Ever wondered how television performers really looked in color?

Original artwork hand-painted and designed by Swofford (that's me). The face was painted by hand, then photographed and combined with vintage-style typography to create this Art Deco Poster. It's not a mass-produced design; it's an original artwork turned into a museum-quality print.

This art print breaks down the bizarre makeup techniques required by the Baird System (c. 1926-1937), the first widely demonstrated television technology. Each color represents an actual makeup choice from the early television era:

• GREEN foundation to photograph properly under red-sensitive photocells

• EXAGGERATED dark contour lines to define features on the dim, 30-line display

• Bold highlights and shadows to create dimension in extremely low resolution

• Dramatic eye makeup to make features visible through the flickering neon display

The split-face design shows both the theatrical reality of early TV makeup and how it translated to the grainy, low-resolution Baird System screen. The right side is not a digital filter!! It was isolated to the red channel and actually photographed on a television screen to authentically recreate how the Baird System processed images. It's basically a whole television history lesson compressed into one striking image.

Perfect for: Film students, broadcasting history enthusiasts, vintage technology collectors, makeup history lovers, or anyone fascinated by the weird intersection of beauty and obsolete technology.

Print Specifications:

• 11×14 inches (27.94 × 35.56 cm)

• Museum-quality Enhanced Matte Paper

• Paper thickness: 10.3 mil (thick, premium feel)

• Paper weight: 189 g/m²

• 94% opacity

• Giclée printing quality

Display: Looks stunning in a standard 16×20 frame with white mat, or an 11×14 frame for a borderless look (frame not included).

Ships flat in protective packaging. Ready to frame and start conversations about obsolete technology.

From the creator of the viral "Real Reason Silent Film Actors Looked So Strange" video. Thanks so much!