Greeting Card Designer

Art Licensing Interviews

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 18:12:00 +0000

Check out these interviews about Art Licensing:

When Religious Faith Meets Licensing

Surfboard Artist Talks about Art Licensing

Interview with Licensing Artist Patti Gay

Great Images from Italian Publisher & Artist

Interview with Licensing Artist Sara Henry

Artist BJ Lantz Talks About Licensing

Interview with Card Artist Valéry Goulet

Sean Kane: Fun Designs from Bikes to Teapots

Great Card Design

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:20:00 +0000

I love the design of this card by Betsy Bush! It has a feeling of celebration and motion. The colors are also very interesting. Adding dark brown is a big plus too.

How to Submit Your Card to This Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 04:04:00 +0000

Do you have an interesting Card Design? Submit your card here an it might be featured on this blog. Greeting card designer blog that has over 30,000 visitors, followers and subscribers monthly. Readers include card publishers, editors, designers, sales reps and retail stores.

HOW TO SUBMIT :

1. Send jpg's by email to GCDBlog@gmail.com. (1 per email)
2. Send 300 dpi resolution.
3. Please embed your contact info in art (see below).
4. If your card has a light background, include a black border around the card (see below).
2. Note on email Subject Line: BLOG CARD SUBMISSION

How to Embed Contact Info:
**Please embed your contact information *inside* of the actual jpg art piece**

EXAMPLE

**Make sure your contact info is easy to read if it is 3 inches wide.

Do you get this joke?

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:01:00 +0000

If you watched the news yesterday, then you might get this joke.

I couldn't resist making a political greeting card. Politics is great source of my humorous inspiration.

New Sympathy Card

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:56:00 +0000

Here is my new sympathy card published by RSVP. They have nice textured paper stock!

Valentine for Bikers

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:30:00 +0000

Here's one of my favorite Valentine cards. It was designed by a local artist, Marie Jensen http://www.februarystarsinc.com/index.html

Vintage Postcards

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:37:00 +0000

Here are some interesting vintage postcards on the blog "Topdesignmag" Check out all the postcards at http://www.topdesignmag.com/nice-vintage-postcards/

to see more vintage postcards go to the article.

How I make my handmade art.

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:11:00 +0000

Even though most of my art ends up on the computer, I still always start with handmade art.

First I paint on mat board, and then I cut the board into pieces. After that, I scan them into to my computer.

From there I crop, shape, align the patterns into art.

Here's what my studio looks like right now as I create new patterns and color mixes!

How to raise a child in the 1950's

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:33:00 +0000

I ran across this old book on how to raise a child in 1955. It's great for making one-of-a-kind "mail art", but it's also pretty funny (and scary) otherwise:

Lesson Learned: Birthdays are strange and frightening situations. Yeah, these girls look pretty scary to me too.

Lesson Learned: STAY OUT OF MY WOODSHOP GIRLS!

Lesson Learned: Who knows! Just watch out for the stick!

Lesson Learned: It's fun to wear gay costumes and sew like your mom.

Lesson Learned: Boys are allowed to hang out with girls without the fear of "catching" girly habits.
Wow. I feel so much better now, just knowing that.

~

File copyrights in 15 mintues!

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:15:00 +0000

I filed copyrights for 108 greeting card designs in about 15 minutes while watching the Super Bowl. I'm so glad the copyright office accepts digital images online! Normally this would have been an all day event. Here's how to do it: http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/copyright-filing-time.html

Most Unusual Valentines Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Greeting Card Designer Blog's

MOST UNUSUAL VALENTINE CARDS

HOW CARDS WERE SELECTED

Over 300 Valentine cards submitted for the "Most Unusual Valentine" according to guidelines. One winner and three finalists were chosen by Kathy Krassner based on: something that's not typical for a Valentine card, yet gets the message across in a unique way by design and verse. Also considered was unique artwork, unexpected juxtapositions between design and verse, something very funny or very touching, and designs that evoke an emotional response. Kate Harper chose additional "honorable mentions" she felt had interesting design concepts and messages.

JUDGE: Kathy Krassner

Kathy Krassner is the owner of Krassner Communications, a longtime stationery-industry veteran who currently serves as Director of Communications for the Greeting Card Association, Editor-at-Large of Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine, and Communications Consultant for the National Stationery Show.

WINNER!

