Test Your Skills 3

Test Your Skills

Color & Element Challenge

Welcome to Challenge 3 for Masks!

I’m using an image I took on Maui looking up at the wall of the volcano Haleakala from inside the crater. Charlie and I had backpacked into the crater the afternoon before in the unrelenting rain, which continued all night.

In the morning we awoke to find a puddle of water under and around our open air tarp, and the volcano walls were enveloped with fog. But miraculously the clouds dissipated for about half an hour—in time for us to enjoy a spectacular sunrise.

I decided to create a mask page using this photo, so here’s my starting image. What do you think?

Take a good look at it and list some possible things I could do to improve this scrapbook page.

Click to see my initial thoughts

Two items that can trip us up are color and elements. Let’s handle one thing at a time starting with color. In order to see the color issue better, let’s get rid of the elements temporarily.

Whew! I already feel better! OK. Let’s tackle the color.

Take a look at the following possibilities and think about what the background paper does to the image, which is our focal point.

Click on thumbnails below to see larger images

See my conclusion

Here, again, is the paper I chose. It isn’t the only option, but it’s a good one.

Ready to tackle the elements?

When I add all the elements back in, here’s how my page looks. It’s better than before, but it still needs some help.

As scrapbookers we feel like we MUST have elements. But it’s possible to create a beautiful mask page that’s very simple.

One thing I like to do after adding elements is hide each element or cluster and ask myself if the page looks better with it or without it. Let’s try that.

Remove an element

The most obvious element to remove is the huge star shape. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great element. It just doesn’t do anything for this page. I vote NO on this element.

Remove another element

The page does need a title, so I chose between removing the stamp and the flower cluster. I felt the flower cluster matched the page better than the stamp, so I removed the stamp, which didn’t really contribute anything great to the page. Avoid putting elements on the page just for the sake of having elements.

The next thing I’m going to tackle is the title. I have strong feelings about type.

Warning: You May Not Agree With What I’m About To Say

Click for an opinionated pronouncement

I have three problems with this title.

The type is angled. In general I recommend that you avoid angled type. It seldom looks good. Most beginning scrapbookers angle type. Most advanced scrapbookers do not. It’s just a fact of life, and I’m sorry if I’ve stepped on your toes with this one.
This is an older style calligraphy font. It would be like wearing clothes from the 60’s and not knowing you look a little outdated. There are some marvelous newer FREE script fonts that are wonderful. (Check them out at your favorite font site.)
The type has a drop shadow. Most type shouldn’t have a drop shadow. Alpha letters (created to look 3D) should have a drop shadow, but most type shouldn’t.

OK. Now that I’ve thoroughly stepped on everyone’s toes…