My daughter and I are playing along with a new (to me!) creative challenge at the moment: Index Card a Day (ICAD). As the name suggests, the premise is to create something (a drawing, doodle, painting, poem, calligraphy, art journaling, collage – anything goes!) on an index card everyday during June and July. ICAD is hosted by the fabulous Tammy from Daisy Yellow Art. There are both weekly and daily prompts, the weekly prompts are broad (encouraging specific techniques or mediums for example) and the daily prompts are more specific but still very open to personal interpretation (cobalt blue, playground, bouquet etc).
Playing along with the prompts is totally optional, so far I have created a grand total of one index card based on the daily prompt! The very first prompt was “Mix Tape”:
As the days have gone on I have surprised myself by choosing to play with colour and pattern more and more rather than working on small scale drawings as I had initially planned. I’m finding that losing myself in drawing abstract patterns at the end of the day is much more relaxing!
I also expected to get frustrated with the poor quality paper of the cards (they are just cheap and cheerful 6×4 record cards) but they haven’t performed as badly as I thought they would and I find that I don’t care at all if the surface gets a bit torn up using layers of colour. It’s all part of the process!
If you’re interested in playing along with ICAD (you can jump in at any time!) head over to Daisy Yellow Art for all the information on the challenge. There is also a kid’s version of ICAD – perfect for those lucky kids who have already finished school for the summer! My daughter and I have been working on our cards together in the evenings as we still have three weeks left of school. Boo.
I used various pens and markers that were lying around my studio for this project, for me it was more about experimenting with colour and line than using any particular products. Having said that, I always enjoy discovering what materials other artists have used so here’s a quick list of what I used to decorate these index cards!
Materials Used:
- Silvine 6×4 plain white index cards – any index or record cards will work (whether they’re coloured, white, ruled, plain or tabbed) I just happened to pick up a pack of these ones! I will be using these again this year until I run out of cards and then I might try something different.
Colour:
- Posca Paint pens – opaque paint pens that I don’t get the chance to use very often in my day-to-day drawing but that I LOVE to play with!
- Sakura Koi Brush pens – water-based pens that give a lovely textured colour
- Promarker pens – my go-to markers for my design work, great for creating both flat washes of colour and textured / layered effects
- Staedtler Triplus fineliners – great for adding tiny bits of detail here and there over other layers of colour
- Derwent Coloursoft pencils – lovely, creamy coloured pencils that are perfect for adding some texture and shading
Black and white:
- Sakura Gelly Roll medium gel pen (white)
- Uni-ball Signo pen (white)
- Pigma Micron fineliners (black)
- Uni-Pin fineliners (black)
- Rotring ArtPen (black)
If you’d like to follow along with my ICAD cards, I’m posting them over on Instagram, on my Pinterest board and in the ICAD Facebook group. Happy ICADing!
A quick note about the links: for most of the links above (all non-affiliate) I’ve linked directly to the manufacturer’s website or to my favourite Cult Pens (not only do they carry so many fabulous pens – be still my beating heart! – but they also offer international shipping). Many of these supplies will also be available from your local art or craft shops along with the big online retailers wherever you are in the world and they are all interchangeable for similar materials, these are just my personal favourites and/or what I happen to have in my stash!
If you’d like to browse all my favourite art supplies in one place, here’s my Amazon storefront (this is an affiliate link, if you click and make a purchase, I may earn a teeny-tiny commission at no extra cost to you):
Free Digital Scrapbooking template: Scrap Like Dagi
Do you outline then color your design first .or how does that work.thanks for the help.
I usually ink the outlines first and then add the colour. So my process would usually be: pencil sketch (although for most of these cards I didn’t bother with this step!), then black ink and erase any left over pencil lines, then layers of colour.
I hope that helps! Have fun!
Wonderful idea for this time of self-quarantine! I’m a small format artist, and these cards will be perfect to play on! Thanks for a fun idea!
It really is a fun project! Check out the ICAD home base for more info: https://daisyyellowart.com/icad-base
What a wonderful idea! I’m definitely going to try this. Thank you!
I’ve been ready to start and collecting ideas. Love the idea of index cards as a medium. Not too permanent of a commitment if I decide to trash it. What I would like to know is recommendations for pens, pencils, etc.
Thank you! Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi! It’s a really fun project, I’m looking forward to tackling it again this year! I used all sorts of media on my cards, but mainly Koi Brush pens, Posca paint pens, various black fine liners and some Derwent Coloursoft pencils. I think I’m going to experiment more with watercolour this year! I hope you enjoy ICAD this year, please feel free to share some of your cards with me if you would like to – I’d love to see!
I just found you on Pintrest. As a former teacher u are inspiring me to draw more. I make handmade cards. I like the doodles u make. Thanks for the tips.
You’re very welcome! I would really recommend the Sketchbook Explorations classes over on Creative Bug, I really enjoyed them and they helped me to fall in love with using a sketchbook to play in again! Here’s a post I wrote about one of the courses: https://katehadfielddesigns.com/blog/sketchbook-explorations/ HTH!
Please could you tell me which pens you use? They are really bright and vibrant and I would like to buy some. Thank you in advance, I love your patterns and am eager to try this activity.
I’ve used a mixture of Koi Brush pens, Posca Paint pens and various black fine liners for these cards Sarah! I also use ProMarkers a lot. I hope that helps! 🙂
Thanks for the inspiration! I love to doodle and am starting to incorporate hand lettering into my doodles. I love the idea of doing an index card a day because after teaching by day it is my favorite de-stresser! While I like to put them on FB or Instagram I am amazed by the comments or enjoyment that THEY get! Looking forward to trying to do one each day…knowing myself I will be amazed if I do it for 365 days but consistency would be FUN!! I love the patterns and colors you have shared…I am taking the easy way out using 3 x 5 cards! Yesterday was day one and since I doodle in church I gave it to the minister on the way out. Thanks again!!
Gorgeous ICADs, Kate! I love the repetitive patterns and the use of just a few colors. It makes your cards very striking.
Thank you so much! I’ve surprised myself with how much I have enjoyed making the patterns, I’ve found it to be nice and relaxing after a busy day!
Your index cards are so cool Kate, awesome happy colors and vibrant colors that makes them pop! They make me happy, so thanks for sharing! Would love to see some of your daughters creations too, I think it’s cool you’re doing the challenge together!
Happy ICADing!
Thank you! I’ll post some of my daughter’s cards next time! She’s really enjoying the project too!
Your cards are so great! It’s amazing how different each artists work is some are grungy and messy, yours are clean and bright, very lovely!
Thank you so much! I do sometimes wish I could be a bit freer and looser with my work, but I love my pencils and markers too much I think! Maybe I’ll get my paints out and try something more messy one day!
Your cards are beautiful!!
Love this artwork. I also love how you photograph your cards with the pens too.
Thank you! I decided to photograph the cards with the pens to show the small scale of the cards, and also because I’m always curious as to what materials others use and so I thought it would be fun to share what I created the patterns with!
Wow I love your vibrant colours and bold designs – a lot of them would make great fabric or china patterns!
Thank you so much! I’ve really been enjoying making these patterns!