Some of Me Cards
http://www.someofmecards.com/about.html

Kathy Krassner Comments:
I appreciated the simple yet imaginative design of this card, which effectively combines white space, clever embellishments and heartfelt versing to create an unusual Valentine's Day card that can be purchased by either a man or woman for February 14th and beyond.

Front Message Reads: "You Make My Heart Race"

~ 3 RUNNERS UP ~

Runner Up!
True Emotions

Kathy Krassner Comments:

This card's flirty cover image featuring bright touches of color perfectly complements its handwritten-looking, upbeat message: "Valentine's Day... let's make it an everyday affair."

Runner Up!
M Design Studio, Inc.

Kathy Krassner Comments:

"This card conveys a hip, urban feel with its bright-red, graffiti-like "love rocks" message that pops against an ink-splattered background, and is likely to appeal to a broad demographic of consumers."

Runner Up!
Scarlett Greetings, Karen Coombes

Kathy Krassner Comments:

This "unvalentine" offers a humorous "happy singles awareness day" greeting paired with a cute, paper-collage skunk that's sure to bring a smile to many faces on Valentine's Day.

~ HONORABLE MENTIONS ~

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Unique Colors and Textures

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
It is from pets who appear to run the household.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
The hearts spill over the edges and simple line drawn character expresses much emotion.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Humor is edgy and from the pet's point of view about the challenges of relationships.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Elegant and witty design. Eco-friendly feeling.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Witty visual concept of shooting an arrow into a maze to reach a heart.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Playful concept of nudity. Brilliant colors go beyond the traditional Valentine colors.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Techie humor and it could be for a man or woman.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Uses contemporary graphics to make a heart tree. Tree limb designs are interesting.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Front of card appears to be a "what's going on here?" puzzle, until you open and read the inside message.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
It's very difficult to design a emotional card with just the color black and one tiny dot of red.
This artist has succeeded at doing that.
Nice warm words and wonderful image of birds at dinner.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Visually stunning. Words express image clearly.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
A new twist on a greeting card. Sender could include a real key in envelope or possibly a gift.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Brilliant colors reflect jungle romance. Monkeys tails hint at an incomplete heart.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Strong immediate feeling of happiness and love. No words needed.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
The use of children images for an adult card.
Inspiring for people who want to be reminded of their own childhood playfulness.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Panda is symbolic of affection.
This artist brings their own humor into the concept, using Valentine's Day as a historical event.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Design goes beyond the traditional Valentine's day card
by using key elements of a strong color cutting through the top and bottom half of the card.
Simply drawn cat evokes a warm emotion. This is a challenge to do in line drawing.
Whimsy is also added by painting a blue head on the cat.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Contemporary theme timely to environmental issues of global warming.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Pushing the envelope of humor.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Uses contradiction with affection.
Who would ever think of hugging a cactus? This critter is expressing true love.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Victorian elements in this card are mixed with textures and shadows of words in the background.
Even though there is very little color on the card, the message is still strong.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
For the most part it is a traditional valentine, but having it come from a pet makes it fun and playful.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Strong design using positive and negative space.

Kate's Comment on why it is unusual:
Minimalist contemporary.
Nice mix of an innocent background pattern meeting with a bold animal.
It feels like it is in motion, entering and invading the card space.

The Art of Photography in Licensing

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 19:07:00 +0000

Here's a nice interview with Dianne Woods, licensing artist (who also creates some adorable imagery with animals). Here's an excerpt...read entire article here

© Dianne Woods

In your view, what's a key/most important quality to develop as a licensing artist in order to succeed in this design field? Have the emotional wherewithal to hear requests for changes to your art and the technical skill to execute them promptly. If your art is rejected, and it will be, don't take it personally. Rejection is not necessarily a statement about the quality of your work – it's more likely a statement about market trends. Art licensing is a business. Be persistent.

What advice would you give other artists that are considering the art licensing field? A topic frequently explored on artist and licensing blogs is the tendency for artists to become isolated. While solitude can be a great contributor to the creative process, it can also make you a little loopy.

My solution has been to join a group here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We meet once a month to discuss the industry, review portfolios, give and listen to feedback, get inspired, vent frustrations, hear guest speakers, swap technical tips, and just generally be connected and enjoy each other's company. ...read entire article here

Video Greeting Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:39:00 +0000

Check out this interesting article about video greeting cards:

The cards, made by Your Video Card, consist of a 6cm (2in) LCD screen and a discreet USB port that can be used to transfer images from a computer, or recharge the screen's battery.

