Sketching for a Valentine’s day card

When thinking of what to do for Sarah's Valentine's day card, I had lots of sketches and illustrations from developing our Save the Date card. This card is a collection one series I explored illustrating a photo of us in the Chicago Cultural Center. Our wedding photographers, Gina & Tony, took an awesome photo us us in front of an arched window just outside the Tiffany Dome.

The look on Sarah's face is wonderful. I used this as the basis to do some art deco sketching.

This pencil sketch became a nice cover for the Valentine's day card.

The inside of the card reveals the inspiration for the sketch.

The back of the card shows an illustration I made in Indesign... Honestly the illustration didn't quite turn out that great. Perhaps it could have used more shading--or something. You'll also notice that I was trying a different font for the Save the Date. I much prefer the font we ended up using.

Custom-printed envelopes are one of my calling cards when making cards. They are nice extra touch, and while making them I'm often reminded of how perhaps I could have been a package designer. I simply love making an entire package that goes together. For this card, the sketch blown up bigger made a great visual--especially with having Sarah's face at the center with her cute smile.