Design a Watercolor Crest

Designing wedding invitations has never been more fun! This class is kicking off a 3-month series on designing a wedding invitation suite. We are starting with learning to design a watercolor crest, and in this class we will be making artwork to use throughout the entire suite. Over the next three months, look forward to learning about the different parts of the wedding invitation suite, how to design them, and what to do to get them from your pen or brush to the printer.

Design a Watercolor Crest is chock-full of new techniques for you to learn, from design and painting techniques to working in Photoshop. You will be inspired to dream and amazed at your new abilities. This class will provide you with grins, whoa’s and “Aha!” moments. The watercolor crest you will create can be used not just for wedding invitations, but for personal stationery, wall-hangings in baby nurseries, and no shortage of creative custom artwork. Take a look at the topics that will be covered.

Topics Covered

• Process of deciding shape, elements, painting behind a crest
• How to go from inspiration, to sketch, to painting, to digitizing in Photoshop
• Procreate tips—using snapping tool and drawing guides How to get your crest symmetrical
• Different types of crest frames (closed, open, ribbon)
• Shortcuts for how to draw an outline of a pet or animal
• Trending elements for crests (butterflies, pets, hobbies)
• Coloring Book Method for watercolor painting
• How to draw a banner
• What to do if you don’t have a scanner
• How to digitize watercolor artwork in Photoshop
• How to set up your Photoshop workspace—Toolbar, Layers
• How to use Photoshop to separate each design element
• Using guides from the ruler to help align
• How to move things forward and backward with layers, and how to align them precisely
• How to set up the file for the printing company

Want to join us for class? It's offered on-demand and available now for all Tier 2 students.  Some classes are also available to Tier 1 students. Click here to see the Tier 1 Class Listing.  

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Materials Needed

• Pinterest: see my heraldry board here
• iPad pro with pencil and procreate
• Procreate brushes: I use the blue pumpkin brush  by Heather McKelvey for drawing and calligraphy
• Watercolor paper: Arches cold press and hot press
• Watercolors: Daniel Smith and Winsor and Newton
• Scanner: Epson Perfection v600 (I scan files in as a .tif at 600 dpi)
• Printer: Cannon Pixma ip8720 (I outsource most things, but this is a good printer for at-home printing)
• Software: I use Adobe Photoshop

Homework

Want to see our student's homework? Search the hashtag #kcawatercolorcrest on Instagram. Be sure to check out #kallicampacademy for hundreds of posts from our student portfolio.

Instructor: Allison McClanahan

Website: wildwoodcp.com

Instagram: @wildwoodcalligraphyandpost