New Year, New Shows

Theater postcards for the new year. These were done on a super-quick turnaround, and while I'm happy with how they came out, I wish I had a bit more time to finesse them. Two of the cards this time around are photographic. While the Chicago card in particular looks very straight-forward, it took quite a bit of work to make a photo that had just the right quality to it: nothing too modern to keep it timeless, simultaneously sharp and nostalgic, recognizable and distinctive. I had to use all the tools in my photo-editing and color-correction toolbox to make something that looks like it didn't have any work done to it.

Annie's Got a Gun

This past weekend was a production of Annie Get Your Gun by the Jewish Women's Repertory Company. I was originally brought in to design the poster for the show, and though they later decided to go in a different direction and use another designer, they paid me for my work and we parted on good terms, as it should be. I liked my poster and thought it would be a shame if no one else saw it. We went through multiple ideas and rounds of revisions on this one. Here's my favorite of the bunch.

Christmas in the Theater

Here are some new theater cards I made. I like the house on the Timeless Christmas one.

How Much Can You Bench?

It's a common tradition in some Jewish circles to give out a bencher, or Grace After Meals prayer book, as a souvenir at weddings and bar mitzvahs. My friend Rachel is getting married today and instead of going with one of the standard benchers out there, she asked me to designed a custom bencher for her wedding. Rachel loves to sing, and one of the things she wanted to include was a whole section of songs in the back. It was hard work typesetting the Hebrew and getting all the text in, but we made our deadline and it came out great. Check it out here. Click on the arrows on the right and left to flip the pages.

Children's Theater

Two more cards for kids’ shows.

Urban Sweetness

A friend of mine runs her own wedding cake and pastry company called Urban Sweets Bakery and wanted to spruce up the look of her blog, which you can find here. She had been using a standard blog template and wanted something more personal that reflected her brand and her tastes. Here's the result:

Seriously, how awesome are those cakes!

Cheesesteak Latkes

My friend Ben is directing a show that our friend Matt wrote. It's hilarious, so check it out this weekend. Show info here. Guess who made the poster.

Lotsa Cards

So many shows going on now. Here are some postcards.

I'm on Broadway!

Well, not quite. Over the summer I designed the title and key art for a show in the New York Musical Theater Festival, which starts next week. It's a musical about vampires called The Cure. If you're in the area, why not check it out.

Happy New Year!

Tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year. It is a time for reflection when we assess the previous year and make our aspirations for the coming one. Our family has a tradition that at the ritual-filled dinner the first night of Rosh Hashanah, we go around the table and say one nice thing that happened this year. My year has been an interesting one. What has meant the most to me are the new things I've seen, and that I've managed to be entirely self-supporting as a freelance designer. Hell, I'm impressed I pulled it off. Here's to bigger and better things.

This is the Rosh Hashanah card I sent out to friends and family. The yellow spells out "Shana Tova" or "Good Year" in Hebrew, the traditional greeting this time of year.