For those of us with a wee bit o' Irish blood, or those that are looking for an excuse to drink green alcoholic beverages, St. Patrick's Day is a fun day -- mostly because it allows me to dress in green and prance around like the leprechaun that I am. I actually wear a button that says "World's Cutest Leprechaun".
To help spread the love for this festive little day, I wanted to share with you how I sketch out my cards, and show you one of the newest cards in the shop.
The first thing I do is pick-up my pen and my sketchbook. Sometimes I am able to write out what I want a card to say perfectly the first time, and other times it takes several tries before I get the layout and my cursive exactly the way that I want it. The "happy St. Patty's Day" you see above, sadly, did not make the cut -- well, not sadly, I'm actually glad it didn't make the cut; it looks quite horrid.
As you can also see, it usually takes me at least a couple of tries to get the perfect little drawing to go on the card as well. Again, sometimes I'm able to make it awesome the first time -- like the shamrock -- and other times it takes a little work -- like the hat.
Luck of the Irish card
After I have sketched out exactly what I want, I scan it all, and take to Photoshop where I crop everything down to size. After all of the images and words/phrases are saved in a special folder, I open up Word while I say the magic word: "wuuurd", and plug it into a special little template that I have saved. Then I print it off, and -- voila -- what you have is the card that you see above.
I usually write out a bunch of words, or phrases, and draw a bunch of little things before I scan it all in. That way I'm not scanning every single second. Sometimes an idea comes really quickly to my head, and other times I might sit on a drawing or phrase for a while because it just doesn't seem right when I first put it on the page. Some drawings and words make it all the way to the final stage, and other times they will never be more than scribbles on a piece of paper.
p.s. I have changed the comment section. It is now a pop-up window and you don't have to prove you are not a robot. I am finding it really difficult to read those verification words, so I assume that others are as well. Peace :)
LC - that is so wonderful! You are great at pre-sketching. I am not as good which is why I end up putting some work into bad compositions. I need to work on sketching first instead of jumping right in!!!
ReplyDelete- Brandi
Thanks, Brandi! It's hard to sit down and not jump right in, isn't it? Sometimes, if I can't get my sketch quite right, but I really like the idea, I will go with a sketch that I didn't quite feel right about and end up loving it once it's all together on the card.
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