Design Challenge - October 2015 - Grounding

[howdyheidi]

Our design topic for October is going to be Grounding.  I think that, like the Rule of Thirds, sometimes designing projects where everything is grounded comes naturally.  However, if you are thinking about it intentionally,  you might be able to find *that thing* to add to the project that makes it look just right. 

The challenge this month is to intentionally use grounding in your *new* project.  Please use stamping in your project and describe what you used to ground your image. 

Please upload your card to the gallery using the "Design Challenge" folder.  Please try to link it to this thread also so we can find it.  Also, like last month, I think it would be great to have a discussion of grounding in this thread.  I am definitely just learning this, too and would like your input.

They way I think about it is that we humans like things to follow the law of gravity.  We want things to sit on something. If it isn't, it doesn't look natural.  So, if you have a character stamp, you might want to draw a shadow or give it a piece of ground to sit on.  A vase stamp might want to sit on a table.  With other kinds of stamps and any design, you want it to look intentional, like the image is meant to be there. 

Importantly, everything looks attached to your card, it is not just "floating."

I did not find tons of articles on this, but I found this one with lots of good examples and ideas: 
http://www.papercraftsconnection.com/blog/2014/05/groovin-with-the-go-to-gals-youre-grounded/
**(Update 2/2016) It appears that the company is redirecting all traffic to this blog to another page, and I haven't figured out a way to find the cached version to link to yet.  **

Take a look at my first attachment below.  If I had left the card like that, it might not have looked totally finished.  It is a nice enough card, but when you look at the ways I grounded my image and my sentiment in the second attachment, it looks more intentional.  (I am a touch upset that I don't have a better example, but I am still working on this concept as well.) 

I grounded my image by matting it.  I grounded my image by making a background of washi tape for my image.  I grounded my sentiment by having it touch that washi tape and having it touch the side of the card.  I also used a brad to make it look fastened down. 

Let's talk about another example in the next post.

[howdyheidi]

Another great example of grounding comes in one of the examples from last month. 

LeighAnn's card followed the Rule of Thirds, but she also did ground her images in a wonderful way by sponging ink behind them.  It really wowed me to see that lovely touch, and from the comments on her card, I think many of you also had the same reaction.

[howdyheidi]

I noticed that some of my stamps have some grounding built into them. I have some stamps that have shadows built in, or that maybe have the suggestion of a table or ground in them. 

[CarefreeSadie]

Another interesting design challenge.  I guess I don't normally think about these design things I just get ready what I want on the card and then move them around and add things until it is pleasing to me.  When I watch Vicky Papaioannou if she has an image of something like the coffee cups art journal page she did she will draw lines and shade to make it so the image isn't just hanging in the air.  I never really thought about it much but I often times do the same.

Thank you for another interesting challenge Howdyheidi! 
 

[howdyheidi]

Another interesting design challenge.  I guess I don't normally think about these design things I just get ready what I want on the card and then move them around and add things until it is pleasing to me.  When I watch Vicky Papaioannou if she has an image of something like the coffee cups art journal page she did she will draw lines and shade to make it so the image isn't just hanging in the air.  I never really thought about it much but I often times do the same.

Thank you for another interesting challenge Howdyheidi!

Oh yes, good observation about the lines and shading.  That reminded me of Julia Altermann, who is becoming big on youtube, who puts these neat "signature dots" around images sometimes.  Look her up if you don't know who she is, she does some great coloring too.  But the dots look really good and I think they ground the image too. 

[lovepug2]

I'm slowly getting caught up reading threads and I really like this idea for a challenge, Heidi.

I like how you provided the 2 samples and how grounding your focal image can really draw your eye in.

Thanks for linking my card!

It's so funny, as I was reading the opening post, I immediately thought of some cardmakers I read/watch and Julia and Vicky both came to mind! Totally off subject but Julia Altermann has some really good tutorials on inktense pencils. I've watched a lot of her videos using them and have learned some really helpful tips.
Another blogger/youtuber that  came to mind is tracymae.com. A lot of her cards have some grounding that she has created.

