OUGD502 - PPP - Studio brief 2 - a design presence - Postcards

I have taken a few typical English greetings and sayings. I have even asked a couple of my American contacts via Twitter if they understand what they meant and there was a bit of confusion but no offence taken which is exactly the desired reaction, as this means they are a good conversation starter.
Here are the weird english phrases:

• Fancy a brew?
• Fancy a Cuppa?
• Hiya!
• Let's have a chin wag
• I'm chuffed to bits to meet you
• ' Chuffed to see you

I'm going to have a bit of a play around with these phrases on paper and see what looks good. I'm hoping to have 3 different designs to choose from when handing them around to people at events.

Sketches

'Chuffed to bits to meet you!'

I am going to use hand drawn type, as for me it's actually quicker and easier to put it together in the illustrative style I want.

'Hiya! Let's have a chin-wag!'

Again, going for a 1950's/ 60's inspired style, I have tried to break up the phrase into postcard format but in different lettering styles.

'Hiya! Fancy a Brew?'

Using the teacup as the feature of the design, I didn't feel like I needed another sketch to finalise this.

Digitisation

'Let's have a chin-wag!'

Here I am going over the components with the pen tool.

Inspired by some of the lettering I looked at in my research, I want to add an internal shape within the lettering that will have a gentle gradient. I do this by thickening up the line around the letter, and choosing the option which has the line on the inside.

I used the object > expand tool for this to make the stroke itself a shape, and deleted the outer line, leaving just the inner shape. I then put a gentle gradient through this.

The design so far

For the middle section, I just drew the lettering with the pen tool without pre sketches.

I also added another outline around the whole of the letter, also in a gentle gradient. I also added a drop shadow.

'Fancy a brew?'

Here I have gone around the sketches I scanned in.

I added some serifs, and have filled in the tea cup. I used the layer mask tool to keep the 'tea' within the 'cup'. I used a gradient with a grain effect to illustrate the shadow on the saucer.

I added a stream of steam and knocked it back on the opacity.

Using the same techniques as on 'lets have a chin-wag!' for the inner gradient, I begin to spruce up the 'brew?'

deciding which way around the gradient should face.

A thick dark line in the chosen colours helps it stand out, along with a drop shadow.

I decided not to go with the 'fancy' with an outline in the end.

'Chuffed to bits to meet you!'

Digitised sketch

Another demonstration of the inner gradient shape.

Printing

Luckily for me, my father works in the printing industry and has kindly offered to help me with the printing of these business cards and postcards so I can have a clean, professional finish. We've agreed with 300gsm (or something around that mark, according to availability) and (again, due to availability) glossy on one side, like an authentic postcard.

I never ask him for help because I know it's a big favour and a lot of fuss out of his working day and the company he works for, considering it would usually be a short print run and I don't have enough money to cover normal price, but I thought it was necessary to have a really professional finish on these to make a good impression in the US. As you can see here, I have around 500 business cards and around 300 postcards! Lots of friends to make!

Before I go to the US I want to make sure that my Behance is completely up to date ready for networking.