A Little Art History

I'm a history major according to my degree, but an artist by nature. Today I'm going to combine the two for a very brief art history lesson:

WPA (Work Progress Administration) posters date from 1936 to 1943, they are part of the New Deal spending programs to help unemployed artists while providing a service to the American public. You can read about the program in more detail here. All the posters fall under public domain so you can save any WPA image you see here and on the website.

The posters would serve several purposes including to promote cultural programs,

educational programs,

community activities,

health and safety programs,

and my personal favorite travel in the US,

One day I tried my hand at duplicating the lithograph style of the WPA travel posters in Photoshop. Here's a before and after of my tinkering, somewhere I wrote the steps it took to get the image I wanted I hope I find it again some day.

Halloween is almost here and I will be spending a few days making costumes. After that I will post a tutorial on how I made the 5 point stars, promise.