I think the small details whether it be drawing a line for a coffee cup or a vase or adding dots or ink blending really can make a card.

Thanks for hosting, Heidi. I will play this weekend.

[Utah Ann]

I will be taking this challenge and as I went thru the above comments - I can see where I do use the "grounding technique" just didn't know that I was.  When I use tree stamps, if they don't already have some grass on the stamp, I will add it so that the tree is grounded to the earth.


Thanks for the challenge.

[Iring]

Thanks for the challenge Heidi! 

Nice article and examples.  It's good to get intentional about grounding and next time our card needs "something", maybe this will be just what it needs. 

(Did you see October's Christmas All Year prompt?  Your grounded sample qualifies!)

[Yankee]

I went through a card mag, trying to find ideas of grounding.
But I did not, so maybe I am not understanding.
Could the grounding be a different papers or ribbon?
Or are we talking about adding another stamp, or drawing to the bottom of image?

[howdyheidi]

I went through a card mag, trying to find ideas of grounding.
But I did not, so maybe I am not understanding.
Could the grounding be a different papers or ribbon?
Or are we talking about adding another stamp, or drawing to the bottom of image?

Thanks so much for your question!


Yes, you can ground your image by using different papers and ribbon, or even embellishments.   I will try to find some examples of this and how it is different from the grounding we do of the image by drawing on the bottom of this.

I also noticed that some of the card sketches that are out there do help you ground the image really well.  Again, I will try to find some examples.

[howdyheidi]

Here is an example of a card that I was working on this idea. I used a panel of embossed paper to set my main butterfly image on and was trying to surround the butterfly with flowers to ground it further. I did not quite get it right, but I hope you can see what I was trying to do.

http://www.duhnproductions.com/Pics/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pid=2000#top_display_media

I will find some more examples for this soon and add them to this post:

ETA: So I think I found a good one that shows how you can ground the image with different papers and even an embellishment.  I saved the image and then attached it below.  The butterfly is grounded by the circle of white and then all the papers around it. I liked that the sentiment strip was also grounded with that button.

In this example, we are not adding ground to a stamped image, but adding those papers AROUND the image makes the design of the overall card look intentional white accenting the focal image.  Does that make sense?  I am not sure if I am explaining it well enough.

Here is the link to the cardmaker's blog: http://stampwithamyk.com/2013/10/29/backyard-basics-thank-you-card-new-weekly-deals-and-mds-seasonal-sale-from-stampin-up/

There actually is a certain card sketch that I use a lot, and I think it is because the design "grounds" or accents the focal image.    This card is an example of that one:  http://www.duhnproductions.com/Pics/displayimage.php?album=lastupby&cat=0&pid=1957&uid=521#top_display_media (This should go the the Hippo Birdie Card.)

I think that that one piece of patterned paper grounds my focal image because of how the focal image panel is placed overlapping it. 

[howdyheidi]

If you are just grounding your image, such as a creature or person, I found this fun resource on how to color grass, snow, a puddle and so on:

http://mftstamps.com/blog/mft-academy-how-to-add-grounding-to-your-images/

[Far North]

Thanks Heidi for hosting another design challenge!   Until reading the resources here I had not heard about grounding for card making beyond anchoring the focal image base on grass, flooring, stones, snow etc. Heidi's link in the previous message gives some good examples. A simple grounding usually works fine because our minds quickly fill in the illusion (as it does when we leave out letter(s) in a word).

As for other floating elements on our cards I think that has a lot to do with their proximity to one another.  Elements too far from one another appear to be disconnected.  Like Sadie said she moves pieces around until they feel right…and I think that’s very natural when we are working with separate pieces.  However sometimes that is much harder when committing stamped images on a final background and may take several practice attempts to find the best fit.

I am looking forward to giving this challenge a try!

[howdyheidi]

Jan, I think that you might be onto something when you are talking about proximity.  A grouping of items has a lot more weight, also, than unconnected elements.  Interesting.

[CarefreeSadie]

I was playing around with spray inks and make a couple backgrounds and used this challenge to put two together to form a card.  I used white card stock to ground the background with the smaller foreground. 

Thank you for looking.