Sinners Flower Market Posters
How I used mixed media collage to make a cotton flower look like it was bitten by a vampire
Rethinking the Classic Flower Market Poster
I’ve been obsessed with Flower Market posters for a while—the typography, the bold color, the graphic simplicity, but I didn’t always like that the same type of place and city were always centered. I started experimenting with making my own flower market posters that focus on places I have recently traveled to or want to travel to in the future.
But then one day, while watching my forever film Sinners for the 12th time, the idea of a Sinner’s themed flower market poster popped into my head. I think it was Autumn Durald Arkapaw’s award-winning cinematography with those long, wide, cinematic shots of Mississippi cotton fields that got my brain into maker mode. I started to wonder, what if a cotton flower became the subject of a Flower Market poster?
And what if it looked like it had been bitten by a vampire?
From Film Still to Moodboard
I had a specific collage process in mind that I wanted to experiment with, so I started by building a moodboard—pulling images of cotton plants, archival photos, and film stills that captured the tone I was after.
From Digital Drawing to Physical Pieces
From there, I moved to my iPad and began sketching cotton plants using Linerity Curve. I like working in vector because it lets me quickly experiment with composition, scale, layers, and color, while also preparing files that can be used for vinyl cutting, digital embroidery, laser cutting, CNC, or 3D printing
Once the vector design felt right, I exported everything to Silhouette Studio and used my trusty Cameo 3 to cut the shapes from watercolor paper.
Even though Flower Market posters are typically flat and graphic, I wanted this piece to reflect my signature process—moving between digital precision and handmade texture.
So instead of printing color, I painted every element by hand.
Painting, Texture, and Material Choices
For the painted elements, I used Beam Paints watercolors (not sponsored, I just love them). They’re handmade using Indigenous methods and natural materials (including wild rice starch), resulting in a soft, slightly textured finish that feels almost ethereal.
I cut multiple versions of each piece and experimented with different backgrounds and color variations before choosing my final set. The golden copper paint on the cotton base turned out to be one of my favorite details—it catches light in a way that doesn’t fully come through in photos. You have to see it in person.
After painting, the paper had curled quite a bit, so I pressed everything overnight between tracing paper (using my Michelle Obama book as a weight).
Once flattened, I assembled the composition using my original iPad drawing as a guide, while still leaving room for some improvisation. I used my sticker-making machine to ensure clean adhesion. I’m messy with the glue stick.
The Vampire Detail: Solving the Blood Droplets
I originally painted the blood droplets with watercolor, but they weren’t quite giving “bloody vampire bite.”
So at the last minute, I switched to hand-cut construction paper. The sharper edges and flat color gave the droplets a more graphic, intentional look—even though cutting them was tricky due to their tiny size.
Next time, I might design blood droplets digitally for the machine to cut. I also added subtle colored pencil shading to the cotton bulbs to give them a bit more dimension.
Bringing It Back to Digital
The final step was photographing the finished collage and importing it into Canva to transform it into a Flower Market-style poster.
This part always feels like a full-circle moment—starting digitally, moving into physical making, and then returning to a digital format for presentation.
Some parts of the process were slow and labor-intensive, but once the system clicked—vector → cut → paint → assemble—it became surprisingly repeatable. I’m excited to keep exploring.
What’s Next
I think this might turn into a full series of fictional Flower Market posters inspired by favorite films, books, and imagined places.
If you have ideas, I’d love to hear them.