DIY posters with cut-out lettering | How About Orange

April 04, 2013

DIY posters with cut-out lettering


I'm thinking of making a poster series of ridiculous song lyrics. The first one goes to you, Ke$ha. Next up, Katy Perry. "Baby, you're a firework." What, just one firework? "Boom, boom boom. Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon." A brilliant use of rhyme. Wouldn't a whole wall of these be comical? At least in my mind. And perhaps in the minds of some friends; you know who you are.

But really I just wanted to try cutting out some lettering like I saw in the branding for the Kröller-Müller Museum. Apparently theirs was rendered digitally using Cinema4D software. I went old school and busted out an X-acto knife.


In Illustrator I typed out text using a bold font. (Novecento Wide, bold —free!) Then I outlined the text with a thin stroke and flipped it backwards. This way the printed outlines won't show on the front of the piece. I printed it on cardstock and cut along the outlines, avoiding the highlighted areas above. The left edge of each character isn't cut and acts like a hinge.


I flipped the paper over and bent the letters up, like opening little doors.


I liked it layered on top of a sheet of neon red paper.


And of course orange is always an excellent choice. You could make a series of cut-out posters and group them as wall art. Or make greeting cards with short phrases on them. To make the letters show up, fold a piece of colored paper in half, the same size as your outer white folded card, and insert it inside. Keep it in place inside the white card with a line of glue along the fold.

You could also try cutting shapes out of colored paper and layering white behind it. I opted for cutting into the white, since cast shadows show up best on light colors.

Any suggestions for more silly pop song lyrics?

56 comments:

Diana said...

I like your idea. I think I can do this on my Silhouette Cameo. There is a feature where I can select part of it and choose No Cut. The would work for the fold. Thank you so much for your great ideas. I love your blog.

Diana

Erin said...

I love this with all my heart.

EllenQ said...

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA! I love the whole concept, not to mention the execution.

Grandma G said...

I am obviously too old for those pop song lyrics!

Mum

pandaag said...

This would make me laugh everyday! I might have to do the wisdom of Adele ... 'just because I said doesn't mean that I meant it!'

Ele said...

wow! <3

Kate at M is for make said...

for pointless lyrics, head to Lady Gaga, just googled "Marry the night" which I think has to be one her of strangest ideas so far, lots of material there!

Toma said...

This is cool if you make it this like 3 Dimensional art. With the word look like they were getting show up.

Tanika said...

Very nice idea!

April said...

Actin' up
Drinkin' my cup
I can care less what you think


...wait, what does this have to do with cups (and how do you drink one)? And you mean "couldn't care less," otherwise you *do* care some.

Come on, Beyonce.

That aside, I love this simple, fun artwork. Props to you.

Patti McHugh said...

Awesome idea! I'm working on Studio Calico class - This Is Me and this would be a great addition to my journal/photo album. Thanks!

hanna said...

Hey Jessica, yeah, cutting letters is great. Sometimes I use neon-cardboard (one side neon, one side white), and glue it (or stick it with a needle) with some distance to another white cardboard. i seems like glowing! Here are some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/knochenmarc/5599603875/in/photostream/
xoxo Hanna

Jessica Jones said...

Hanna, I love that!

April, YES! It's one of my pet peeves when people goof up "care less." There are a lot of people out there who care more than they meant to. Heh heh.

Lady Gaga, excellent. A treasure trove of weirdness! Good one from Adele, too. Thanks, guys.

I'm also considering Alicia Keys. "Looks like a girl, but she's a flame." It's some kind of magic trick?

Silvia M. said...

I love this idea!

And for stupid pop song lyrics I suggest anything by Kesha. :)

Katja@ Shift Ctrl ART said...

That looks fantastic. Macklemore's thrift store song springs to mind too, when you say silly lyrics ;)

Kelli @ WhimsiKel said...

Love this idea! The white over orange looks amazing! I'm glad Diana mentioned using her silhouette; I'll have to give that a try. And I had to pipe up with some dumb Train lyrics, "Just a shy guy, Looking for a 2-ply hefty bag to hold my love." I love the song, but it's proof that a catchy tune can make up for awful lyrics.

Jessica Jones said...

Is THAT what he's saying? Wow, I never listened that closely. HA HA HA HA!

Carrot said...

I love this! Ohhhh the possibilities! It's mind boggling :)

Lil Mama Stuart said...

ha, love this. But I don't have the patience for an Xacto knife. How long did it take you?

Jessica Jones said...

I'm gonna guess 10 or 15 minutes for the cutting? I didn't really pay attention.

Professor Von Slotheim said...

This is an amazing idea, and can't think of tons of phrases that would be perfect for gifts!! Oh the hilarious options!!
Thank you
Xo

Kate said...

I adore this idea! I know exactly what Ke$ha lyric I'm going to use.

Two questions: what size is the poster? And do you think you could use multiple colored neon paper to emphasize certain words?

Jessica Jones said...

