Every drop starts with a theme. Sometimes it's a world or genre, like dark fantasy or retro horror. Sometimes it's the method itself, like Drop 1, which was built around hand-drawn artwork.
Then I pretty much disappear for a month, become nonverbal, and make 30–40 designs in the style of the drop. At the same time I hire artists I love to contribute as many pieces as they want. I pay their rate, full price, no negotiation.
That leaves us with a bank of 40–50 designs. Those go into a form and get sent to our most loyal supporters to vote on. You guys literally decide the art for each drop, and I fucking love that.
It also means we're not guessing when we spend real money to print at scale. The vote shows what people actually connect with, and there are always clear winners. That's why our drops don't have filler.