery Jagre
The results are a medley of color and intricacy, each group going at it with a unique approach. Several were beautifully illustration-based, others boast elaborate digital 3D work. All were tied together by meticulous typography and lettering, especially in the titles.
by Jessica Peng & Bryan Gelderbloom
by Allison Hsiao & David Yoo
For the printing itself, the class decided on primarily using fluorescent and punchy inks. Lyla Zhou and Marina Liu even used phosphorescent ink and foam tape to add dimensionality to what they call their “two color 3D poster.” With clever halftone overlays and careful printing, the class exhibited the skill, patience and craft necessary to make large volume prints. Alex and Avery’s poster for example was “almost 90% halftones,” which was especially difficult since printing was done on one of Santa Clarita’s driest days. If you’re not familiar, dry desert air and screenprinting does not mix well – for Oona and Gian the “inks were drying too fast causing us to have to restart a color.”
Nonetheless, the screen-printers braved the adverse conditions and delivered a new collection of exciting and colorful Halloween posters, which can now be viewed in cabinets around our campus.
Special Thanks go to the Theater department, our Print Lab, the BFA4’s, and Alex Cerutti for coordinating between departments.