My sample is just 8.5 x 11 so I could run it through my desktop printer. But you could do a huge one, which would be so cool. Print out the words you need in separate pieces on regular paper. Then transfer them to the back of a big piece of sketchbook paper or tag board with carbon paper, or by rubbing a pencil along the outlines of the letters and then tracing them onto the poster to transfer the graphite outlines.

You definitely could make the words different colors; just tape different colored papers behind the different letters. FUN!

Jessica Jones said...

Speaking of Fun, maybe they've got some good lyrics.... Black Eyed Peas, too...

Unknown said...

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Nice to meet you. :)

Thanks for your sharing regarding to DIY items. :)

May I add your blog to my favourite blog list?

Thank you :) Have a nice day! :)

Jenny said...

Totally need to make one of these with my all time fave: "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard." Awesome.

ombre said...

merci c'est trop bien!!!!

Casey said...

Fun idea! As for lyrics, Taylor Swift has some good ones:

I'm in the room
It's a typical Tuesday night

Poetic. And speaking of poetic, this would be a good one to commemorate with cut paper:

Apple bottom jeans
Boots with tha fur

:D

Alex said...

How much do I love that you did with this with an old school X-acto Knife?I do a lot small card crafts with mine so big fan of this!

Harrison said...

Blowin' up my phone aint gonna make me go no faster
put my coat on faster
leave my girls no faster

--Beyonce in Lady Gaga's Telephone

Anonymous said...

"2 Chainz but I got me a few on
Everything hot, skip lukewarm"

Trude said...

I have no words for how awesome this is. Although I have to say, having grown up on classic rock, there are some real winners dating way back. :)

Beth said...

This is an awesome project! How about Jordin Sparks' Tattoo: "Just like a tattoo / I'll always have you." SERIOUSLY? Train's lyrics are hilarious, too: "She was caught in a mudslide / Eaten by a lion, / Got run over by a crappy purple Scion."

Mary N said...

These are a great idea - what a way to cheer up a room. I like Barbie girl "Life in plastic, it's fantastic".

dicey1 said...

Love this sooo much! Unfortunately I first read it as Errbody Gettin Drunk Drunk...made me LOL so hard. But, no worries. I really do get the reference. LOVE.

Jeanne said...

Love this. I'm not sure if it's good or not that I recognized the lyrics right off the bat. LOL Some Jimmy Buffet song lyrics would be awesome. Jim Croce's Time in a Bottle for something romantic, oh there are so many to choose from! :)

reZAZUrien said...

Errbody gettin crunk crunk! really? LOL! good choice! :)

Kacey said...

"Firework" has lots of other weird lines, as well...

"Do you ever feel
like a plastic bag?"

No, Katy. I dont.

Linda, Fröken S said...

Brilliant! Thank you for sharing!

Cecily said...

I am probably dating myself, but when I was a kid there was a song called MacArthur Park.
It made me crazy because it made no sense....
"Someone left the cake out in the rain"

Anonymous said...

haha! Loving the comments and love this post. Have spent a fan 20 minutes on a quote cut out gift for a pal and it worked a charm! Love your blog, have been a lurker on here for ages, but had to post this time! SO many ideas brewing using this technique!

And same here, is that what the Train lyrics were?? Crikey!

Get Crafty said...

This is amazing! So simply but works so well!

Mindy said...

I love your blog. It's a daily read for me. I'm an art teacher & used this for inspiration for my 7th & 8th grade projects. They are coming out amazing!

Beth said...

Absolutely love this! Thanks!

Jessica Jones said...

Mindy, happy to hear about your classes!

Francine from Callaloo Soup said...

I adore this idea! So many possible applications!

Debie Grace said...

Genius! It's very artsy! :D

Jessica Jones said...

Oh, another great lyric, compliments of Justin Timberlake:

When you cheated, girl
My heart bleeded, girl.

"Bleeded"?

Grandma G said...

You sure it wasn't "bleated"? ;)

Jessica Jones said...

When I heard it, I looked it up to confirm.

Laura said...

I too, have read your blog for quite a while now, but have to post this time cause I have had such a good time reading the comments! Had forgotten about MacArthur Park and the cake left out in the rain! Thanks for the great idea. I make cards and will try this out.

The Picinic Basket said...

I just wanted to stop by and say thank you for posting this project. I loved it the minute I saw it and knew I wanted to incorporate this into a project I'm working on. I made one the other day and wanted to share it with you. I linked my post back to yours as the original inspiration. I can't wait to do another so thank you. Your blog always has the greatest projects and ideas, and I enjoy reading it everyday.

http://thepicinicbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/this-is-me-continued.html

Anonymous said...

Your designs are really cute, funny, and fun!

Lauren H said...

omg I LOVE that clock!!!

Emily said...

Loved this idea so I made one for a friend for his birthday!! He's a bit of a stress head, so I used a sky blue backing and the words "BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT" in an oak frame. I love it! I hope he does too :D thanks for the idea!! xx

Jessica Jones said...

Emily, that sounds terrific.