Lil Tuffy

About

On today's episode, I sit down with Lil Tuffy, a San Francisco-based poster artist who’s spent more than two decades designing and hand-printing concert posters.

Tuffy's path into poster design started almost accidentally. After leaving the tech world and getting involved in the San Francisco music scene, he began making posters for shows around the city. What started as creating unsolicited posters for small venues gradually evolved into a full-time practice, eventually leading to work with legendary artists like Neil Young, Willie Nelson, and many others.

In this conversation, we talk about how the economics of concert posters actually work — from setting print runs to how revenue from poster sales is split between artists, bands, and venues. We also get into the logistics of screen printing, the timeline from design to finished poster, and how the role of concert posters has evolved from promotional material to collectible merchandise.

We also talk about his work with the Poster Institute, a nonprofit organization that supports poster artists around the world through events, exhibitions, and community building within the gig poster scene.

I've been collecting concert posters for over 15 years, and Tuffy is genuinely one of my favorite artists. I learned so much during our conversation and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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