Under the Christmas Tree

A slightly more polished Colour Collective, from after the deadlines had been met. This was the last CC before Christmas, so I definitely had to continue my Christmassy themes. I chose to do Myrna again. She doesn't, fortunately, eat the baubles off the tree (or the presents), but it's a good image. 

I used this for my thank you cards this year. It's good to find multiple uses for something!

Adobe Photoshop CC 2018 on a Wacom Mobile Studio Pro. It took about three hours or so.

Chiropractic Christmas Cards 2015

I was asked again to design a Christmas card for Burswood Health Clinic this year. Last year I did a comic snowman design, adapted from something they'd seen elsewhere, and they wanted 'something else funny'. A slightly scary request, but I did my best. 

I came up with six concepts, and they chose this one:

The Clinic was in a mad rush, as usual, so I put this together very quickly. Unfortunately my workspace was by no means quiet, and I was in such a rush to get it sent off that I accidentally masked the bleed. (I want my own studio! Anyone want to fund me a turret somewhere?) When working in Illustrator I mask it while I'm working because I find the artboard with stuff visible distracting when I try to evaluate the design as a whole - but usually I remove the mask! It was a stupid mistake, and even more annoying because I had carefully checked the outlines and the colour separations and everything else. I don't usually make such mistakes, but there's a first time for everything, I suppose. I rang them as soon as I realised, but it was too late to fix it. Arg!

Most fortunately, it doesn't seem to have mattered:

I think they came out rather nicely! The clinic likes huge glossy cards - A5 - so this looks rather striking. My father isn't very impressed with this design at all, but the Clinic seem to be very happy with it, and that's what counts, after all.

Adobe Illustrator CC 2015 with a Wacom Intuos 5. About 6 hours.

Christmas Cards: Snowmen

This year I put together two Christmas Cards for Burswood Health. I've done cards for them in previous years, and this year I used one previous design, and a new one.

Here's the new design. A couple of years ago I was given a cartoon featuring a snowman who needed to visit the chiropractor, and asked to come up with concepts utilising that basic idea for their Christmas cards, but the project was cancelled due to time constraints on the part of the clinic - so when I got a rush order this year I grabbed the concept I liked the best and worked it up into a full illustration. I got the request Friday afternoon, did the illustration over the weekend, and had three cards ready for Monday. The snowmen were very quick to put together, and as I was flat-out that weekend anyway, I was very glad it wasn't a complicated concept!

And here's the second card. This bauble design has been used a couple of times, but updated it to match the clinic's new branding; when I originally designed it the brand colours were maroon and a rich yellow-cream, but they've had everything redesigned and it's now purple and beige, with a new logo. While I was at it, I also updated the colours in another existing design, a parcel, so that there were three cards available for selection, maximising the chance that there would be something there they'd be happy using, since the time constraints didn't really allow for the usual process of concepts and drafts.

As it turned out, they were happy enough with the two above designs to pick them both, and we were able to get them off to the printers in good time! =) I did both of the designs in Adobe Illustrator CC, which was a good thing, as I wasn't at all sure what size they were going with, and vector artwork can be so easily resized, so there were no issues when they eventually chose A5 size. I also like the clean, commercial appearance of vector artwork for jobs like this.

Adobe illustrator CC

Illustration: Colours of Nature

Here is the theme illustration I did for the 2013 SmokeFree WA Kelmscott Annual Show. The theme was 'Life on the Land: The Colours of Nature'.

 I provided them with five different concepts, and they chose one this one, a continuation of the 2012 theme of 'Mother Nature'.

This was done in Adobe Illustrator CS6:

Here's a closer look:

I'd put up a colouring page, but my website host appears to be down, so that will have to wait. 

I'm sorry to say that this wasn't an enjoyable assignment, so I was thrilled to see that it struck a chord enough for a kid to enter a lego version of it in the themed lego section. This is by someone called Xavier, isn't it fabulous? (It even won a first!)

