In Bonus Exercise 1, I touched upon the subject of using a sketch more than once. I wanted to briefly touch upon it again, but in a slightly different way. I invited you to draw a basic sketch of layouts that you had designed. I have done this plenty of times so it’s easy for me to do. I realized that perhaps, you might need to grasp the concept from a slightly different angle. Here is what you need to do. You know how some people who are mechanically inclined will take apart a computer or an alarm clock to see how it works? You’re going to pretend you are one of those people. Don’t worry. You don’t need any mechanical skills. Now, look at a layout you have completed. This might be easiest if you have glued anything down. Digi girls can hide the layers. Remove the title and the journaling. Take away the embellishments. You are now left with just the basics: photos and maybe a few pieces of patterned paper. This is at it’s essence your basic design.
In many ways, I do this every time I make a sketch. While some people can draw the sketch first and make the layout, I can’t. I have to push the items around on my desk to figure out how I want to place them. Once I have a completed layout, then I can draw a sketch. Making a sketch wasn’t easy for me at first. However, once I learned to reverse engineer a layout by dissecting it into basic groups or parts, it became a breeze. In fact, it also gave me the ability to manipulate other people’s sketches with ease.
If you don’t think you are ready to reverse engineer your own sketch, that’s ok. There are plenty of sketches out there for inspiration. Speaking of which, here is my latest sketch…and yes, I made the hybrid layout first and then reverse engineered it so I could draw and share the design with you.
Rawr: Dinosaur World by Christy Strickler |Supplies Cardstock: Bazzill; Digital Kit: Captain Crazy Pants by Traci Reed Designs and Amanda Yi; Other: Glossy Accents
This kit was provided to me during my time as a design team member for Traci Reed Designs
Captain Crazy Pants by Traci Reed Designs and Amanda Yi
Bonus Exercise 1: Is it OK to Use a Scrapbook Sketch More Than Once?
