Cards, Watercolors, and Calligraphy
maybe you'll be better at this than you expected?
Hello! Today’s activity focus is probably the most challenging and least child-friendly yet, but I know that plenty of my dear readers don’t even have kids anyway, so maybe this will prove to be a fun winter hobby for you 😉
The thing about making art for other people, even if it’s not amazing, is that the thought really does count. You don’t have to sell it. You don’t have to have “arrived” at your full skill potential. When you give someone art you made, you are communicating that you thought of them, you wanted to make something pretty for them, you enjoyed making it, and you enjoy them.
Today we’ll be covering two ways that you can make art for people even if you’re not good at drawing.
Imitate Art You Like
Coming up with art on your own can be intimidating, so I recommend gathering images from the internet. You’re not selling another artist’s work; you’re teaching yourself new techniques. Keep a Pinterest board going of “Art To Try.” Screenshot inspiration photos or copy the images and paste them all into a document then print out. (See our “inspiration document” above.)
One of my children feels stressed out by creativity, but having a reference sheet of ideas to imitate helped him actually enjoy it. He felt proud of the outcome and excited to add words and give them away as cards or bookmarks.
By the way, if you’re working with watercolors, you’ll want to have multiple pieces going at one time. I like to use washi tape to keep the watercolor paper flat and to create a white border.
Once everything dries, you can add onto it. Are these mini paintings perfect? No. But will they brighten the day of whoever opens their Christmas card? Probably. Did my kids and I have fun making them together? Definitely.
Here’s our post from May on easy watercolor ideas.
Calligraphy For Anyone
If painting isn’t your thing, let me ask you this: do you have good handwriting? If you’re good at cursive, chances are high that you’ll do well with calligraphy!
Before you start budgeting for a dip pen, metallic nibs, fancy ink, special paper, and instructional books…do you have a #2 pencil? That’s plenty. Same with a Crayola marker. Or a colored pencil. Or a pen. The secret is this: light upstrokes, heavy downstrokes. The Postman’s Knock (TPK) is a gold mine of instruction about all things calligraphy, and Lindsey’s post Faux Calligraphy Tutorial explains the concept beautifully. Here’s my very basic summary:
Here’s a dramatic example of normal cursive versus light upstrokes/heavy downstrokes.
Check out this cool method (inspired by TPK’s “Fresh Lettering Styles to Try”) that will help someone’s name look super cool just by using Sharpie and colored pencils blended together!
Here’s some pencil calligraphy from a really good quote we mentioned in last month’s book club.
If you find that you’re really enjoying this, maybe you can ask for calligraphy stuff for Christmas 😉 Walnut ink is my favorite. The cool thing about getting good at calligraphy is that people will even want your practice! Remember, something imperfect from you will mean more to your loved ones than something impressive from someone who doesn’t know them. Probably, anyway 😛
I hope this gave you some inspiration and ideas. I would love to see photos of whatever you try. Written letters are permanent gifts, and that applies to homemade art, too.
Warmly,
Hope from Family Scripts