How Do We Do It?


Many times I have been asked how I come up with the cute designs shown here at Cutestuff. Most of the time it starts out with a sketch:

and goes from there. Usually my sketches have a little too much detail. This one came out close to what I wanted. This sketch was done on a scrap peice of paper, on a spur of the moment type drawing.

Although it looks incredibly simple, there are many years' background training in art and illustration that goes into this type of design. I studied fine art and digital illustration at school, and that helped immensely. Another class that you would normally not think about that helps is anatomy. If you can get a feel for how people's and animals' bodies are constructed, it helps you imagine how a cartoon character would bend and move.

Once the design is scanned, I trace over it in Embird, one of the most economical yet very functional Embroidery programs. Then it is added to the site for sale! (Don't ask me how to make a site, I am clueless. I used a very helpful company called Robin's Nest Designs, linked at the bottom of this page!)