Tutorials in Computer Crafts

Both of these tutorials are based on artwork that appears in The Arts and Crafts Computer. Click to see another tutorial from Start with a Scan, on adding color to old photos.

Transforming Tin Cans and Containers

I sometimes choose a brand of olive oil based solely on my desire to have the beautiful decorated can in which it’s packed. But the many ordinary tin cans and containers that come into our homes can be transformed with computer-generated art and used as pencil or brush holders, letter boxes, storage containers and so on. Thrift stores are a good source for tin boxes with lids, of the type used for holiday cookies and candies.

Creating art for candy tins
I like Altoids peppermints and consequently have a collection of empty tins which seem too cute and potentially useful to throw away. To decorate a batch of them I masked off the lids with masking tape and painted the bottoms green, using high-gloss latex paint. While these were drying I scanned another tin by placing it directly on the scanner and in Photoshop removed all but the borders to create a template.

Then, still working in Photoshop, I imported square and round ornaments from Celtic Designs CD-ROM and Book (Dover, 1997) and used the template as a guide for sizing and positioning them. I cut one design in half and rotated the halves to create ornaments for the outside edges of the lid design.

I added color to the white spaces in the designs, using the paint bucket tool.

I lined up four lid designs in a grid and printed the designs on glossy photo sticker paper.

I cut out the stickers with scissors and applied them to the box lids, where they &Mac222;t snugly inside the red and gold borders already printed there. These handsome little boxes with their hinged lids can be carried in a pocket or purse and make handy containers for guitar picks, matches, vitamins, and other small odds and ends (see last figure).


Creating circular art for a lid
A friend gave me an old lidded can printed with a pretty black and gold design on its bottom part. But the lid was chipped so I painted it green and then searched through 1500 Decorative Ornaments CD-ROM and Book (Dover, 2000) until I found an ornament that matched the style of the design on the bottom part of the can.

I autotraced the TIFF ornament in Streamline, opened it in Illustrator and rotated copies around a central point in 40 degree increments to create a circular design. I gave the ornaments a gold &Mac222;ll and black stroke and then placed a radial gradient in a circle behind them.

I printed the design on glossy photo paper, cut it out with scissors and glued it down with PVA glue (polyvinyl acetate, an archival white glue used for crafts and bookbinding). The tin now makes a good-looking holder for homemade cookies, candies or other treats.


Decorating Everyday Objects
Paper printed with digital images can be used to decorate many kinds of everyday household objects. Objects can be purchased new, gathered from around the house, or bought from garage sales and thrift stores. Images can be printed on sticker paper or on plain paper that you then glue on. Traditional decoupage techniques of cutting, gluing and varnishing can all be used with printed digital images. Just about anything made of wood, plastic or metal will work, including:
• candlesticks
• &Mac223;ower vases
• lamp bases and shades
• light switch plates
• lunch boxes
• mason jars
• metal and wooden trays and plates
• napkin rings
• picture frames
• plastic storage bins
• tissue box covers
• suitcases


From Photo to Drawing

Artists have used photographs as drawing aids ever since photography was invented, although they’re sometimes reluctant to admit it. In fact, the great French painter Ingres (1780–1867) lived just long enough to see the first photographs and commented: “Which of us could achieve this exactitude … this delicate modeling … indeed, what a wonderful thing photography is—but one dare not say that aloud.” When I first began painting, back in the early 1970s, I often used photographs as sources, laboriously transferring their lines and curves to canvas using a grid system. The computer makes it much easier to use photos as a visual reference by making it possible to import a scanned photo into a drawing or painting program and “trace” on top of it. It’s also possible to trace by hand over a photo that you’ve printed on paper, as I’ll describe below. I advise you to take advantage of this powerful tool. As the cartoonist Robert Crumb said, “You say you can’t draw a straight line? Don’t let those artists fool you; they all use rulers!”

Capturing a photo image
Beautiful fruit trees in bloom attracted my eye as I walked through the village of Mendocino in April.

I took a close-up shot with my digital camera and decided to use it as photo reference for a greeting card design.


Preparing an image for hand-tracing
Sometimes it’s a good idea to edit a photo before using it as a drawing reference. For example, you may want to increase the contrast or apply a filter that exaggerates the borders between light and dark areas. It may also help to simplify things visually by converting a color photo to black-and-white.
I opened my flower photo in Photoshop, converted it to grayscale mode and used Unsharp Mask to exaggerate the edges. I re-sized the image so that it would fill a letter-size sheet and printed it on my laser printer.

Then I placed a piece of tracing paper over the print and made a pencil sketch, drawing around the edges of the flowers and leaves. I took some liberties with the placement of the flowers, moving the tracing paper around to different areas of the photo to get the composition I wanted. I drew over the pencil lines with a black felt-tip pen and then scanned the finished drawing back into Photoshop.


Adding a decorative frame
I looked through my collection of clip art books to find a decorative border in a horizontal format. I wanted something geometrical to complement the curving lines of my flower drawing. I found just the right frame in Persian Ceramic Designs (Stemmer House, 1983).

I scanned the Persian art,, selected and removed the material inside the frame and then copied and pasted in the scan of my pencil drawing.


Adding color
To create a color version I decided to use Adobe Illustrator. I first used Streamline to autotrace the drawing scan, which transformed it from a bitmapped TIFF to PostScript outlines. I then opened the autotracing in Illustrator and added color gradients to the white areas.


Creating notecards
Color art such as my flower image can be printed on half of a sheet of white or light-colored card stock and then folded to create a card. You can also print images on photo-quality paper (either glossy or matte) and then trim and paste onto a dark-colored or textured plain card. Photo paper will often produce a crisper image. I printed my card design in two sizes, to match envelopes available in 5- by 7-inch size (A7) and 4 1/4- by 5 1/2-inch size (A2, also called Baronial or invitation). I also used the same flower drawing to create a second card design in a vertical format.