Thursday 28 July 2011

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Bye Bye, Birdie.


My make of the day: seagull bon voyage cards.
Quite pleased with these, something a little different which gave me an excuse to play around on Illustrator :D

Cameos.


Experimenting with some quick and fun cameo designs in preperation for a few plans and designs in the future- wedding invites, gifts, etc. Quick cameo design tracing a photograph of my side-profile (yes, I have a big head...).

Tried using purest level of Key in my colours- 100C 100M 100Y 100K. Gives such a rich, full black colour. Definately sticking to this method of producing black from now on. 

A few experiments of icons below, using the CMYK scale. Quick little experiment, good play around for the day.

Monlithic Branding,



Monolithic branding stationary.
Hoping to add letterheads, envelopes and paper bags (for craft events) before the summer is out.
Can't wait to get embossing and foil-blocking. Going to look snazzy.

BUSINESS CARDS
ENVELOPE STICKERS
INOVICE RECIEPTS.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

KISS.


"Keep it simple, stupid."

Even I'm sick of hearing myself say "I must stop over-complicating my work" all the time.
September is going to be a new start.

Friday 22 July 2011

DAD ROCKS!


(I urge you to take a listen! ^^)

A few days ago, I was approached by fellow graphic design classmate, Luke O' Brien with a design proposition. Originally a commision Luke took on for himself, he decided the illustrative project wasn't quite for him, and fortunately for me, very suitable to my style.

Dad Rocks! Is the solo project of Mimas band member, Snævar Njáll Albertsson. Althouhg I had never heard Snævar's music as a solo musician, I had heard some of the Mimas tracks. Luke played me some of his music, and I was genuinely very impressed- very my taste. Acoustic, insturmental, unique lyrics and a sort of anti-folk vibe. 

The project, as later explain to me by Luke and Snævar himself (via e-mail) was to create a kids t-shirt in time for Father's day. He originally sent me this image to work from: 


Though he said I could elaborate (it is, after all, a pretty simple image).

I started by researching exisiting images of dinosaurs for inspiration, these are examples of the styles I would like to replicate and work from:










Some of the styles are a little too simple, or over-complicated- I need to find the balance just right. Important points to consider are: keeping the design simple enough for a child, and a young audience. Making the images clear, and the communication strong (possibly drawing a "father and son" dinosaur- showing the 'DAD ROCKS!' message, aswell as writing this below), and with minimal colours (i'd say no more than 2/3- if the t-shirt will be screenprinted, as quite posible, it would be good to keep the costs low).
I started a few initial sketches, to develop an understanding of the direction the work could lead. I decided to stick to the Brachiosaurus ("long neck") dinosaur- as herbivores, they are often depicted as gentle and caring in cartoons and film animation, and felt this would be the most appropriate message to send out.


After a few intial doodles and sketches, I came up with this. Snævar and I had discussed several elements we would like featured, and I tried to make the design as simple as possible to be both appropriate for children and the expense of the printing proces.



I create vector designs of the prints, again, keeping them very simple, and applied them to t-shirt backgrounds. After a week of "tweaking" and further discussions with Snævar we came up with the designs on the bottom row t-shirts- something FAR simpler than I would ever do, and using just two colours which really pushed the design in terms of visual communicaiton.
Snævar was very positive about the design and through the week and a half I was working on the project was consistently happy with developments, and was in discussions with his Record Company about production of the tees. Unfortunately, around a week after last correspondance Snævar failed to reply- whether this was a brush off, I don't know but I felt a little dissapointed. Although I hadn't spent a great deal of time on the design, admittedly it would have been good to recieve feedback, had it of been negative or positive. 
However, it has given me some much-needed experience in working with a client- hopefully things will run a little more smoothly in the future!

Monday 18 July 2011

Facebook Page.


Yay! Yet another base covered- my Facebook fan page for the 'Sophie in Disguise' brand. Slow but steady increase of viewers and followers- this page allows people to view my work before purchase as well as finding out all the latest news and events. Again, completely taking advantage of networking sites for the chance to really push sales of my work before returning to Uni in September where things will, inevitably, slow down a little.

Twitter.




My new Twitter account.
More networking over the summer.
So far, it's proven to be a great asset in providing more traffic for my Etsy store and blogs- hopefully going to expand my following very soon- get my work out there a little bit more.

Hogwarts Cards Plus.


Just incase you couldn't get enough of Harry Potter birthday cards, here are a couple more to add to the collection...featuring Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger.
Going to work on a few more before releasing them all as a set.

Tumblr.


Getting my tumble on via Tumblr. Newly updated, it's been neglected for a while.
Yet another place for inspiration and design work.
It's all about networking, networking, networking.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Potterific cards: Day II.


If I couldn't have got nerdy enough yesterday, I have trumped it today with yet another "Potterific" card. With the tagline inspired by my friend, Jodie, I made the Ron Weasley addition. As long as I have inspiration for ultimate cheesy taglines, I can't see this ending any time soon. Tomorrow's inspiration: conGRANGERlations, thanks Beth (www.b-yates1013.blogspot.com), you rule.

Monday 11 July 2011

Harry Birthday.


A little homage to all the Harry Potter lovers out there: A handmade vector-drawn 'Harry Birthday' card, which I made in a day and have put on sale via my Etsy account- and already had one sold within ten minutes of posting, I'm a verry happy bunny! Rather fun to do, this sort of design is me at my happiest- just fun and silly.


Because you can never have enough corny-ness in a birthday card...

Sunday 10 July 2011

World Traveller.


Having just come back from a short break with my beau to Turkey, my travelling instinct has been awakened more than ever. I have always enjoyed visiting new countries, and have had a passion to do so for as long as I can remember. I love experiencing new cultures and ways of life. This holiday was my first to a predominantly Muslim county. Experiencing the call to prayer from the Mosque Minaret and meeting Turkish locals was a completely new experience which I shall remember for a very long time indeed.
In the spirit of travelling and exploration, I have set myself the target of visiting a new country/city every year for the forseeable future, to develop inspiration and a wider view of the world we live in. My list for personal interest (thus far) includes:

* Antwerp
* Barcelona
* Berlin
* Brighton
* Bristol
* Brussels
* Capri
* Cornwall
* Costa Rica
* Fiji
* Florence
* Ghent
* Greece
* Iceland
* Ireland
* India
* Lisbon
* Liverpool
* Luxembourg
* Japan
* Jersey
* Madagascar
* Manchester
* Mexico
* Morroco
* Munich
* Norway
* Norwich
* Peru
* Rome
* Russia
* Scotland
* Seychelles
* South Africa
* Switzerland
* Sweden
* Tunisia
* Vienna

Saturday 9 July 2011

WORK EXPERIENCE OR BUST.


I have started to compile a list of dream 'work experience or bust' locations, with the aspiration to apply and work for as many as possible in the next two years (before I graduate...and beyond) to gain experience in working in my specific fields of design interest, currently largerly centred around publishing and print- with a strong focus on ethical and child-friendly businesses and establishments.

-ROALD DAHL MUSEUM AND STORY CENTRE
-REETSWEET CRAFTFAYRE, LEEDS
-INNOCENT SMOOTHIES
-OH COMELY MAGAZINE
-FABER&FABER
-PENGUIN
-PUFFIN