Users can buy a card, or record their message on the company's website.

...article continued

Last Call for Valentine Submissions: Deadline Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 00:44:00 +0000

Reminder: This Tuesday (1/31) at midnight is deadline for submitting your valentine card to the "Most Unusual Card Design." -Kate

Here's the info again for how to submit:

Do you have an unusual Valentine Card Design? Submit your card here if you want to be featured on this blog that has over 30,000 visitors, followers and subscribers a month. Readers include card publishers, editors, designers, sales reps and retail stores. (See example of the past feature of unusual Christmas cards here).

JUDGE
Kathy Krassner will select the "Most Unusual Valentine Card."

Kathy Krassner is the owner of Krassner Communications, a longtime stationery-industry veteran who currently serves as Director of Communications for the Greeting Card Association, Editor-at-Large of Gifts & Decorative Accessories magazine, and Communications Consultant for the National Stationery Show.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR VALENTINE'S DAY CARD:

1. Send up to 5 Valentine card images jpg's by email to GCDBlog@gmail.com

2. Deadline is January 31st, 2012

3. Please embed your contact info in art (see below)

How to Embed Contact Info:
**Please embed your contact information *inside* of the actual jpg art piece**. (see below). It helps keep artist names and their artwork together. I will only be posting art, and not additional text, so please put your name on the art.

EXAMPLE: Option #1

EXAMPLE: Option #2
Outside plus inside

If you have text inside your card you want seen,
put both the inside and outside of card in one image like this:

**Make sure your contact info is easy to read if it is 4 inches wide.

How to Use Social Media in Art Licensing

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:56:00 +0000

Here is a must-read article by Lance Klass. Here's an excerpt...

I've discovered that each of these five components – main art portfolio site, art business blog, Facebook business page, Twitter, and LinkedIn – tends to support my overall effort to promote the works of my artists and thereby bring in new licenses for their art. One of my approaches to using social media for free publicity is to debut a new art collection on my art portfolio site, put an image or two from that collection with a promotional description on Facebook, send out tweets about the new collection to my followers on Twitter and occasionally I'll even discuss it on my blog or put a notice about it on LinkedIn as well. I do love free publicity. article continued...

#1 Graphic Design Kindle Book

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:55:00 +0000

Last year I wrote a book on How to publish articles on the Kindle. I've been very fortunate that it continues to be a top seller for over a year and still remains the #1 in the graphic design category.

I just updated it with changes in the 2012 Kindle Technology. If you are a writer or any kind of creative person and want to publish your ideas on the kindle, this is a great jump start for publishing.

12 Online Portfolio Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:25:00 +0000

Here are some resources in this article for online portfolio sites. They are places you promote your design skills.

to read entire article at designmodo blog go here...

Creative Portfolio Community Sites

Behance

deviantART

Portfolio's Friend

to read entire article and see all 12, go here...

Wall Decal Sticker Designs

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:57:00 +0000

Check out this great article on wall decals. These are really interesting. To see more go to Smashing hub blog.

Kate Harper | Gift Design with a Sense of Humor

www.kateharperdesigns.com |

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/kateharperdesigns

Twitter: http://twitter.com/kateharpercards

Blog for Artists: http://kateharperblog.blogspot.com/

Free Greeting Card Booklet Today: Unusual Ways to Market Your Greeting Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:05:00 +0000

On Monday, January 23, "Unusual Ways To Market Greeting Cards,and 22 places to get your designs featured "will be free. Go here to download.

Booklet also has 22 different places to get free promos for your cards in professional magazines and design blogs.

Unusual Ways To Market Greeting Cards,and 22 places to get your designs featured. How to get your cards noticed in non-traditional ways.

Stamp Prices Increase This Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:32:00 +0000

None of us in the greeting card business are a big fan of stamp price increases -- but like it or not, be aware that

stamp prices will be increased This Sunday, January 22nd. Here's the scoop:

-U.S. postage stamp is about to jump from 44 cents to 45 cents

-Postcards will jump from 3 cents to 32 cents.

-Letters to Canada and Mexico will increase by 5 cents to 85 cents.

-Letters to other foreign countries will go up from $0.98 to $1.05.

To calculate prices for any item see the USPS price calculator.

