Carlee Justis shares some of her process in creating her new greeting card line.
I was recently commissioned to do 12 watercolor paintings for a line of greeting cards. There are very few things that I dislike about watercolor painting but the one I never seem to get around is the amount of re-drawing I do. This time I decided to try something different. Once I had the sketch how I wanted it, I scanned it and re-moved the border and using Photoshop I erased some of the lines and shading. Then I adjusted the final image so that the line work was a burnt sienna color. Then I simply printed it out (very lightly!) onto 140 lb., cold pressed Arches Watercolor paper. Yes, it did take a few tries to get my Epson printer to grab the heavy paper but once it did it printed like a charm!
At this point I also printed out 4 small versions of my sketch, I used these to help define my ideas for color and shading. I used color pencil to choose my color palate.
NO SECOND CHANCES WITH WATERCOLOR! This has proved to be the second most important step in my process! The first being a good drawing.
When I was ready to start painting. I started with the frogs and the flowers, my idea was that the frogs would be a secondary read when looking at the cards on the rack. I wanted the frogs to blend in a little so that it might seem to be a simple card with a vase with flowers but then - "Oh, how cute there are frogs sitting there". When I completed the painting I photographed it and took it back to Photoshop where I added the border back in and very carefully masked the areas of the painting that break the border, they say that it's always good to break the border. I did make a few changes along the way and the finished card is slightly different from my original sketch but I believe it is a success, now on to the next one!!!
To see more of Carlee's wonderful cards visit her website at www.CarleeJustis.com
