One of my main struggles with making kits is cohesion...making stuff look like they all go together.
First I pick my color palette and then work from there.
But seeing all your designs, I feel like I'm missing something from my 'vision' of what should go in it....or what would 'go' with the elements I have in the kit. Do I do all realistic or a mix of both realistic & digital elements? Ugh!
Right now I'm trying to add a bit of both...but not sure how they will be cohesive in the end...
don't know if i'm in a position to be handing out design tips, especially since i don't think much of sticking strictly to the palette, but what i've found works for me is - to scrap! simply test your kit by making layouts along the way. that is their purpose, after all. it can give you a sense of what's missing, how everything works together, etc. each kit is supposed to be about a certain story, so anything you can think of that might help tell that story will be useful to have in. as for the rest, i believe you can only rely on your taste and what visually appeals to you. but like i said, i'm perfectly comfortable with miss-matched kit full of random bits & pieces without too much cohesion between them, so maybe not the one to talk
It depends on the kit, really, Rachel. These days, I start out from the idea/palette by brainstorming what should go in the kit, and a design style that I want to kind of stick to. Those decisions go in a simple Notepad file in the folder where I'm working on the kit. I keep that open on my second monitor while I'm working, both as a reference to decide what to do next, and as a checklist for what's done/not done (I just put a * in front when it's done, nothing fancy).
I'm going to use the Summer Splash blog train as an example here to show what all went into my file. I start by deciding what design style I want to have most of my elements be--in this case "hand-drawn, lines fairly irregular". Then I'll write down elements I want to include (waterslides, toilet bowl, plunge slide, tubes, lifeguard stuff, swimsuit, water wings, sunblock, chaise longue), any special papers I want to make sure I add in (waterslides paper, lifeguard items pattern), word art ideas ("splash down", "catch a wave", "float away"), notes on the types of fonts I want to use (like "a swooshy font that reminds me of waves curling", "a tall skinny font", "a rounded typeface that can have a pattern added"). I go back and choose the highest-priority elements and put them at the top of the list (waterslides was the top of the list for this month), and then I start in on whatever suits my mood at the time.
Feel free to add stuff to the list while you're working if you realize there's an element that should have come up while brainstorming, or a piece of word art that would be perfect. It's a road map, not a contract--you may find yourself eliminating a few things later on when you're well into making elements.
Some palettes lend themselves more to purely digital creations, while others beg for realistic flowers and leaves, with colors tweaked to match your palette. As I said, it's something I decide at the beginning. For the Summer Splash train, it was either a hand-drawn look or purely vector, in my mind. My plan for the England blog train, though, called for realistic lace, a subset of the palette, and more "finished"-looking art. April's ended up being very art-journal, simple and a little rough. It'll depend on the palette and what your vision is--just make some notes on that vision and it'll come out all right.
And, having read Paddy's comment, I'll second it. Make some layouts before you call the kit done. You'll discover if the papers work well together, if all the items you need are there, or if you might need to add some more word art. And once you're done with the layouts, it's pretty easy to turn them into quickpages to go with your kit--just make sure your background paper is a layer, not a locked one named Background, and set the photos to Knockout:Deep and Fill:0%. Leave any word-art title, but hide your journaling, and save the page as PNG at 300dpi.
I learned a lot by 'examining' kits from established designers I like. Sometimes I even count how many digital elements, how many real, how many papers etc.
I'm a huge fan of realistic kits...so I try to stick with those. But I have plenty of digital stuff too...stuff that looks more realistic. I really need to go through my stuff and see what I want to keep & what I want to toss lol.
I do get lost as what I want in the kit. Like I'll get so far and then realize I don't have enough of this or that...or have a specific idea of elements but have no idea where to get them as far as cu goes...
Of course, there is the important issue of 'is it copyright compliant?'...should I trust the designer that they are fully compliant, etc.
yes, TOUs can be tricky. and a waste of time. i suggest making your own stuff, whenever possible!
Rachel ... I open a file for the kit and go through my files and place a copy of what I may want to use in it .... that way I have a capsule of what it may look like. It tells me immediately if I need anything else .. if I feel I do I will bring in more copies of things from my files. I keep files of things I know I can use somewhere so I have things I can go to at any time, I'm always gleaning things from old out of copywrite books etc. Then I will make a psd file of all the colour swatches I'm going to use that I will build my papers from as well as a colour pallette. I'm also working on overlays so again I have something to pull from when it's needed.
