Making *ugly* Valentines
Would you date this penguin?
Hi! I’m Kayla Stark, an illustrator working primarily in the children’s publishing world. You’re reading “Odd Thoughts”, my blog/newsletter where I talk mostly about illustration, process, publishing, and anything else that’s tangentially related in my life. Join in! Everyone’s welcome!
I made you something. 😊😘
Remember valentines when you were little?—the card stock sheets of 6 to 10 different designs from some popular, at the time, theme. The Lion King, Power Rangers, frogs in hats, etc.
You lay them all out in the floor to see what you’re working with. It’s crucial—you MUST choose the PERFECT one for your BFF; for the person you have a crush on but you don’t want them to know you have a crush on them, but you don’t NOT want them to know; for the kid you don’t want to feel left out.
I was inspired by those valentine card sheets—the type that are kind of ugly. …that in your face, “this bubble writing was plopped onto a repurposed drawing of a ninja turtle and now it’s for Valentine’s Day”, kind of garishness.
AND
I wanted to spend some time fleshing out my little bird characters, get better at drawing them, let them show me their personalities.
So I made these!
I know, I know! I should have gone more over the top. I kind of stopped at conversation heart level…and I wished I would have taken them all the way to the Lisa Frank zone.
Brainstorming Mode (aka when work looks a lot like sitting and staring)
I wanted a cute/funny/punny little message to go with each bird. I made lists of everything that came to mind. (Tried not to overthink it, some of them felt like the low hanging fruit, but that fruit is good and I’m tired)
There are only 5 birds in my original crew. I needed a guest bird to make it an even 6 (for the card layout) plus it’s nice to have a guest for different holidays! I asked for suggestions in my IG stories and the people SHOWED UP!
Penguin was the winner!
I kinda wanted to go with penguin from the beginning and felt validated. After all, they’re already dressed up for a fancy date.
Color and Layering
I always use the same 3 colors + “black”1 to illustrate these birds. If you are at all familiar with printing/printmaking processes, this will look familiar. I multiply the color layers in Procreate. Like so! (oh! I’m using the marker brush for color and the ink bleed brush for lines)
Then I added the background and text! The background colors are really out of my palette comfort zone…but I wanted bring in those “conversation heart” colors. They lean a bit cooler and I typically live on the warmer end of the color wheel.
Header and Layout
I spent a little chunk of time lettering this header and adding cute little hearts and sparkles behind it…
…just to realize that I absolutely hated it.
AND it distracted from the bird illustrations that I spent so much time on! Sometimes things just don’t fit and you won’t know until you see it. Someone figure out a better process for this. :)
This simple one that mimics the type works MUCH better. (bonus: I love writing in cursive)
From here I took them to InDesign; added “to” and “from” sections; and “cut here” lines. (those dashed “cut here” lines are burned into my brain from school/childhood)
Ta-Done! (for you! PDF link below!)
If you print and use these, you legally have to show me any cute pictures of your valentine receiving them—especially if your valentine is a cute pet.
I also decided to use these in a Valentines promo I’m sending to editors/designers/art directors. Milking these for all they’re worth! :)
Other Noteworthy things
My picture book is officially on sub! Now I wait…(I hate the waiting). But it’s the best time to work on my next story idea.
I’m doing another ceramic collab with Brad! Remember the kākāpō mugs? These will be similar, but will feature 10 different North American birds!—and 3 legendary bird Pokemon…👀⚡️🔥❄
mugs and sketches My Valentine 💘…and a lemon yogurt cheesecake I’m going to make. (we’ll see how it turns out, sometimes NYT recipes hit and sometimes they don’t)
Little Bitty Mister Man
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K, luv ya! Bye!
It’s a brownish black.
I would totally date that penguin! 😍
So cute!! And that beak is perfect!