Style Boards..

So have you ever created a style board?  I create them each month, when I am desinging  my kits.. I come up with a color scheme, textures and designs I like... and then find papers, embellishments and findings.. that match my style board. You can create them digitally (which is what I usually do for my kit club), or you can create them in notebooks, on a paper, etc.  Usually when I do them on paper, I cut images from magazines, books, catalogs, snip pieces of fabric, print pictures off the internet, etc. I actually LOVE to do them in notebooks because I love to "feel" the texture of all  the things I am putting together. Plus If you keep them in a notebook, it's fun to go back and look at the different style boards. This is an example of style boards I do when creating color schemes. I found this awesome page in a magazine and loved the color scheme so much, I wanted to recreate it with papers I could include in my kits.  ( I actually taught an online workshop about this past year at Got Sketch and I THINK they are going to release it again in the new year..)..

 

WHen I do them digitally, I google search for specific things I am looking for and then save the image onto my computer.  Next I open them in photoshop and layer them in a document. Once finished, I print them out, or save them to my computer to look at later. This is the method I tend to use when  creating my kits each month. It's a ton of fun and it's very helpful when I am trying to stick with a certain feel or theme.

My blog designer, Adam, recently asked me to create a style board that represented me. He didn't know me that well and wanted to make sure the design of my blog really fit ME. That it represented me and who I was. I actually had never done one before that was all about my personal style.. so I was just as interested as he was, to find out how it would end up. 

So start,  I basically broke into four sections;

1- Actual pictures of me or my family and or art I had created

2- Prints and designs and products that I am drawn to

3-Backgrounds and textures that appeal to me

4- Type and fonts that I love

so I went to work findings images on the web that fit into those catagories (of course I already had the pictures of my personal art and life).  The funny thing is, I always KNEW I had an eclectic style and doing this exercise really confirmed to me, that I was right.

 
 

 

If you haven't ever done this.. it's ADDICTING! I spent .. um dare I say.. hours??...  finding images and actually ended up with way more than I needed. I then pulled my images into photoshop and created a style board in PDF form. If you don't know much about photoshop, you can just print the pictures from your computer, cut them out and paste them onto a paper! (collage as we like to call it :)). 

Style boards are also helpful when creating art projects. Alot of times I will see a color scheme, or text or a design I love and want to use it later on something I create. Style boards don't have to take a ton of work, but I have a leather sketchbook that I usually have on me and I jot down those ideas when they come. I also love that my phone has a camera built in.. because I can take pictures of those items when I am out and about and print them out later to put in the sketchbook next to my notes. This isn't anything new.. people have been doing it for years.. but I challenge you to do a create a style board sometime in the next few weeks.. that represents you!  For the New Year! I think it would be fun to do one at the first of each year, to see how my style has changed. So there you go! Something fun you can do over the Christmas Holiday... (not that you need one more thing to do right? lol)..

check back tomorrow on our blog when we will be giving away a CD from one of my FAVORITE artists.. she is a new artist and seriously.. I am in LOVE. I think you will love her work too! Happy Tuesday!

Comments

[Jennifer]

love this!! I took your class and enjoyed it :)

[Michelle LaPoint Rydell]

I love your idea Christy! I think I will try it in my art journal for the new year! Thanks for all of the inspiration!!!

[Jackie]

I love this idea! I pull things out of magazines and online all the time that inspire me, but to put them all together like this is perfect! Now, to just find an empty notebook...forget gift wrapping - I want to do this instead!!

[jamie]

this is great.
thanks for taking the time to talk your's through.
and i concur...a little addicted to your blog right now. dreaming of the time to play with my canvas'. you have inspired.
thank you so.
~j

[Lisa]

Great idea Christy!

[Rachel]

Love this idea Christy! Great style :)

[Sharon Osborn]

oooo, Christy, I like the idea of doing a board for the New Year. Kind of a here I am 2011! Thanks for the great idea. Wondering if your new artist is Mindy Glendhill? I am loving her music right now! Very gifted artist.

[Jeanne]

We have the same style!!! CRAZY!!!

[Francine]

I am so excited that you are evolving the monthly kits to mixed media. That is what I have always used your kits for unless it was a project kit that you designed. I can't wait for more inspiration for the monthly kits as they are piling up and was actually thinking about stopping them for awhile because I have so much sinfully stashed. My daughter is 30 and no grandchildren and there or just so many scrapbook pages that can be made after all these years....I crazy quilt, bead etc. and the kits for me are used for everything but scrapbook pages. love love love Scarlet Lime :)and the direction you are taking it :)

[Sylvia Drown (Baxter's Mom)]

I am so loving your blog! Thank you for coming back!!

[Janet!]

i admit it. i'm addicted to your blog right now. great. wonderful. perfect. unique. terrific ideas. thank you for being you! :)