For this month’s mail club I decided to make a Stardew Valley themed bundle, both in honor of the 10th anniversary of the game, but also because it’s been my lifeline while I’ve been sick, giving me just enough mental stimulation while my body figures itself out. In my mail club I always include a post card with the month’s calendar in the style of these old lithographs from The Strobridge Litho. Co. in Cincinnati, Ohio. They were a poster and ad manufacturer for over 100 years, from the mid 1800s to the mid 1900s and employed some major artists of the time to make illustrations including Alphonse Mucha. My favorite ones are by Harry Loud Birdwell, and his prolific portfolio has been the largest inspiration for my postcards.
The asymmetrical compositions, mix of three dimensional realism and flat illustration, and use of vivid colors is chefs kiss. When people think art nouveau, they often think of Mucha’s more muted tones, but I love these jewel tones that are much more reminiscent of the Victorian era.
The first month of my mail club I was learning how these pieces fit together, so I took a lot from the August of 1911 card, featuring a crowd watching an early plane flight.
The next month I was feeling much more confident and only took loose inspiration from the September of 1907 card with it’s scene split into a triptych by the overlaying frame and cooler color palette.
For April though, I took inspiration from a few different things. First was the March of 1911 card, which had a farm scene and a more Celtic or Norse inspired vining border which I thought really fit the spring Stardew Valley theme. I know myself though, so I decided to tone down the detail in the border and looked at some early 20th century book illustrations in a more medieval style.
I always start with a sketch to map out composition, refining along the way. I hadn’t touched two point perspective in a hot minute, so that was an adventure to relearn for the cabin. I kept the sketch for the farm scene loose since I was going to paint over it, but the border I refined pretty closely since I was going for a more illustrative style.
Even though this is digital, I painted the scene as traditionally as possible. It’s all on one layer with limited use of the undo and lasso tools using gouache brushes. I started rendering from the top and moving down so I could paint over the background with what was in front of it.
I then took a break from the painting to render the border.
After this it was a matter of choosing the fonts, aligning the dates (tragically they didn’t follow February and March’s), and deciding I didn’t actually like the tulip field in the front. The took up too much space and were too busy on the bookmark, but also barely peaked out over the calendar. Stardew has a lot of big open sky menu screens, so I scooted everything down and added more sky. Et voila! I definitely put way to much work in this for a $11 mail club component, but I have no regrets. This month definitely is my favorite to date.
Signups for April’s mail club are still open! The cut off is two weeks before the end of the month, so the 16th is the last day. You’ll get this post card, a bookmark of the center, a sticker sheet, a card featuring the song of the month, and a letter from me. Making these every month has been a blast, and it keeps the creativity flowing in ways I never would have imagined. I’ve been in an energy slump since November, which is why updates have been less than regular, but I’m still creating. My next big piece should be out before the end of the month too!
