This Etsy All-Star Turns Your Photos Into Illustrations In an Instant!
One day last November, I realized that I was way behind the ball on our family holiday cards. We typically send something over-the-top-creative to all of our close family and friends. In prior years, we had come up with ornate ideas like 3D printed ornaments and laser cut cards. And while I have nothing against sending a basic family photo card, I knew it would be incredibly tough to get a decent family photo with both a two-year-old and a six-month-old. They aren’t necessarily the easiest to get to smile on cue.
Enter Miss Design Berry. (Also known as Kristin Berry.)
I found her on Etsy, during my search for “creative holiday cards” and couldn’t stop gawking at her amazing work once I landed on her shop. I’ve seen a lot of great illustrators in my life, but she seemed to be one of the best on the site. I immediately contacted her and was overjoyed when she wanted to do our cards.
The process was super simple. I sent her photos of each of us along with a rough template of what I wanted the card to look like. (Tacky holiday sweaters, obvs.) She sent back a draft and we got to go through a couple revisions together. After that, the cards were sent my way and all I had to do was add stamps and send! Here’s how the final product turned out:
Pretty lifelike, eh!? She did such a good job! (Especially with Pixel, our dog.)
I enjoyed working with her so much that I wanted to purchase a non-holiday piece of art from her as well. Given that my family and I live near the California redwoods, she created a similar piece depicting all of us in the great outdoors.
So cute! We are currently in the process of getting this one framed.
Kristin works on all kinds of products, not just family illustrations. She can manage all kinds of illustration work, from backdrops and signs to guestbook concepts and more. I once asked how she actually transforms photographs into illustrations and instead of a response, she made me a video! Check it out:
As you probably know, we at Brit + Co are all about encouraging creativity in women — and we especially love to showcase independent artisans and makers. I love hearing stories of how these women get started, and thus have asked Kristin for her own story. Read along through her replies: