Mermaids and Hot Air Balloons

The brief for week 3 of Lilla Rogers 'Make Art That Sells' e-course was to combine air ships/hot air balloons/derigibles with vintage correspondence for the Scrapbooking market. I find this market exciting and overwhelming at the same time. Why? Because there is so much choice, so many themes to choose from such as travel, new baby, wedding, the list is endless. My head is still buzzing with so many ideas and that's what I love about this course. One brief can spark an idea which takes me off in so many different directions enabling me to fill my sketchbooks with ideas for future work... the only thing I can't get enough of is time!!

I worked really hard on this brief (I seem to work harder each week) but that's because I'm challenging myself to push through with my ideas whilst simultaneously learning new techincal skills whether that is through traditional media or media of the digital kind. The cherry on top this week is that I featured in Lilla's weekly review. We don't all get individual feedback (so I totally wasn't expecting it) and Lilla selects work for her weekly review in which she discusses points she feels will help inform, educate and benfit each and every one of us. It is from watching countless reviews featuring other people's work that I have learnt so much and have therefore been able to apply that feedback to my own work.

Below are a couple of screen shots showing my process. I hand drew my icons (elements) using a 0.1 black Unipin fineliner. Once I had a stack of drawings I scanned them in and opened them in Photoshop. I decided that I wanted to retain my original line work and didn't want to redraw as vector hence my decision to use Photoshop. I also wanted to incorporate vintage ephemera I've collected over the years (such as the lacy paper I've used in the background and some old postcards and ticket stubs). Once everything was in place I coloured my icons in using a variety of Photoshop brushes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this process and am pleased with the outcome.

#mermaids #hotairballoons #photoshop #sketch #Unipin #fineliner #handdrawn #scrapbook #vintage