Friday, March 14, 2014

Accordion-Fold Greeting Card

When I did this painting of Dinotopians riding through a field of flowers in 1996, I had to address two unique design constraints. On the one hand, I wanted to create a frieze-like composition for a horizontal poster, using the kids who won a national poster contest as models.

I also designed the image to work as an accordion-fold greeting card for Portal Publishing's "Streamers" line.  The card was printed the same on both sides and then die cut around the silhouettes.
When the card was all folded up, the silhouettes overlapped in such a way that faces could peek out in a surprising way.

Previous post about the kids who modeled for the painting.


8 comments:

T. Arispe said...

A very unique compositional challenge, indeed! You certainly rose to the occasion. I love the jubilant tone of this piece.

kev ferrara said...

This is a beautiful piece of design, as well as great illustration.

I'd love for you to do a post sometime concerning your commitment to making quality work, which is so evident in all your output. I assume that commitment is foundational to your artistic philosophy or work ethic.

Janet Oliver said...

What ^ Kev Ferrara said! Seconded!

James Gurney said...

Thanks, T., Kev and Janet. That's nice of you. In my mind, I'm not thinking about a "Commitment to Quality" but more like ordering myself to follow the tried and true method to avoid the lame results that would come if I gave in to my natural laziness.

Larry MacDougall said...

Well, accordion to all accounts, this piece was a big success. :)

Ernest Friedman-Hill said...

James, I would love to hear a few words about how you approached the fold-up layout challenge. What did you do first?

Unknown said...

Wow! very very nice and beautiful piece of design. Thank you very much for posting this amazing design.

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zarina said...

I wish the Dinotopia merchandising was still available. Loved the coffee cups, and wish the cards were still available. This accordion fold card is amazing and wonderful! Thanks for showing it.