Rachel, there are tons of element/paper/overlay templates here, and all of them are okay for CU if you download them for CU. (I'd advise getting a CU subscription, really, as you can download 5 kits a day if you have one.) There are other places like CU4U and Sugar Hill Co's CU department, but I find their prices are a lot higher than a month of membership here at PixelScrapper. You can find CU brushes (stamps) at several sites, and some will make great elements by themselves. Shapes4Free has custom shapes that you can easily make fit your kit by clipping a paper to them. Between all of them, you can get started making beautiful things pretty easily, and use fewer of those resources as your own skills and handmade resources grow.
That said, I draw a lot of things from scratch (now that my artistic skills have improved enough that I can), because I don't want to release something that a dozen other designers have also used. I want people to want my kit because the elements aren't cookie-cutter, not because it's the first one they've seen in the color scheme they want to use. That means creating my own templates and finding my own style. It's a fair bit of work, but it's well worth it.
I've def been taking advantage of the CU option on the downloads here
I've been debating on purchasing the subscription here as well...
I started out making masks...and just have gone from there. Now I only have CU brushes...so I have that.
I need to learn how to get my own stuff uploaded from paper to computer lol. I take crappy pics lol...but do want to make my own drawings n stuff. It's just a learning process...and slowly getting there.
To get your own stuff from paper into digital, there are two routes you can take. The easier of the two is to use the scanner on a multifunction printer. Almost any scanner these days can do well enough (you'll want something with at least 600ppi resolution and 300 lines per inch to be able to use things you scan at actual size, but you can scale down the imported scan if needed to get it to 300dpi print quality).
The other is to photograph it and import/crop the photos. You'll need at least a 10MP camera to be able to get good-quality element photos, and 2-3 matching bright lights shining on your subject from different angles so there aren't harsh shadows or super-bright glaring spots anywhere. (You can use a piece of white fabric in a large embroidery hoop between the light and your subject to tone down any glaring spots and make the shadows even less harsh.) For things drawn on paper, I'll recommend using a copy stand (basically a ring that goes around the lens to support a camera body so it's perfectly parallel to the surface your paper is laying on, attached to 4 angled legs), but if you want to take photos that you can use for paper textures, you'll need a really good camera for that, as most cameras under about 15 megapixel will be under 3600px on the short side.
I find it easier these days to just use a Wacom tablet and draw using art brushes (any of the brush sites will have natural-media brushes for Photoshop if you want to try this). It did take a while to get used to the tablet, but it's been worth it. And then you can use Ctrl-Z rather than worrying about hiding eraser marks if you don't get a line just right!!
I'd kill for the income to be able to afford a Wacom tablet lol. I'm actually considered to be living under poverty levels (I'm on SSI)...I can't even afford cable lol.
I'm in the process of saving up enough to redo my floors so every cent counts lol. Ugh.
I can do the scanner easy...that's something I do have.
I'm using the cheap one myself for basically the same reason, Rachel (SSDI). I don't have cable, either, just good internet so I can watch tv shows via the networks' websites. I only make ends meet because I have a roommate and we share a cheap apartment.
Still, the most current pen-only tablet can be found on Ebay for $70. It's not the high-end one, and can't be used as a touchpad, but it'll do the same amount of detail as mine can once you learn to work with it. It's mostly just learning how to look at the monitor and draw where you want with the pen at the same time that's the trick. Maybe you can add it to a wishlist for a birthday or Christmas?
hahaha...my dad's el-cheapo lol. He won't spend more than $50 on me...he's old school...just gets one or two gifts. I usually ask for a gift card because I usually need so many different things that it's crazy. If my mom were still alive, she'd def get it for me. Mom always went for what we wanted instead of what she felt like getting lol.
Rachel I like the question you asked and all the response giver are giving such helpful answer. Although I am not there, I can see there will come a time I will want to make somethings myself too.
If I may also add my thoughts Rachel, you go on. Take it as it comes and keep learning to do these things as you have been doing.
Remember to enjoy it as you go.