Video of the Week: Paper Art by Rob Ryan

Paper Art Research

Hey Creative Adventurers,

In uni we are now free to explore and go deeper into subjects of our interest. I discovered in our previous group assignment of "Exploring Graphic Communication" that I'm drawn to work done in paper. Which somehow is a surprise to me. I love paper, I love notebooks, the texture, the weight, the possibilities. However, I do work and feel mostly confident in digital art. So I made the decision to have a look at paper artists and designers and possibly also book design. The future posts will be about my research and things that are incredible examples of paper artists.

At the moment I'm creating a pinterest pinboard along this theme, so if you are interested in this area have a look

Rob Ryan - Paper Artist

Today I want to invite you to have a look at Rob Ryan. I found him through this post of designsponge.com "25 AMAZING PAPERCUT ARTISTS" which I also highly recommend having a look at. If you live in the U.K. you are quite likely to have seen this work in magazines here and there. I myself cut out a page of one of those magazines because I liked his style and I'm glad that I now have the name behind the artwork.

In this video he talks about the themes in his work "nature" and "love". I love the book he is working on and wonder if it is already out there. UPDATE: Yes, it is available on amazon and it's absolutely beautiful with it's story and intricate paper cuts. If anyone wants to get me a christmas or birthday present - I'd LOVE this book ;) A Sky Full of Kindness Hardcover

Please have look at his website, where you can find more information and videos about him and his work

Rob Ryan's homepage

Let me know what you think and have a wonderful day,

Romica :)

Video of the Week: How to vectorise your Hand Lettering in Illustrator without a Scanner

Hey Creative Adventurers, it's Video of the Week again. Time to learn something new today!

Ever wondered how to get your hand lettering or your outline drawings as a vector? Then this video by lettering artist Sean McCabe is for you. Don't have a scanner? No problem! Sean will guide you at a healthy pace on how to utilise Photoshop and Illustrator so you can use your phone to digitise your pictures. Oh, yeah!

But hey, you might ask "Romica, why do you give me such a long video to watch?" Here is why I think this video is worth your time:

  • healthy pace, so you can pick up everything without re-watching
  • detailed explanaitions & little secrets you might not have known
  • free lesson by a successful hand lettering professional

Things I learned from this video:

  • Tracing in Illustrator in no time using Image Trace
  • Turning any shape/path into a guide - right click / "Make guides"
  • Modifying only parts of a letter/shape with the direct selection tool. Only select the parts that you want to drag/change, the rest of the shape will stay the same.
  • Changing the fill for a stroke: Shortcut: Shift X
  • Selecting everything with the same colour: Menu "Select" / "Same" / "Fill colour"

Hope you liked it & Keep on learning :)