I Wait to See Problems

Sometimes it feels like it takes forever to finish something…like my Fairy Tale 2013 Calendar/Post Card Set. I started brainstorming for my Make Something Present for this year around April, and I decided I wanted to do something with fairy tales. I focused on the morals of fairy tales—or at least the morals I take from them now (and some I took more liberties with than others). I sketched different layouts and selected my favorites to create drawings for.

I started off strong. I had a basic idea of how I wanted my design to look; I decided early on that I just wanted the fairy tale characters to be white silhouettes because they’re simple and I wanted them to stand out against a color-filled background. I did initial layouts for many of the fairy tales pretty quickly…and then I walked away from it for a while. Partly because I wasn’t happy with the layouts I had, but mostly because I had reached a design wall and I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to fix it.

My initial layouts were not unlike my Retro Fake Ad Calendar with the image and calendar on a single sheet, but I eventually came to the conclusion that it might be best to send my design to a printer considering how ink heavy the design was. However, if I did that then I wanted my design to be separate from the calendar part (as a calendar only has a small window that it’s useful for).

So I stepped away from my fairy tale project because I needed space to let my mind rest…a solution would come to me in time. And in the meantime I felt like doing other things (like sewing). Intermittently I would go back to my fairy tale project and eventually came to a decision about what I wanted to do: I would create fairy tale post cards that would adhere to a separate sheet with a calendar printed on it.

Originally I wanted to be done with this project by the beginning of August…but that didn’t happen. I kept seeing things I was unsatisfied with—big and little things. I redrew many of my drawings because something would bother me about them. I shifted things around and changed textures and colors until I finally got done with it at the end of August.

It’s hard to stop looking for things to fix. I expect to see problems. I wait to see problems. I stare at it until I can see what’s wrong, because the worst thing is to have something printed and then to see something blatantly wrong. There’s nothing more frustrating than a problem that you’re unable to fix. So it took me a while to finish this project because I couldn’t stop staring. I stared until I couldn’t stand it anymore—and that’s when I finally sent it to print.

Fairy Tale 2013 Calendar/Post Card Set

Most everyone grows up with fairy tales in some variation or another because they not only entertain children, they often have morals attached to them. They’re an ingrained part of our culture; they’re in our books, movies, advertisements, and often alluded to in everyday life.

In my post card set, I drew selected fairy tales that each contains a moral that I take from that story.

Knock on Wood Notebook

I’d been eying this “wood” paper at the paper store for some time now. I’d pick it up, lustfully look at it and then reluctantly put it down because although I wanted it, I didn’t have a plan for it. The problem with the paper is that it’s not terribly versatile; it’s dark, heavy and textured—not good for printing. But it was pretty. And I like pretty things. So I finally decided on using this specialized paper in a project that would utilize its “wood” properties, and what came to mind was the idiom “Knock on Wood.” [I know. (Sigh.) I’m slightly addicted to using idioms in my designs.]

Idiom Calendar

Sometime in April I decided to create an idiom calendar for my “Make Something Present” for this year. I am particularly partial to wordplay and I love idioms. There are idioms for practically every situation and I find some quite amusing. Idioms paint visual pictures with just a few words and I wanted to portray that in my idiom calendar.

Animals Gone 7 Deadly Sins Calendar

Spring 2010. Although it was early, I thought that I should get started on my “Make Something Present”. I like making calendars, so I wanted to make another and came up with the format first. I wanted to create something with layers, so I decided on using different sized sheets that would go from the smallest size in the front to the largest size in the back.

Once I figured out how the calendar would be put together, I thought about what the calendar should be about. Suddenly it came to me: 7 Deadly Sins. With seven sins, I could divide the months up to two a sheet plus a cover sheet. But I didn’t want it to be a straight up “sins” calendar; I wanted to do something that would amuse me.

Retro Fake Ad Calendar

Fall 2009. My two designer friends and I decided to continue our one-year tradition of “Make Something Present.” This year, it was going to actually be “make something” (rather than the previous year of everyone specifically making calendars). But I decided to make a calendar anyway because it’s one of those useful things to make and giveaway. This year I wanted to make something more amusing (because I like to amuse myself).

While watching Mad Men, I got inspired by their fake ads and wanted to make my own. So I thought of not only plausible products from that time period, but also how I could incorporate some humor into it (since I love a bit of cheekiness). I took into consideration what housewives, teenagers and kids might buy and narrowed things down to six products:

Chinese Zodiac Calendar

Back in the fall of 2008, “Make Something Present” came into being. Two designer friends and I bought 100 jewel cases to be split between us. That year we were all going to make calendars as Christmas presents (and of course give them to each other as well).

So I had to figure out what the topic for my calendar would be, and only one idea popped into my head: Chinese Zodiac. I not only thought it could be a fun theme to work with, but with twelve animals, each month could easily correspond to an animal.