Stamping to Digital

For this assignment, we were asked to utilize the tools provided in our art kit to create a stamp and then use some kind of photoshop tool to edit the photo digitally. This was such a wonderful experience as I’ve never worked with any of these tools before! I was able to document both, my successes and failures. However, these failures didn’t stop me from producing a final piece! I learned a lot from this exercise and plan on practicing it more in the future for fun!

I followed my art professors’ tutorial for this assignment! Here is the link to her blog: https://candacenicolgarlock.com/blog/http/wwwcandacegarlockcom-5 

I wanted to create a stamp inspired by one of my previous sketches that I made a few weeks ago during the beginning of this course. This was the sketch:

I then went over and sketched this drawing on the stamp itself. (This is where I begin to run into some drawbacks and didn’t realize until I began the stamping process).

I used the blick tool provided in our art kit as well as a x-acto knife to carve out my sketch. Personally, this step was the most difficult!

As I began to get my stamp ready for action, I realized that it was inverted lol!

I was going to redo the whole stamp but realized the sketch itself can still be saved. So I decided to just eliminate the words on the bottom. I wasn’t really stoked to remove the words because I adore the meaning, however, for the lack of time I have to complete the assignments for this class as well as for my other classes, this was the most necessary action I had take.

I continued to use the green ink pads because green is my favorite color. :) And then stamped it into my sketchbook!

I love how it came out, but it did seem a little bland. So I decided to make another stamp! For my second stamp, I made it within a strict time frame so I just went straight to the carving step! Again, I used the blick tool and x-acto knife. For this stamp I created a floral design.

I decided to use the orange and brown ink to compliment the shades of green on my other stamp! I do believe that the floral design gives this artwork a sense of balance!

After I finished with my stamping, I then transferred this image to Adobe and utilized the basic photo editing tools. I wanted to incorporate some kind of background in the image. So I decided to use the pattern from the floral stamp I made, and set it as the background. This is what I composed:

Overall, I really like the final product of this artwork! It’s abstract which isn’t a technique that I utilize often! Since this is my first time creating a stamp, it was quite difficult, especially since I ran into several obstacles through the process. However, I view this as any other experience, one I can learn from and continue working toward growth!