Yellow Shade of Leopard and Two Milk Coffees

Alright, so if you are not too sure why there are many shades of Snow Leopard postcards, or not too up to date on my Etsy, then I can tell you here that because of the great support of my friends of family, I realized that the Snow Leopard postcard is one style of my art that I can rely on. I believe I drew a mint green one first, and since then, they have been flying off the wall. Friends have given me hints and tips, and others have given support by giving me ideas on how to continue this series.

 Long story short, I decided to make them into a Snow Leopard Rainbow! I haven't been able to complete them all together, but so far, the green shade is in New York with a good friend, and the purple shade just left on it's way to Seattle with another good friend. A Snow Leopard Rainbow scattered across the states!

The red shade is waiting at home for a good owner, but at this point, this post is about how, through the yellow shade, most of them came together.

Let's start with the beginning;


Step 1; Sketch it out!

 First, it's important to get your idea out on paper... or in this case, a postcard. Believe me, I erased and redrew many lines before I had even these shaky lines in. The proportions and placement of where his body would lie in the white and yellow 
 was very important.









And then, taa-daa! The sketch part is complete! I filled in all the places I knew I would forget to color in and made sure everything was in place. 













Step 2; Fill in the details

Add caption

Now it's time to start to fill in those dots! I usually start with the eyes (my favorite) or the nose (my other favorite) and branch out from there. I used to go how the area would guide me, but now, I just go where my hands and pen guide me.











Step 3; Keep filling in those dots!

Yes, more and more dots! The most important part about these postcards, I have found, is the spacial design. If the dots are filled in just right, and just like the real thing, people should be able to tell where it is and what space it fills without outlines or guiding lines. So I still keep the pencil outline at this point to make sure the dots don't go anywhere beyond the barrier. Just keep going!







Step 4; Creating the Logo

Because I like the color's title, Aspen Gold, I just cover up Pantone and the color number with my brand name, Tropical Basenji. Sorry Pantone! But at least the back of the postcards have Pantone's brand name and information, so it's still under their copyright completely. This is just so the postcards I make look more uniform. I have already added some white-out to the details of the snow leopard, and because the brand takes some white-out as well, I black it in before I'm all done.



Step 5; Add the White-out!

And there it is! I still have to fill in the circle within the P and etc., but the general idea is that I use white-out to cover around and in the outline of Tropical Basenji so it stands out and becomes it's own.











Step 6; Finish off the rest and then Complete!


So after I fill in a couple more strands of white-out, darken some spots here and there, and make sure everything is in place, I then know it's done and complete! 

And there it is! It's a shortened version, but the general version. It's normally how I did the rest of the wonderful shades. It just takes persistence and good music, then the rest will take you there. :]
You can check this yellow snow leopard here on this Etsy post ;D

Thank you so much for reading and checking out these postcards made from ink and coffee!