skillshare vintage postcard eliasen section 3

Creating Vintage Postcards:Back to the Future

Section III Linda Eliasen (.com)@littlenono

SECTION IIISketch Compositions &

Digitize Your Drawings

Color & Illustration



Sketch Compositions & Digitize Your Drawings

Now that you have your city, futuristic elements, and Mid-Century

aesthetic in mind, it’s time to bring them all together into a single

composition. The composition should be interesting, balanced, clear,

and focused. If typography is going to be a big element in your

postcard, think about positioning and how the letters will tie in with

the rest of the space.

Personally, I like to create several small thumbnail sketches while I’m

thinking through compositions, and I sketch the bigger elements off

to the side. You might find that you want to draw everything together,

and that’s fine, too. Whatever works best for you!

Once you’ve sketched a few compositions that you like, use a scanner

or a digital camera to bring them into your computer. Create a layer for

your sketches in your Illustrator document, and place the images there

for now.

Sketch Compositions & Digitize Your Drawings




Before you start drawing, establish a few different color palettes. All

of that awesome research you did in Section I is about to pay off. You

probably noticed some trends in color palettes, didn’t you? The Mid-

Century has a few palettes that are very recognizeable. Create your

own or sample some colors from photographs of the Atomic Age.

I chose 3 colors that feel very retro to me. I want to overlap these

colors, so I’m making sure to see what they look like overlapped before

deciding on my palette. For more advice on developing color palettes,

I recommend taking Brad Woodard’s Color, Pattern, and Texture class

on Skillshare.

Now it’s time to illustrate your postcard! This class is more about

ideation and concept rather than technical skill, so I kept my illustration

pretty simple using just opacity layers and basic shapes. I wanted to

show that you can do a lot with a little! As you’re working on your

card, don’t forget about the back. Be sure to watch the video that

accompanies this lesson where I go through all of my steps from start

to finish. In the meantime, here’s my final product!




To Do List

1. Sketch Compositions

Bring all of your ideas together in a few compositions. Keep it simple!

2. Digitize Your Drawings

Scan or photograph your sketches and share them with the class.

Create a sketch layer in your artboard so you can easily reference or

trace them while you’re working.

3. Choose Your Colors and Start Illustrating

It’s go time! Bring everything together in Adobe Illustrator and upload

your finished illustrations to the class. I believe in you! Make something

you love!

Materials

Internet Connection

Adobe Illustrator

Paper

Pen, Pencil, Whatever you like to make masterpieces with

Sketch a Whole Bunch

skillshare vintage postcard eliasen section 3

Documents