PoppyRow

Okay so I think I have this cold finally beat. It took dozens of Sudafed, and even more aspirin, gallons of hot maple cream tea, but today I have only blown my nose a half-dozen times, and I don’t think I’ve even sneezed once. Just in time too, in the wake of some lovely spring weather that we are always desperate for come the end of March here in upstate NY. But, I am sure you have heard enough of my upper respiratory ailments!

As promised, Part Two: Get the Word Out, otherwise known as Invites. I personally like to make up postcards for this type of event. They are cheaply mailed, easily handed out to businesses to put on sales counters, and allow the opportunity to showcase one or more pieces of your work on the front of the card. This becomes a sort of souvenir for many people who know you and come to your show. And the great thing is that it’s very easy to do!

The first thing to do is get at least one image of your work. This can be done by hiring a professional, scanning your work into your computer, or taking the shot yourself. I photograph my art myself, making sure my image is exactly perpendicular to the floor, and completely parallel to me camera lens, otherwise the image will be distorted. This can be a little tricky to do, especially if you have yet to experiment with lighting and your camera settings. I didn’t mention this, but I use a digital camera because it’s just so easy to get the files uploaded, cropped, and emailed. It can all be done in a day.

Once you have your file, and it’s saved to your computer, you can now design the backside of your postcard. Each type of software to do this is unique, so I don’t want to go into exact logistics of how to accomplish this, since my software came specifically with my camera and is probably pretty obscure. Nonetheless, most postcards are approximately 4×6” images, so I tend to start with a 4×6” white rectangle and cut it in half. The right side is for the address and stamp, and the left side is for your show information.

I even learned to get fancy in my software and figured out how to make the little black-outlined cube that the stamp sits on, as well as a line running vertically up the middle of the postcard for a visual divider. It became fun to try out different fonts, experimenting with what was aesthetically pleasing, created balance, and was easy to decipher. The main thing is that you need to be informative without being overwhelming.

To be continued…