In the latest instalment of Fan Art news, we’ve partnered with CBS Consumer Products so you can create and sell officially licensed Twin Peaks fan art on Redbubble. We have no idea where this will lead us, but we have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange. 

Recap: What is the Redbubble Partner Program? 

Redbubble’s Partner Program is an ongoing program to allow fan artists to create new, officially licensed works and post them safely on Redbubble, without fear of future takedowns. If you’re unfamiliar with the Partner Program, read these links first: 

• The Redbubble Partner Program
• Current Brand Partnerships
• Frequently Asked Questions 

Twin Peaks Guidelines

To give your work the best chance of being licensed, take some time to read the brand guidelines. There are a few things to avoid and some details to keep in mind. We’ve highlighted some key guidelines below but make sure you’ve checked all the details before you start creating.

• You can create works inspired by the classic Twin Peaks series as well as the return season on SHOWTIME®
• The partnership does NOT include the Fire Walk With Me movie
• Please don’t use “Damn fine coffee” – It should be “Damn good coffee”
• No owls. We know. But them’s the rules.
• There’s a long list of symbols and references you can use including the Red Room, Double R Diner, Bang Bang Bar, Twin Peaks Sheriff Department, Donut Disturb Sign and many more. Check them all out in the guidelines

How to Submit Your Work

Tagging your work with Twin Peaks and TwinPeaks will automatically add it to the review queue. You may see a notification that your work is temporarily suspended, pending review. We’ll let you know as soon as your work has been reviewed.

When you’re uploading your work, don’t forget to include Twin Peaks in the title for added SEO juice (to make it more discoverable). And make your titles as descriptive as possible. For example, “Twin Peaks – Agent Cooper in the Red Room” or “Twin Peaks – Damn Good Coffee”.

When you’re tagging your work, don’t forget to add any other relevant tags, for example:
Characters: Laura Palmer, Agent Cooper, Dale Cooper, Donna Hayward, The Log Lady
Places: The Red Room, Fat Trout Trailer Park, Great Northern Hotel, Big Ed’s Gas Farm
Objects: Black coffee, Doughnuts, Laura’s diary, Log, Cherry pie, Cassette recorder

Best practice for tagging on Redbubble is to aim for around 15 relevant keywords. Check out our post on The Art of Tagging for more tips.

Design Inspiration and Resources

Characters, places, objects and recurring themes are a great place to start. You could create a tribute to your favorite character or consider some of the less obvious ones. Who has a cult following? Who is an unsung hero in the show? Think about your favorite scenes or episodes. Are there any classic moments or memorable quotes that stand out?

Refresh your memory on some of the locations or businesses in Twin Peaks. Think about objects, symbols and themes that appear throughout each series. It goes without saying that re-watching episodes will help  the ideas to flow. There’s no end to the analysis, fan theories, listicles, stills from the show, behind the scenes imagery you can find online. Here are just a few we’ve bookmarked for later:

Twin Peaks 2017: Interview with Art Director Cara Brower | Format
Inside Twin Peaks’ scene-stealing sets | The Space
A deep dive into David Lynch’s creative process | Huck Magazine
The 30 Best Twin Peaks Characters | Rolling Stone

There’s also no harm in taking a peek at what art already exists (both on Redbubble and other official merch) so that you can be sure you’re creating something unique and original.

Color Inspiration

One of the most uniquely identifiable things about Twin Peaks is the color palette. By borrowing the tones and colors from both the original series and the return, you can make your design feel typically “Twin Peaks”. One way of doing this is to grab a still image and import it into your graphics software of choice and sample some of the colors until you have a palette you’re happy with. Using reference images is fine for color inspiration but please make sure you don’t use screenshots as the base for you designs as this falls outside the guidelines. The video below shows you how you can use the imagery from Twin Peaks for color inspiration. You’ll see some examples from 50 seconds in.

There’s also a super nifty website/app called coolors.co where you can use reference photos to create color palettes. You can download the app for your phone or iPad, or just use the browser version for free. Here are a few examples. Not going to lie, we could make these all day.

Examples from Redbubble Artists

Hang tight! This partnership is pretty new so we’ll add a gallery of examples to this post as we start to get some works licensed.  Check back soon for more. In the meantime, leave us a comment if you’re a huge Twin Peaks fan. What do you love about the show? How does it inspire you creatively? Is there a character you think we need to celebrate more?

All images courtesy of TWIN PEAKS (SHOWTIME®) and CBS Consumer Products