Character was the prompt

Sometimes, while looking for a "background" I find an old drawing or a paper that I liked but its not really big enough to make the entire back ground.  I will cut it into strips, find another paper to pair with it and will weave the papers together to create interest behind what ever my page will become.  For this one, I used some old homework I found around the classroom.  (I stained it with blue water before I used it.)  You can do this with magazine paper, old love letters or book pages...anything will work.  My "character" word was "dreamer".  If  I plan to leave letters white, I will highlight with yellow and shadow with blue.  it makes them "glow".  As far as the banner; I do this technique on the school mural.  I simply draw a series of parallel lines and then cap the ends.  this creates the "ribbon" effect.  I will then draw the back of the ribbon in.  you can fit any phrase in because the letters can be squeezed into how ever many parallel groups you can draw!  The parallel groups don't have to stack and can be turned in any grouping or direction you need.  You then connect them together with the back of the ribbon!  Do some smaller flourishes at the beginning and end of your phrase to make it fancy. The back of the ribbon is always shadowed to create a 3D effect.  This will make your eye follow the phrase where ever you want it to go.