From Sketch to Product - DIY Note Pads


People often ask me where I get my ideas, how I get started, and how a design or painting develops. And once the art is created, how it becomes a product.

Creating a design is a process that can take only and hour or so, or weeks, and sometimes even months. I'm always on the look out for ideas to create designs. These ideas can come from:
  • The colours in the early evening sky
  • Flowers that I see on my morning walks
  • Memories from my childhood
  • Places I've been
  • Fun animals
  • Activities
  • Just about anything!

I use my sketchbooks and usually a 2H pencil because it is nice a light and draw my preliminary ideas. I include notes along side the sketch so I remember the details of the idea if I am interrupted. It's not unusual for my original idea to change into something entirely different as I work on it. New thoughts will come to mind, or I'll discover something I hadn't considered before.

Below you can see the process of development for a character who found her way from a rough idea to a well-rounded (ahem!) personality. Part of my reason for designing this gal is because there are so few images that positively depict women who are no longer in the first bloom of youth. Most images of women who have passed the age of forty are unflattering or even insulting. I wanted to change that image because, well, it is high time!
This is the preliminary idea sketch. I played around with how I wanted the figure to sit. I even took a stool into my bathroom, sat on it, and used my full-length mirror to study how it would look for a woman to sit on the tall stool and hold out a pencil.
After that, I refined the drawing. There were still changes to be made because I wanted it to look more cartoon-like. That meant making the head proportionately too large for the body, and the feet much smaller. I also wanted her to look like a more petite person but still curvy, somewhat realistic to real women, not fashion model skinny.
Once I was happy with the proportions of the figure, I transferred it to watercolour paper and outlined everything in black with waterproof ink with a fine line. Then I painted it with watercolours. Once I had scanned it into Photoshop, I was able to smooth out the watermarks from left by the wet-in-wet paint.
When the image is as polished as I want her, she is ready to appear on products.

I decided first of all, to create a new printable shopping list pad that you can download and make at home. 

What you need to make printable DIY note pads:

The Write it Down, Sweetie Printable is designed so that three note pad pages fit on one 8.5" x 11" sheet. When you print the page select "Scale to Fit" and choose 96% as the size. This way the sheet will print without cutting off any of the design. 
Using a paper cutter, trim the edges along the sides where the horizontal lines end. Then separate the list pages by cutting on the vertical lines to create three list pages. You get to choose how many pages you would like in your pad. Cut all the pages out.

​Cut the chipboard backing to the same dimensions as the pages. Once you have all the pages that you want, clip them together with the the chipboard backing using the binder clips.
Using a paintbrush (preferably a cheap one that you don't mind tossing afterward) apply the padding compound to the top edges of the paper and backing. Allow to dry thoroughly and then add another coat.
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When the padding compound is completely dry, remove the binder clips. If you like, you can attach a magnetic strip to the back of the pad near the top so it can hang on the refrigerator.
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Voilà! DIY note pads you can make at home. 

To download the artwork to make your pad, get the Password, then find it in the Library.
Need a gift? Pair a pad with some of these cute gel pens I found.

​TIP: The finished list pad fits neatly into a #10 sized business envelope for mailing.
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