You Are A Gem (2019)

Not too long ago, I popped into local businesses with some samples of my greeting cards, hoping that I could get them into retail spaces. One of the spaces specialized in rocks, crystals, and gemstones. I teased them with the prospect of a greeting card that says “you rock” in negative space—surrounded by the names of different rocks and gemstones. Unfortunately, due to shifting priorities, that card never winded up happening.

I wound up adapting the concept when I discovered that I could sell officially licensed Steven Universe products via Redbubble. The idea popped into my head immediately after a friend said to me, “You are a gem.” I’ll put that in negative space, surrounded by the names of the four main characters from the show.

Okay, so I’ll be honest! I spent hours agonizing whether I should include other Crystal Gems like Rose Quartz, Peridot, Lapis Lazuli, or Stevonnie. A consultation with a much nerdier friend led me to the conclusion that I should stick with the four original Crystal Gems, because it got far too complicated beyond that.

To complete this piece, I projected the “YOU ARE A GEM” text onto a piece of 5 x 7 vellum paper. I carefully measured and adjusted the paper to ensure that the text was placed in the right position. Then, I lightly traced the text onto the paper with a pencil.

From there, I rotated the paper and repeated the names Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven in various different lettering. I made the mistake of using some very clunky block lettering in the original version, which distracted from the central text in negative space. Rather than redo the entire piece, I covered these areas with small strips of paper and wrote over them in a new form of lettering.

This added an extra challenge to the editing process. I used Photoshop to blend the “patched” areas into the original piece, and I wound up being very pleased with the final result.

The final edit was uploaded to Redbubble, and despite following all of their guidelines, I was upset to discover a few months later that it had been removed from their platform.

Is this piece available?

“You Are A Gem” is available in my Society6 shop as a greeting card, print, or framed mini-print.