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I set my timer for one hour, and began this project early in the morning. My goal with each card in this series is to complete all of the art–from concept to finished image–in one hour each day.
This card started with a deliberately random choice of an image from the public domain, an Asian bell that is displayed at SeaWorld in San Diego, California.
The knobby-looking things on it reminded me of the vintage typewriter that I recently purchased at a yard sale, so I dashed down to our garage to photograph the keys. A few minutes later, the letters A, S, D, and F were pasted onto the bell image.
Then I started thinking about the imagery, and the silent women behind the typewriters in offices for most of the 20th century. So, I found an image on my own Shameless Hussies CD, and–after altering the image–placed her where I’d cut out broad areas of color in the bell. (Her image is very faintly repeated, smaller and in another color, towards the upper left side of the card.)
Next, I used another public domain photo of the Grand Canyon as the background for this collage. I significantly altered the hue and saturation in that photo.
Finally, I added the typed words, “I am,” with a drop shadow. Fonts are GF Halda Smashed for the typewriter, and Century Schoolbook for the card title & artist credit.
You can print your own copy of this ATC. Right-click on this link and save the image on your hard drive. Then, print the card at 150 dpi for a copy of the original 3″ x 5″ card, or alter the size to a more standard 2.5″ x 3.5″ card, or whatever you like.
I retain the copyright for this art card, but you can print it freely for your own non-commercial use, as long as you don’t alter anything except the size.
RESOURCES
- PDPhoto.org: Public domain photos including the Asian bell and the background canyon scene.
- My own copyright-free image CD, Shameless Hussies 1 (available from Cafe Press) for the photo of the woman.