Creating Vector Doodles

Our Design Process

By Amy…

As an artist, I am blessed to work alongside a talented graphic designer. As a mom, I am doubly blessed because my graphic designer is my son, Justin.

In this post, Justin and I will share our design process.

Choosing a Topic

We strategize to choose a doodle topic, considering the time of year. We like to stay a couple of steps ahead of our audience, knowing that each digital product takes a couple of months before it is ready for the digital market.

Working freelance, we choose topics that are close to our hearts. Justin and I love the outdoors and things in nature. We enjoy camping, hiking, cooking, eating, coffee, cookies, cakes, pies, beaches, birds, trees, campfires, movies, sports, and more. So, that is what we draw. Each doodle expresses our experiences and has meaning to us.

Through our doodles, we hope to connect with others. We want to tug on heartstrings, stir up nostalgia, and present simple and pure pleasures in life. Focusing on things we all have in common, we hope to encourage feel-good, happy emotions. We want others to use our doodles to evoke playfulness, comfort, and joy.

Creating a Scene

Once our topic is chosen, I create a scene. Each scene takes a few weeks to complete. By looking at images from personal experiences and recalling memories, I dedicate time to each scene, ensuring my illustrations are just right.

I illustrate several little pictures that come together to make an overall picture. We want our doodles to look good on their own and also come together with similar elements. Each illustration is sold separately and together in a collection.

When I am finished, I pass my drawings on to Justin.

Scanning

By Justin…

Once the drawings are done, it is my job to vectorize them.

Before I trace the drawings on the computer, I scan them. I used to use a copy machine, but now I just use a phone app. I am currently using VFlat. It is nothing fancy; the free version is fine. I then upload it to my online drive and download the scans into the computer.

Tracing

I upload the files into Inkscape. If you're interested in learning more about Inkscape, check out this article.

Inkscape: Pros and Cons

For each stroke, I trace the drawings by clicking and adding nodes. Then I round out the nodes for smooth lines.

I strive to maintain a clean and organized document by grouping paths and objects. This way, anyone can easily access what they need without manually selecting everything.

The process takes a while, especially when my mom adds extra dots to the page. Since the task is rather tedious, I trace for about an hour daily. After 2-3 weeks, I am finished tracing. I hope to get a drawing tablet to make the process more efficient.

Below is a time-lapse video of me tracing a peach pie doodle.

(By Amy… If you have watched this entire video, you can see how blessed I am to work with a graphic designer who cares about all the little details I put into my drawing. And, yes, sometimes, just sometimes, I add an extra dot or two just to annoy Justin. 😁)

Finalizing

Once the tracing is done. We sit down together to put everything in place. Over 1-2 weeks, we upload individual sections of the piece to stock photo sites.

Then we create patterns and mockups to sell the entire project on Creative Market.

So, there you have it—our design process! It’s a lot of work, but we enjoy it, and hope you do too!

Check out our store. We are just starting to finalize projects and make them available. We appreciate your support as we make these doodles available!

Of course, you can support our work on Substack by becoming a paid Subscriber.

Thank you to all for your support!

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Baking Cookies Illustrations includes:

• Hand-drawn vector elements

• 11 original compositions

• 3 vector patterns

• Set of numbers

Perfect for social and web design, packaging, worksheets, and PDF documents.

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