My designs are normally done with the use of a computer and a printer. But before I lay them down digitally, I grab my sketchbook and pencil first. The frustrated illustrator in me tries to draw the ideas that I have in mind before it slips away. True enough, nothing beats the old style of using the paper and pencil.

Last holiday season, I had a lot of ideas that need some sketching. Most of those ideas are for my own brand, Artisan Paperie. Let me take you to some of the pages inside my sketchbook.

If you were able to buy the gift wrapping kit, this were the ideas I had before all the printing was done. Dandelions, reindeer, typography were few of the elements I wanted to use. I also visualised the packaging for my wrapping kit.

This was the final output… Had some few revisions from the original plan, but more or less it’s quite close from I visualised it.

As for the new planner, I drew my ideas from cover to pages. I listed all the necessary things I needed to include like the pocket, elements to use and the other details.

After sketching the ideas, it’s time to design it digitally, then mock prints was done and a lot of revisions before the final binding… this is what it looked liked in actual.

In the middle of the holiday season, we had an event called Graphicon, where I added a handmade postcard for the loot bag. I also gave out some of this for every purchase made in the store.

I like adding some crafty touch in the postcard instead of just the flat print. So, I embellished it with a cut-out stamp tag.

Having a sketchbook with me has become a big part in my daily routine now. I remember there was a time, I almost gone crazy when I thought I lost it from one of my travels. Yes, I’m a bit possessive with my notebooks all the more with my sketchbook, haha, crazy I know.

Honestly, I am not good in illustration, but in my own simple way, this is how I came up with most of my designs. How about you, how do you come up with your design?