May Desktop Calendar

Well hello, and check me out being ON TIME with this month's calendar!
I know, I can barely believe it myself ;)

This month's challenge to myself, was to create a pattern brush in Adobe Illustrator using one of my own doodles, and to then use that to write May using the brush.

Above is a scan of the original drawings from my sketchbook - after these were scanned, the one top left was brought into Illustrator to be turned into a vector image to be edited and used to create a seamless pattern brush.
I used this course from Skillshare, which is so good - really clear and thorough, and easy to follow.

I was watching and working simultaneously - with the course open in Chrome, and Ai open at the same time - after each section, I then put what I'd learned into practice, rewinding and referencing the course as needed.

Anyhoo, a little playing around with the design later, and I created the pattern brush and then used it to write the word May for the calendar - another trick learned!

I added a few berries with the blob brush tool, a light coloured background, and the calendar itself - it's a clean and simple design this month, a rather calming change from the bright colour that was the April one :)

Simply click on the image below to download the calendar for your desktop.

Have a super May!!

Cheerio for now,

Sarah
♡

April's desktop calendar

hello to you!

I set myself a bit of challenge this month - I wanted to design the calendar digitally, creating it all in Illustrator and/or Photoshop.

I'd already doodled the lettering for April, in my sketchbook, so it made sense to use that as a starting point.

I scanned the doodle and then pulled it into Illustrator to clean it up and make it usable as a digital design element.

I then set to, recolouring it, working out to add texture to it, and adding the chicks and butterflies. These last two were done in different way - the chick was on the same sketchbook page as 'April', so that was scanned, traced and recoloured...then copied and pasted in different sizes around the page. The butterflies were drawn by hand directly in Illustrator - not something I've done very often but it was fun, and a good way to practice using the program. I drew one butterfly, and then copied it to create a second one, and recoloured that one so they looked slightly different.

Confession - AI crashed on me...twice!...but I refused to give in, as each time it had crashed, I'd learned how not to do something immediately before the crash. This way I got to redo the work, taking into account what I'd learned and how to do it better the second time around.

There is so much more I could have done with this, but honestly it took me hours! and at some point, you have to just go with what you have.

So, here it is, this month's desktop calendar...

I hope April is a good month for you!

Until next time...

Sarah
♡

March desktop calendar download

Hello and happy new month!

I had a wonderful sunny walk around the village this morning, and managed to get through the front door, just before the rain came.
It was such a treat to see the new season's lambs in the field - so tiny and fragile looking, but they are hardy little babes.
I also saw my first curlew of the year, and heard it's call...Spring is coming lovely people!!
I'd been struggling with inspiration for March's desktop calendar design, until I got home, looked through the photos I'd taken, and fell in love with this scene!

So there you have it...this month's calendar :)
Simply click on the image above, and that will take you where you need to go to download it.

Until next time,
Sarah

♡

Scrapbooks as sketchbooks

Morning!

I bought a new scrap book at the weekend, which I wanted to try out as a sketchbook - the paper inside is so beautifully smooth, that I find it perfect for pencil sketches, dip pen and fountain pen drawing.

There is no texture to the paper - which is something I would normally actively seek when creating products - but I love the smoothness of this thick paper/thin card for when I'm doing carefree doodling, in order to wind down of an evening, or to warm up my hands before working on a commission.

The other joy of this particular book, is that it is so very beautiful!
Just look at the cut out detail on the cover! And birds! I do love a bird or two.

The pencil sketches were drawn with my Pentel 120 A3DX propelling pencil, using 0.3mm lead. I love how delicate the lines look, and how much detail you can get with such a fine line.

The fabulous turquoise pencil is just there to look pretty ;)

I also wanted to test how well the paper would stand up to ink, so I got out all my pink inks (acrylic and bombay) and had a play - not one came through the back of the paper - and I also tested liquid watercolours as well as high flow acrylics. Same result.

Now I'm not suggesting we all ditch our traditional sketchbooks, I'm just saying that it's worth keeping an eye out for scrap books and photo albums in the sales, as often they have really good quality paper/card in them, which is perfect for doodling on.

This bird design was purchased from a Paperchase outlet shop for £5 - half it's original price of £10 -but it is available HERE on the Paperchase site for £7.50 in the sale.
The hard back cover is very sturdy (and gorgeous) and made up of the deep turquoise hard back inner, sandwiched between two layers of kraft card.
Spiral bound, so I can work on it with the spirals at the top, which stops them getting in the way whilst I draw.

It also has a beautiful ribbon to tie it up, which protects the inner sheets from getting marked or damaged.
There are 40 sheets to work on, and honestly, the paper is of such good quality that I could work on both sides if I so wished - I tend not to do this though, as you can get pencil and pen marks rubbing off on to the page below if you do that.

I've been using scrapbooks as sketchbooks for a while now - my first one had black paper pages inside it, and is fantastic for practicing with all sorts of different pens to get new, fun results. But that's a post for another day!

Materials used:
Vintage dip pen - these can be found quite easily on eBay
Birds scrapbook
Pentel pencil
FW ink pearlescent pink
FW ink fluorescent pink
Liquitex acrylic ink magenta
Dr.PH Martins Hydrus watercolours magenta
Golden High Flow Acrylics magenta
Dr PH Martin's Bombay inks
Caran D'ache Grafik HB pencil
The links are just for reference, so that you can have a look at the materials online...they will be available from other shops, so it's always worth looking around to find a price that suits!


Sarah
♡

February Desktop Calendar

Good morning!

I realise I'm a couple of days late, but this month's desktop calendar is now ready to download...
simply click on the image below :)

Wishing you a fruitful month full of love, fun and laughter!

Sarah
♡

New Year, New Challenge

Hello, and a very happy new year to you!

I do hope you've had a wonderful festive time of it, over the holidays?
Ours was fun, quiet and relaxed...and I woke up today, raring to get back into my normal routine (with a few tweaks for the new year).

One of the tweaks, is a new monthly challenge that I have set myself.
I want to test myself creatively, and also keep practicing my digital design skills...there is loads of room for improvement so the more practice the better!

My first challenge for this year, is to create a monthly desktop calendar, that can be downloaded and used by my online friends and followers.

I realise I'm a little late for January's but that's okay.

It's also not the best effort I think I could have made - but then hindsight is often 20:20.

Unsurprisingly, it took way longer than I expected...but isn't that the way when you're trying new things? I did learn a few 'what not to dos' for next month's calendar:

1. I was happier working in Illustrator than Photoshop for this exercise
2. I really need to create the numbers and punctuation for the font I was working on, at the end of last year.
3. It's quite tricky to find a photo with the right dimensions, and good areas of interest in exactly the right places - so you've ended up with a Wintery scene overlooking the Aire Valley where we live.
4. A bit more prep time would have been a wonderful thing - I will make sure I make time for this for February's, and it might not feel quite so 'chucked together' ;)

You can download the January desktop calendar by clicking here

Have a lovely day,

Sarah
♡