Snarky-Macabre Valentines
- client Misanthropes & malcontents everywhere!
- type Other Work
- services illustration, page layout
- problem Valentine's Day tends to be either stress-inducing or embittering, depending on how we feel about romance come mid-February. Either way, the mass-produced garbage that retailers start flaunting in January is sappy, trite, and dull, not to mention aesthetically coma-inducing. However, I've usually felt that I ought to mark the occasion in some manner. So, in years gone past, I've typically made little hand-made cards like these for friends and lovers—slightly off-colour, a little sarcastic, a touch crass, and a hint of charm.
- solution This year, I decided to let capitalism win out over love, and set to mass-producing some designs. The process ended up making quite the labour of love—each card is painstakingly hand-drawn, inked, cross-hatched, and painted before being overlaid with calligraphy, scanned, cleaned up, and printed on my enormous laser printer (a process in and of itself that takes more effort than it may appear). The cards are then packaged with a lovely square red envelope (almost a precise match for the red used as an accent colour) and a hand-painted sticker with which to seal the envelope. I'm selling them on an Etsy store and at a local market as my first venture into retail—I'm not expecting to make a profit, but I sure am hoping to enjoy myself and learn a lot in the process.
- more http://triggersandsparks.etsy.com
