End of last year I was asked by a close friend to do the bridal shower invitations for her sister. The theme – Cinderella. I was thrilled, because I was given full artistic freedom. Normally, good results are produced when words like “I trust your artistic judgement”. 🙂
Right from the very beginning, I decided to combine watercolour and some graphic art to create the invites. If you’ve ever wondered what goes into the creation process of wedding invitations and the like, here’s my process in a nutshell. This post briefly lists the ‘step by step’ involved in the creation of an invitation from start to finish.
Step 1: Watercolour Painting
The first step is to create the artwork. From the painting process we flesh out colours and aratistic direction. Below is a timelapse video documenting my painting process. I normally paint without a base sketch.
Step 2: Scan the Painting
Once we have the painting done to our satisfaction, we then have to scan it. I have a regular scanner at home, nothing fancy. I always scan my paintings under the following settings, 300 dpi, full colour and saved in png format. 300 dpi guarantees you a high resolution for print, and .png formats are low in file weight. Most people like to save as jpg, however that format does not retain full detail and is considered lossy in image quality.
Step 3: Rearranging and Placement
Using Photoshop, I open the scan and start my process of arranging the flowers in a manner that would suit my liking. It is much like arranging flowers, but digitally. This next step is important and requires a bit of Photoshop knowledge to execute. To clean up the image and white background, I use a Photoshop action that I downloaded as a free resource offered on a website.
They explain how to load the action very well. Just a fabulous resource, and for free to boot!
Step 4: Design & Layout
So there you have it. This is the process I go through when it comes to creating and designing a wedding invitation suite. Send me a message if there are any questions or queries.
