I intended to start the year proclaiming “It’s the Twenties again!” full of optimism, vim and vigour. I found an illustration that caught my eye, and I had to replicate it for my New Year desktop. I named her Maud.
January seems so long ago and a different time. I kept putting off writing and the excuses piled up:
- Nothing interesting has happened to me;
- I don’t want to state any plans publicly because I’m bound to get ill and not do any of them;
- I’m learning lots about Adobe Illustrator and Premiere Pro, but other people can know more than me so what do I have to add?
- Silhouette Studio tutorials are on my agenda, but I can’t get inspiration and motivation to co-operate on the same day…
Suddenly, an opportunity landed on my desk. Take part in the Skillshare Teach! Challenge and publish a Silhouette Studio course. I’ve wanted to do a class since last year, and between New Year and Easter is a perfect time. Now I can tell myself I’ll write when I finish the class because I’ll have something worth talking about.
And Then…
Excuse number 2 rears its head halfway through the 45 day challenge. I’m out of action for a couple of weeks, all hot and cold, shivery and coughing. My voice sounds like I’ve been gargling with gravel and my head is trapped in a vice that’s getting tighter.
Did I? Have I? The novel coronavirus Sars-CoVid-2 began its spread around the world in January. The news each day was fearsome but, as I had only left the house once and knew no-one who had travelled to China, the chances are I haven’t had Covid-19. And yet…
Eventually, I felt better and published my class. True to form, the class has detailed examples and explanations and is just over 3 (yes, three) hours long. Fortunately, Skillshare class videos are separated into manageable time slots and remember exactly where you were in a video, so you can easily dip in and out when it suits you.
Class Description
For the Class Project we will create an A4 or US Letter-sized sheet of custom stickers.
The method I’ll show you will help you make stickers for any size planner, journal, or Traveler’s Notebook. We’ll have practice exercises along the way as we:
- Create a page template to cut two sheets of stickers from one sheet of paper
- Make a sticker shapes template page
- Save the templates so that they can be reused for future projects.
- Learn the tools available in Silhouette Studio including:
- shapes and lines
- point editing
- replicating shapes
- welding shapes
- Import images for designing the stickers
- Use text
- Learn about cut line settings and print bleeds for lovely, clean stickers
- Set up a Print and Cut Page with Registration Marks
- Understand the Send panel and the material and cut options
- Print!
- Cut!
- Stick!!
Writing and publishing Stickers, She Said demanded all my energy and I haven’t managed any new tutorials on my jbdigitals YouTube channel. Speaking of YouTube, you have probably seen countless adverts and promotions by YouTubers about Skillshare. Maybe you’re fed up of people promoting yet another subscription site and that’s understandable.
This is my second year subscribing to Skillshare and by watching classes taught there I have learned Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. I have tried all sorts of classes from drawing, surface pattern design, productivity, mindfulness and animation. If you enjoy learning and expanding your knowledge on all types of subjects, I encourage you to try Skillshare and connect with all the other students.
It’s The Twenties Again!
Vintage art and design is my current passion. And I just like saying “The Twenties”, it rolls off the tongue.
With its use of shapes and colour, I am fascinated by art from 1920’s onwards. An artist I discovered in February inspires me to improve my own use of shapes and colour. Now that I am making progress with Illustrator manipulating shapes is becoming easier.
Sybil Andrews was an English artist who settled in Canada in 1947. I am enthralled by many of her linocuts, they are so full of movement and energy. One of my favourites is this linocut capturing horses racing.
One way to learn how to make art like this is by copying. With the help of grid guides I drew my own version in Photoshop, using the Pen Tool.
The links below offer more of Sybil Andrews’ work and her life:
Drawing from Sybil’s style will provide me with hours of learning and pleasure. Especially as my husband, Ian, is now one of the many not working while Covid-19 changes our lives. Ian keeps me supplied with exceptionally good cups of tea!
