This has a title that says, "From Sketchbook to Greeting Card" and has a picture of the sketchbook image and the completed card

From Sketchbook to Greeting Card

How One Little Sketchbook Painting Becomes a Beautiful Greeting Card

Today I’m pulling back the curtain and showing you exactly how to take one piece of art from your sketchbook and make it into a card you can sell on Card Isle , Zazzle, and/or any site you want to use.  This process keeps your work professional and in clean layers so you can send your designs to greeting card companies for licensing as well.

For the purposes of this post, I’m using this little floral piece in my sketchbook as the example. Look how happy it is just sitting in my sketchbook, having no idea what it’s about to become!

sketchbook page with bright watercolor florals

Sidebar: If you want to learn more about how to set up and choose colors for pieces like this one, check out these blog post:  How to Set Up Watercolor Supplies for Painting and Tutorial: Choosing Colors Intuitively.

 The Supplies Needed:

  • a good scanner, but one could just take a really good photo instead.
  • Canva – I have the pro version, but I believe you can all of the below steps with the free version.
  • Procreate – a drawing app for iPads widely used by artists.
  • Accounts with Zazzle and Card Isle in order to sell your designs (both are FREE to use).  Of course there are MANY sites you can use, these are just the ones I have been using for now.
  • Claude – an AI application.  I use the free version at this point.

Here’s the whole process, start to finish:

1. Paint in your sketchbook regularly

This is the non-negotiable step. I paint in my sketchbook often, no pressure, no plan for most of it. Some pages go nowhere and some pages become card art.  This is actually my work after taking two different watercolor classes from two instructors with very different styles.  As I add to my repertoire of skills, I allow the classes to marinate in my mind and then one day I’ll just take my sketchbook out and have a go at playing with my newfound skills.  The result blends the skills I learned from them and my own style.

2. Scan the piece you love

When a piece makes you smile and go “ooh,” that’s your sign.  Scan it into your computer so you have a clean, high-quality digital file to work with.

Sidebar: I used to think you couldn’t scan certain colors (like the bright hot pink in the main flower below), but then I realized it was just my scanner.  I resurrected an old ‘Epson Perfection V550 Photo’ from my dad’s house and it scans surprisingly well given how old it is!

Here’s the scan:

bright watercolor cluster of make believe flowers
Scanned image of sketchbook piece

3. Bring it into Canva

Upload the scan into a custom 5×7 card canvas in Canva and use their background removal feature. This takes the white sketchbook paper away and leaves you with just the painted image, ready to place anywhere you want.

Sidebar: I don’t use Adobe products, so if you use Photoshop then you can just remove the background there of course.  I just like to keep it as close to free and simple as I can!

Look how well Canva removes the background on a complicated watercolor piece like this (the gray is actually just showing NO background):

Sketchbook art with background removed.

Now, because moving and resizing images over and over in Procreate reduces the image quality each time, I often create the main part of the card in Canva before exporting it and bringing it into Procreate.

For this card, I just kept duplicating this image, turning it, resizing it, and placing it around the border of the 5×7 canvas in Canva until I was happy with the design, then I downloaded it in .png format with a transparent background.

5x7 with the florals arranged around the border

I also used a Canva font to create the sentiment for this card and downloaded that in a .png format with a transparent format as well.

modern calligraphy font saying "You make the world a brighter place" in yellow

5. Bring the .png files into Procreate in separate layers.

Next, open a 5×7 canvas in Procreate and upload the .png files each in their own layer.  Use separate layers because when you license a greeting card design, some companies will want the complete design in separate layers so they can ready it for their printing process.  If you always work this way, you won’t be caught having to rework an entire card with separate layers when a company is interested in licensing your work as I once did!

6.  The sentiment

I create the sentiment on the front of the card in various ways.  For this card I used a font in Canva as I shared above, then after I brought it into Procreate, I chose my own brush in Procreate and traced it with just a few tweaks.

Other times, I hand draw the lettering right in Procreate.

This is completely artist’s choice, as long as you are staying aware of copyright and trademark laws.  This is where the free and pro version of Canva differ a bit.  To check to see if a font is free to use commercially, click on the three little dots in the top right hand corner. If you don’t want to worry about this, then it’s best to hand letter your sentiments.

7. Add a background layer

I drop a background color on its own layer at the very bottom, with or without texture depending on the mood I’m going for.

For this card, I chose a dark blue background that made these flowers pop.  Then I added a linen texture layer on top of the background layer in a lighter color, and presto,  a beautiful card is born!

this is the complete card with the floral border, the sentiment in modern calligraphy that says, "You make the world a brighter place" and a dark blue background with linen texture

9. Save the final layout

Once you love it, save the final card design to your photos or a specific file etc. (organization is not my specialty so you’re kinda on your own on this one) and make sure to put it in a portfolio for licensing as well!

10. Get your card out into the world

Next upload your card both to Card Isle and Zazzle, or wherever you want, and get it in out in the world!

Click HERE to see how I’ve organized my Zazzle store.

11. Let Claude help with the rest

I use AI for two things at this stage: writing the prose for the inside of the card (Card Isle requires 3 options for each card), and writing the actual product listing (title, description, and tags) on Zazzle.  It’s a great assistant so you can stay focused on the art!  There are several options, but I use Claude and I know many other artists do the same.

Conclusion

So that’s it! One sketchbook page, a little Canva magic, a little work in Procreate, and a card is born.

Here’s another one that started the exact same way in the exact same sketchbook:

this shows the sketchbook page with vines and leaves in yellow and pinks and the finished sympathy card with those vines and leaves surrounding the border of the card and the sentiment: Wrapping you in Love when words fall short" in the middle in gold.

To Purchase

Click the images below to purchase either of these specific cards:

this shows the 'brighter day' card on a bed of leaves with my logo in the lower left corner and text that says "Inside: Thank you for brightening my day"

this shows the burgundy sympathy card on a bed of leaves with my logo in the bottom left and the title. "Inside message is customizable"

 Shop all of my designs in my Zazzle Store: Kim Snider Designs.

Do you have a sketchbook page you’ve been sitting on, wondering what to do with it? I’d love to hear about it, or better yet, see your favorite piece!  Tell/show me in the comments!

Also, if you have any questions about this process, don’t hesitate to ask!

In the meantime, go play some art!

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