Can you handle one more Anita Jeram release in 2022? I hope so –  because that’s what I’ve got for ya today! But there’s no coloring tutorial….I’ll be walking through 6 cards I made and sharing my thought process as the seenes developed – and giving you a list of 14 ideas to consider when creating scenes for your cards!

Tutorial: 14 ideas to spice up your card scenes

Let’s talk DESIGN!

Watch the video below and scroll to the end to leave comments or questions — or click HERE to watch it on YouTube and leave comments over there. I read both dutifully!

15 Tips to try!

STAMP IN LIGHT COLORED INK

Anything like a tan, grey, or pale color that goes with what you’re expecting to color (light red to use for a rose, browsn for animals, etc). That way you can make adaptations without having to deal with a big black outline.

CHANGE A SPECIES

Penguins are super easy! Just give them two white areas around the eyes, a beak, and black “paws”……making an animal into a bear is also easy since it’s just big blobby fuzzy shapes!

TRY A SOFT BACKGROUND FIRST

You can always change to a dark one later on top of the light one – but sometimes the light background can make the images stand out more.

BE OPEN TO RETHINKING IDEA #1

The first idea is not always the best idea! I had a boss who made us show 15 ideas every time, just so we’d get all the “expected” ones out of the way first.

CHANGE PERSPECTIVE!

Try stamping in a different place on the page – does that encourage you to wonder how or why the images are there? What story can that tell?

TAKE INDOOR IMAGES OUTSIDE!

Or outdoors inside. See what happens if you imagine the characters in the opposite setting!

 TEST STAMPS ON POST iT NOTES

Sometimes a quick stamping on a sticky note and moving images around can inspire you to think of the characters as move-able – what happens to their relationship if they’re close together vs far apart?

MOVE DISTRACTION AWAY FROM FIGURES

Unless a background is a large, simple type of image, like a big night sky, it can often detract from the figures in front of it. In this design, a low line of trees would just make the heads of the characters disappear.

VARY THE VALUES – LIGHTEST FAR AWAY

If a mountain is in the distance, make it REALLY far by making it super light. This works great also for making your figures appear larger since they’re darker.

SINK OBJECTS DOWN INTO SNOW

The rails of the sled are partly covered by snow so they seem to sink into it. Try that with feet, the bottoms of buildings, car tires…..

USE SMALL FIGURES IN THE DISTANCE

Size can convey how close an image is – a tiny mouse looks automatically far away!

TELL A STORY BY CONNECTING IMAGES

Create a pathway or trail between characters so they become related.

AGAIN, TAKE THE INDOORS OUTSIDE

Stockings in the stamp are probably “stolen” from a fireplace mantel, but when outside, they tell the story that Santa visits even the woodland critters!

USE A STAMP SIDEWAYS!

Just because it was intended for one use doesn’t mean you can’t change that up!

CREATE PERSPECTIVE

Don’t sweat over math or rulers – but give a little perspective to a building/window like this one. It doesn’t have to be perfect – just believable!

SOLVE A PROBLEM!

If you caome across a stamp that seems like it doesn’t belong – or the character might have some challenges…..solve it for them by adapting a scene.

Which scene did you like most?

Over at CCC you’ll find all these stamps for your creating pleasure – which one is first on your list?

Did you learn something?

I hope so! It was a fun challenge to find ideas from scenes made with these stamps that I could share with you to encourage stepping outside the box!

GIVEAWAY

I get to give away stamp sets! I’m giving away one each of the stamp sets to 6 people…6 winners! Just leave a comment with which is your favorite card idea, I’d love to know!

Supplies

1. CCC release
2. Prismacolor pencils 
3. Prismacolor Hex Chart
4. Polychromos Pencils 
5. Polychromos Hex Chart
6. Stonehenge Drawing Paper  AMZ  BLICK 
7. White Signo Uni-ball Gel Pen AMZ –  BLICK 
8. Presto Jumbo White