It's always such a pleasure to work with amazing event designers, so when Simone from Soirees by Simone reached out to me, I couldn't want to get started. Her lovely bride, Kristin, was getting married at Holman Ranch in Carmel Ranch, California. We knew that we wanted to tie in the venue itself, as well as the floral types that will be used in her reception decor and bouquet.

We began with several sketches of how the artwork would fall to give me some guidance, and once the sketches were finished, I moved on to the artwork and invitations proofs.

For this suite, we are combining letterpress and flatprint, digitally printing the artwork and then pressing the lettering over it. All the envelopes have been addressed in matching taupe ink and the suite is almost ready for the mail!

artwork, calligraphy, in processVictoria RothwellJune 15, 2015in process, bespoke, letterpress, artwork Comment

...in process - behind the scenes

Part of our process is amassing several bespoke invitation suites, all their artwork and sketches, and shooting them all at once for the website, the blog, and any submissions pieces. This process involves paper, calligraphy, envelopes, liners, cameras, many hands (making for lighter work), step ladders, and coffee. Around here, we drink almond milk lattes.

calligraphy, in processVictoria RothwellDecember 19, 2013in processComment

...in process - A midsummers night's dream

Today we have some background on the Midsummer Night's Dream suite we created for a photoshoot with Absolutely Events. You know me, I start with my sketches of all the different pieces and ideas and move onto the art pieces. This was a tough one; I knew the idea I wanted to work with and it just didn't turn out the way I wanted...I redid the artwork twice and still ended up reworking all the pieces digitally.

The artwork for this one was on the complicated side. I wanted to incorporate the design elements of a chinoiserie or antique damask and how different little scenes were depicted and layered. I also wanted a "fairy hallow" with shades of blues and purples.

I then put paint to paper, filled everything with shades of yellows, purples, blues and greens...and I hated it and did the entire thing over again in shades of blues.

in processVictoria RothwellNovember 25, 2013bespoke invitation, bespoke, artwork, watercolor, in process Comment

...in process - rosemary & sage invitations

Whenever I begin a new design, there are a few very important steps. First, determining the look and feel of the event and making sure the lines of communication are open between the designer and the client. That may seem like a given, but seeing how much time we spend on artwork, its nice to only have to do it once!

For this suite, we started with our descriptors - organic, farm to table, green, airy, light, elegant, formal. We knew we wanted to incorporate rosemary, sage, a hand drawn map, bits of gold, and very formal cursive. The next step I take is to sketch out the entire suite. I do this for a few reasons - one, it really helps me determine what art piece I'll need, what spot calligraphy will be needed where, what pieces we're actually going to be working on and it also helps the client see the overall look and feel and how the artwork will flow from one piece to another (which can be difficult to communicate otherwise). These sketches are exactly what I show to a client as we work through the process - they aren't very clean or pretty, but the communicate the general idea.

After the sketch is done, I begin working on sketching out the artwork. Depending on the overall look and feel, sometimes I go straight to watercolor or whatever our chosen color medium is. In this case, I purposely chose to ink everything first to bring in an element of black.

in processVictoria RothwellNovember 4, 2013in process, artwork, bespoke, bespoke invitation, carneros inn wedding, herb, rustic, organic, watercolorComment