Big Growth: Chinese New Years Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Check out the article today in the San Francisco Chronicle. Here is an excerpt:

Greeting Card Universe, the world's largest greeting card store, announces robust and growing sales of 66% year over year of Chinese New Year cards for 2012 to herald in the most auspicious of the Chinese zodiac, the year of the Dragon, celebrated this year on January 23rd. Boasting over 520,000 original card designs, Greeting Card Universe has quickly become the online destination for shoppers seeking the perfect card for both traditional and uncommon holidays and events.

Article continued...

7 Sins of Business Card Design

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:32:00 +0000

Here's an excerpt of a good article by Desizn Tech Blog. To read the whole article see Desizn Tech blog.

#6 Difficult To Tell What You Do

Take nothing for granted when you design your business card. Often, people will distribute business cards for "mystery" business, businesses that are difficult to identify. Make sure that your business card is designed to leave no question about what your business does!

Read the rest of the article here.

Technology, Humor and Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:26:00 +0000

If you are not tired of hearing my opinions on the card design business and art licensing...here is an interview I did for the blog "The Moon from my Attic" blog on the topic of Tech, humor and cards. Here is an excerpt. To see entire interview go to blog post...

Question: Please give us your analysis of the market based on your own experience and contacts. I still feel so new to this career, that once I think I know what is happening, then the opposite happens. My personal opinion is to look in the direction of tech. That is where the world is right now. Recently I bought a Kindle Touch for $99, yet the only flimsy skins (rubber cover) I could find started at $20! Interestingly, all of these skins had art on them. Common sense tells me these skins can be made very inexpensively, and yet people are buying them for this steep price. In my mind, that's the future.

To read entire interview, go to blog post...

3d Printers get cheaper and easier to use.

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 02:37:00 +0000

Heard a podcast today on "Buzz Out Loud" talking about how etsy fans would love these new inexpensive, east to use 3D printers. To me, they are really 3D manufacturing machines, rather than printers. This one is $1,299, made by Cubify and will be on the market sometime in the next few months. Sounds like a great way to start a business or make prototypes.

5 Ways for an Artist to Start a Free Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Kate Harper) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:31:00 +0000

Here's a great article that covers the in's and out's of where you can go to get a free blog. All artists should have a blog...even if you only post once a week or once a month! It's a great way for the public to get to know you and see your art.

Here's an excerpt by Clair at the "Tips and Tricks" blog. To read entire article, go to http://www.namase.com/blogging/choosing-perfect-free-blog-provider.shtml/

The explosion of social networking and micro-blogging has lead to a corresponding explosion in the popularity of blogs and article writing. If you're looking for a free provider to host your blog, you probably want to choose one that you can stick with in the long-term.

Here are five popular services that offer free blogging potential, and some reasons why you might want to choose them as the host for your journal, website or photo blog.

1. Google Sites

You may be quite familiar with Google Docs, but have you tried Google Sites? Sites is a lesser-known addition to the Google Apps family that allows you to pull in data from your Google Docs and some Google Gadgets. You can then sit other elements around it, such as blog posts, RSS feeds, forms and static pages. Layouts are reasonably fixed, though, so if you need to adapt the appearance of your website and tinker with code, you're probably best off looking elsewhere.

Sites aren't the most intuitive service, and many writers still choose to use Google's long-standing platform, Blogger. Blogger is undoubtedly more suited to 'pure' blogging, but anyone who uses Google Docs extensively may find Sites offers them the flexibility they need as they outgrow more basic blogging solutions. It's also great for users to work extensively in the cloud through Google Apps.

2. WordPress.com

WordPress is undoubtedly one of the most popular tool on the web. It comes in two flavours: WordPress.com is a hosted blog site which gives you limited control over your posts, whereas WordPress.org provides you with the necessary tools to install the same software on your own server. If you head to WordPress.org and download the files needed to set up WordPress on your own server, you'll be able to pick up some basic programming knowledge as you tinker with the code, making it a good choice if you're learning PHP.

But even just being familiar with WordPress is useful to know if you plan to get into blogging on a freelance basis. It's so widely used for blogging now that it has almost become a standard, and a huge amount of regular article-writing work is based around some knowledge of the WordPress interface. Having said that, if you just want somewhere to post pictures or a journal, you may find WordPress is overkill for your needs. And if you're planning to install it yourself, you'll need to spend a little time setting it up before you begin.

To see 3., 4., 5., see the rest of article on...To read entire article, go to Tips and Trips Blog http://www.namase.com/blogging/choosing-perfect-free-blog-provider.shtml/