Tuesday, July 09, 2013

Painting a Hari Raya greeting card

I hate greeting cards.

I was requested to make a Hari Raya greeting card for the company my mum works at, and at first I was very hesitant because I do hate greeting card designs. Meaning the cliché Hallmark, Memory Lane type greeting cards that companies send to clients and suppliers every festival. That's just not my cup of tea. And as I explained to a friend a few weeks ago, even cliché design is a style, and you need to be able to recreate that style as if it were an original style.

In case you haven't gotten it yet, I'm a bit of a snob when I think of cliché designs. But by golly, if I had a cliché style, I bet I could make a whole lot more money!

Anyway, as I was saying, corporate cards mean making standard designs, and I can't do that. Not I won't do that, but I really can't.

I decided to give it a go anyway, because beggars can't be choosers, and I could do with the money. I scoured the internet, and spoke to my Muslim friend over here (who buys cartoon greeting cards, so she was absolutely no help), and decided to go the calligraphy way and inject my own watercolour style.

Here's the process.






By the end of it, I loved it, but once I tried to give it the 'corporate' look, I failed miserably.

So it's back to square one.

I hate greeting cards.