The Card Designer Highlight is a sequence that includes impartial makers whose greeting playing cards you will discover in Paper Supply shops. Meet and be impressed by a brand new designer each month on our weblog!
By a cheerful accident and punny alternative, Krishna Chavda discovered her manner into the stationery world to start her profession because the proprietor and card designer of Nanu Studio. Discover out extra about Krishna’s joy-spreading- model, inspiration, artistic course of, and even her thrilling underwater interest right here. . Discover out extra about Krishna’s joy-spreading- model, inspiration, artistic course of, and even her thrilling underwater interest right here.
How did you start your card-making profession?
I would been making and sending playing cards since I used to be a child however my card-making profession began with a typo! In 2014, I obtained a textual content from my expensive good friend Catherine. It stated, “Vincent van Gopher – make it occur.” Little did I do know that these phrases would propel me straight into the stationery universe, the place greeting playing cards, stickers, and artwork prints abound. It’s mainly the world of all my childhood obsessions. #sticker-hoarder #stationery-stash #I-can’t-use-it-it’s-too-pretty (I’m hoping you possibly can relate.) It turned out Catherine’s scholar had misspelled van Gogh as “van Goph” on a take a look at and whereas grading, all she might take into consideration was Vincent van Gogh as a gopher. As a fellow lover of puns, I couldn’t refuse the chance to attract this hilarity, so I obliged.
The Well-known Animals floodgates opened. Vincent and my different illustrations had been insta-hits with my household and associates, who quickly requested artwork prints and greeting playing cards. Who was I to disclaim them? I’d lastly discovered the proper outlet for the illustrator, wordplay lover, and stationery collector in me — the world of greeting playing cards! Evidently, since its inception, NANU Studio has been spreading pleasure, laughter, and connection one card at a time!
The place do you draw inspiration from? Meals? Pop Tradition? Timeless Motifs? Playful Puns?
Inspiration comes from throughout me and from all of the totally different elements of my life. My concepts, verbiage, sentiments, and so on., as a complete are impressed by conversations I’ve, issues I’ve overheard (my ears are like, popular culture, historical past, and my love for wordplay and puns! I attempt to dig deep and provide you with pun and picture mixtures which are as authentic as doable in order that the illustrations are surprising. Animals, vegetation, and nature typically are widespread themes in my work. One of many causes I completely love drawing animals is as a result of I grew up in Tanzania. Tanzania is thought for its nationwide parks just like the Serengeti within the north and Gombe Nationwide Park within the west by Lake Tanganyika. The Serengeti boasts expansive savannas and animals like cheetahs, lions, leopards, and lots of extra creatures large and small.
Gombe is thought for its chimpanzees. It’s the place Dr. Jane Goodall spent a long time residing, researching and documenting chimp behaviour. Dr. Goodall would go to my college and provides talks – I don’t bear in mind a lot as I used to be a younger little one. However, I bear in mind her saying to a chimpanzee “hi there”. In early grade college, I joined Jane Goodall’s youth program, Roots & Shoots. Being so shut to those nice parks, occurring safari with my household, and studying about chimps instilled in me an incredible love for wildlife and nature. All these experiences influenced me, my drawings, and my dedication to sustainable enterprise practices. One in all my private favorite NANU Studio playing cards is Prime Mates. This one was immediately impressed by and honours the chimpanzees. (I additionally donate web proceeds of all Prime Mates merchandise to the Jane Goodall Institute to assist their dedication to wildlife and nature conservation.)
I lastly obtained to go to Gombe Nationwide Park for the primary time in December 2021 with my mother and father. We hiked up and down the park’s slopes to catch a glimpse of the chimps (together with different animals like baboons).
Our efforts had been rewarded and I even obtained to sketch them! Possibly these sketches will result in one other full illustration sooner or later!
What does your day appear to be as a card maker and designer?
I haven’t got a typical day as a card marker and that is as a result of I’ve a full-time job! By day I work for a swimwear firm designing textile patterns for ladies’ swimwear. NANU Studio is what I do alone. So, a median weekday for me appears like: 9-5 job, fitness center (2x through the week), come dwelling, dinner, veg out for a bit, prep for the subsequent day, then I lastly dive into NANU Studio. Generally that appears like sitting on the couch with my iPad sketching new concepts whereas watching some TV (I take advantage of the phrase “watching” very loosely, normally a TV present is a glorified audiobook!). Generally I am in my dwelling studio engaged on advertising, getting ready information for manufacturing, invoicing, and placing collectively orders. About as soon as per week, my good friend Janine of Kwohtations and I hop on a video name and do our work collectively. It helps to have another person round to bounce concepts off whereas preserving you on observe!
What’s your most popular medium?
My go-to medium for most-things-business is digital, particularly Procreate for sketches, and Photoshop and Illustrator for last artwork. Extra about this within the subsequent query. My all-time favorite media are pen and ink on paper with watercolors. These are the provides I take with me once I go on trip and draw what I see! The next picture is from my journey to England in 2022. I cherished these little vibrant cabanas in Wells-Subsequent-The-Sea on the east coast of England.
I additionally love to color with gouache on wooden panels, which is one thing that I do only for me and simply because! The primary of those two pictures exhibits a number of 2″ mini work on wooden. The second is a portray of a secretary chook. My work are usually extra life like than my regular manner of illustrating.
What does your artistic course of appear to be?
My artistic course of begins with sketching concepts in Procreate. I normally do a number of totally different variations of the concept and see which composition works greatest. I pull the sketch into Photoshop the place I ink the ultimate linework and add color. I additionally use Illustrator to assist with typography structure. Often, I take advantage of Photoshop on the iPad for my inking earlier than bringing it to the desktop model for coloration. My colouring course of is a bit like collage and it is my favorite half. I’ve a library of watercolor textures I made years in the past. I layer these textures onto flat colors I block out within the paintings. By the point I am achieved, the illustration is vibrant with a watercolour-y really feel. This is a hyperlink to an Instagram publish that exhibits a timelapse of my coloring course of.
What are you most pleased with as a creator and card maker?
There are such a lot of methods to reply this. This is one: I am actually pleased with my perseverance and unwavering want to create for myself. Working full-time and constructing/working a enterprise is tough work. However I actually love drawing, making playing cards, sending mail, and making individuals snicker with my playing cards. It retains me going!
Any private tidbits? Particular abilities/enjoyable information?
I really like drawing underwater! I began SCUBA diving about 10 years in the past. Throughout one among my preliminary classes, I realized which you could write underwater utilizing an everyday graphite pencil on a slate – normally a tough, plastic floor. Naturally, I wished to attempt to attract underwater and after some looking out, I discovered a small pocket book that had waterproof paper. The pocket book additionally is useful for speaking underwater. I take this e book every time I dive and attempt to get at the least one or two sketches through the dive. It is a enjoyable problem to keep up buoyancy and draw whereas present is transferring you round and creatures underwater are additionally consistently transferring round!
Discover the Nanu Studio card ‘Wishing You a Lit Diwali‘ at your native retailer or on-line at papersource.com. For extra inspiration and behind-the-scenes motion, observe @nanustudioco on IG.
