After some hemming and hawing, I decided to making a hand lettered poster with one of the truest quotes I know: "You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me."

Thumbnail

I started out with some thumbnail sketches of possible lettering styles with the word "BOOK".

Books & Tea - Complete - image 1 - student project

I decided to stick with a simple sans-serif style. From there, I made several small thumbnails of different layouts. (Unfortunately, I'm missing another page with a few more layouts, so I couldn't scan that in.)

Books & Tea - Complete - image 2 - student project

Then I chose my favorite thumbnail (the one on the left), scanned it in, blew it up and (terribly) used the mouse to play around with it some more, as well as get some guidelines and spacing laid down.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 3 - student project

^Wow, that's pretty ugly, haha!

Sketching

I printed out this basic layout and, using a lightbox, started sketching on a new sheet of paper. I really, really hate sketching and "finalizing" the pencil stage...but I've learned that doing so makes my life a whole lot easier in the digitizing stage. I'm still pretty much having to force myself through this part though, hah.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 4 - student project

^There are still a lot of spacing problems and I really hate how that "of" looks, but it's getting there!

Inking

After making some final changes to the sketch, I started inking. I decided to decide on the embellishments/flourishes later.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 5 - student project

The final inked and scanned piece:

Books & Tea - Complete - image 6 - student project

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about it right now.... I might need to take a break and look at it again in a couple of days.

Color

Color always stumps me. I'm not particularly tied to any of these colorways, although I like the black one best, so I might end up playing around some more.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 7 - student project

Updated:

I went with the dark color version, but I'm still not 100% happy with the colors. I'll probably simplify it some more before I add textures.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 8 - student project

Texture

I made some textures with India ink, brush pens, a textured sponge and a stamp pad.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 9 - student project

Update:

It's starting to look better! I'm using a combination of my handmade textures, as well as some PS brushes.

Books & Tea - Complete - image 10 - student project

Close up of the texture I'm working on:

Books & Tea - Complete - image 11 - student project

Final

Yay, it's done!

Books & Tea - Complete - image 12 - student project

A couple of close ups:

Books & Tea - Complete - image 13 - student project

Books & Tea - Complete - image 14 - student project

Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed this class! I learned a lot of tips and tricks with texture-making, as well as incorporating textures in Photoshop.

Honestly, I'm not 100% happy with my final work. I think I should have done, like, 20 more thumbnail sketches of the layout, haha. I settled too early on a simple, not-so-thought-out layout. Compared to some of the fun stuff everyone else is doing, I feel like my quote is rather blah. Some of the design (especially the background) was definitely a cop-out.... BUT I'm really happy with how the overall texture and colors came out--the finished poster makes me think of a tapestry? In a good way?

I'm really excited to take what I've learned in this class and apply these mad skillz to new projects!

Alaina Ho

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