A Tale of Two Bookmarks

Late in 2022, I had my first solo art exhibition at a local library. I wanted to make the most of it, so I was looking for something I could use to show my appreciation to them for hosting. I saw that one of those online printing sites offered custom printed bookmarks, and it seemed like a perfect fit.

I went ahead and took photos of the library, a cute little old-fashioned building, and worked on pencil roughs first. I wanted to feature a large illustration of the building itself, making it in this pen and watercolor style I had found through another drawing.

A mixture of pen work with watercolor over top, I loved the textured look this technique had.

When I found a design I liked, I started working on the final illustration. Working on watercolor paper, I penciled, penned, and colored the drawing over a few hours, then ran it through the scanner.

I based my final design on this pencil rough.

The final illustration begins.

The finished illustration, with blank space for type.

I digitally added the text on the right and now realized I should have added some edge run-off on the drawing. I made it work anyway. I worked up a design for the back with some simple info and a smaller version of the drawing, adding a color pulled from the original. It looked good to me, so I sent it off to the printer.

Finished Dodge Library bookmark, front and back.

The staff of the library loved it, and they took a stack of them to give to new members when they visited. I would say it was a success.

When I had another art exhibition at the Peru Library, I showed them one of the Dodge Bookmarks. I figured they might be interested in one of their own. Sure enough, a few days later they reached out to say yes, they want one! And this time, it wasn’t just volunteer work. With that, I was off and running.

Peru Free Library bookmark rough.

Final illustration, penned. I added a bleed this time, along with subtle edge guides.

Color is added. I used a text layover to plan the whitespace. 

The final bookmark front and back. The smoke from the chimney was a special request from the client.

With that, I had two illustrations under my belt. The art exhibitions had pretty good turn outs too, so successes all around!