- Grandma Baker has a new computer and she wants to show her grandkids just how cool grandma really is (they think she wouldn't even have a clue how to spell computer much less use one!). So Grandma Baker is going to make "Back to School" greeting cards for all the grandkids (she might even tuck in a few dollars as a Back to School gift). Since she is new to computers and desktop publishing she wants to design one basic card that will work for all nine grandkids -- ages 15 to 7, boys and girls. She's going to print them from her color inkjet printer.
Graphics sources include clip art bundled with desktop publishing software, 3rd party images on your harddrive, CD collections, images that come packaged with other programs you have, images downloaded from the Web, or graphics you scan in with your desktop scanner.
To keep it simple Grandma is going to stick with the clip art that comes with her software. When first learning desktop publishing and how to use your software, using what's readily available in the program is a acceptable.
What kind of image says Back to School to you? Some ideas that Grandma thought of:
- School bus
- Desk (with or without student)
- Chalkboard
- Apple (as in an apple for the teacher)
- School books or other supplies
- Classroom
- School building
Thinking back to her own school days, Grandma Baker is tinkering with a 3Rs theme -- reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic (Reading, Writing, Arithmetic/Math). She even tried her hand at poetry, writing a little poem about the 3Rs.
The next step is to find a piece of clip art, or several pieces, that illustrate the 3Rs. Books for reading seems obvious. A pen or pencil and paper for Writing. Math could be numbers or perhaps a ruler.
Browse your clip art
You can look through the printed clip art catalog (if there is one) or use the catalog/browsing features available with your software. If your program has a keyword search, plug in words like academics or school or specific words such as books, reading, math, pen.
Match styles when mixing graphics
Chances are there are many images that might work with your selected theme. How do you choose? One criteria is the style of the image. If you want to keep it simple, stick with one image or a few simple, icon-like figures. Are you going for humor? Some clip art is drawn with a less realistic, more cartoonish appearance. Some styles suggest "modern" while other clip art has a distinct 50s or 60s air about it. Some images are "fun" while others are "serious" or at least more subdued. Color and types of lines and the amount of detail can all contribute to the overall style.
For Grandma Baker's "Back to School" card, she's looking at at least 3 different images to match her 3Rs theme. The graphics style takes on even more importance now. In addition to conveying the image she wants, the three pieces of clip art should work well together -- they should share a common graphics style.
For example, these two images (link) have totally different styles. They clash. The dog is a more realistic rendering and the cat is a cartoon image.
These two dog and cat images (link) work well together. They have several common characteristics -- soft, incomplete lines and an irregular shape in the background.
It's not always easy to find images with similar styles right out of the box but that's where modifications and simple editing come in. But to start with, choose images that are basically similar in overall style.
Create a Greeting Card > Lesson 4 Definitions | Instruction | Assignment