Everything was faithfully put in, even the flag and clouds from last year's theme that were vetoed this year. Last year I included a donkey – this year I had planned to include a horse, but it was eventually dropped, so I'm glad to see that there is a horse here too. 

I also demonstrated portraiture and needle felting for one day of the show. (19th October. I know, I'm late with this post) I did about 6 hours all up, over half of which was portraiture, and the rest felting. 

Unbeknownst to me I was coming down with something that completely flattened me for the next week (and ruined my productivity and energy for the following week (and then some) as well) so I hope I didn't unwittingly give it to anyone! I thought I just had a nasty headache caused by the stormy weather (not unusual), and soldiered on. >.<

I'm indebted to my father for these photos (usually he forgets to photograph me =P). That's my mother sitting beside me, doing some knitting, and doing much of the talking for me. I am deaf in one ear and have trouble in large, echoey spaces, much of the time I wasn't even aware if someone was talking to me (when they were standing to my right) with all the surrounding noise and feedback in my hearing aid. 

At times we had quite a crowd, generally there were at least one or two people watching:

And did I ache after that uncomfortable plastic chair and desk!

My portraiture demonstration was Gene Kelly this year. I didn't have time to prepare a new portrait, and found this, barely started, in an abandoned sketchbook. By the end of the day it looked like this:

My reference was a publicity shot from Anchors Aweigh. 

And about 2 to 2 & 1/2 hours furious felting resulted in a semi-complete duckling:

Design: Save the Dates

Here's a look at some Save the Dates I designed recently for a lovely couple – I'll be doing the rest of their wedding stationary in due course, but these were the first things up. 

The floral design and colour scheme will be carried throughout the paper goods, and the Save the Dates have a watermark illustration of the ceremony venue behind the text.

Here's a clearer look at that illustration. I did an image search for a lot of potential views of the building, and they chose the one they liked the best. It was very, very small and fuzzy and had trees in the front, but I was able to create something new from it, using clearer photos to work out the details:

I also put together a monogram for them to use with wax seals on their envelopes. I made up a .ai file in Illustrator, and it was sent to the folks at the Wax Seal Shop. The seal-effect here is just a mockup in Photoshop.

Save the Dates put together in Photoshop CS6 with a Wacom Intuos 3 and printed with an Epson Artisan 730 on Coco Linen Ivoire 130gsm.  

Illustration: Traindriving Princess

I always quite liked this sketch from 2011, so I cleaned it up into a proper illustration for my portfolio, still using a limited colour palette. 

For this I created all the main base shapes in Illustrator, using the perpective guides to help with the train. Once I'd done that I took it into Photoshop and scribbled over everything and added the details.

Illustrator CS6 and Photoshop CS6 with a Wacom Intuos 3. 

Design: It Girl

Here's a mock book cover I've put together for my portfolio: Fictional book, fictional author, fictional character. 

Here's a closer look at Cecily:

I put all this together in Illustrator, playing around with using outlines in my vector work, which I do't usually do. I quite like the effect. 

The "Publisher" is the one I used to use when putting together booklets for school projects – named after a pet mouse I had when I was 12. I gave it a new logo for the purposes of this cover, but kept the original name. 

I started out with a sketch I drew while watching The Mrs Bradley Mysteries, which is where the idea for YA detective lit came from when I decided to turn it into a cover instead of a stand-alone image.

Adobe Illustrator CS6. Not sure how long. 

Design: 21st Birthday Invitations

I've just finished some birthday invitations for a 21st birthday. I was asked for fractals in blue, green and purple – but since I don't have a clue how to use fractal programmes, I simulated the effect with a combination of Photoshop and Illustrator. Fortunately, seahorse tail fractals were the type of choice anyway!

I created the shape to be used for the fractals in Illustrator, then took it into Photoshop, duplicated, resized and slightly rotated it, and then repeated that command until I had a swirl. It took me a few goes to get a swirl I was happy with, duplicated it a few times, and I ended up with this:

Naturally I couldn't leave it looking like that, so I added some spirograph-type designs (created in Illustrator) and some glowy bits, until I had something much more atmospheric. I added the text in inDesign, using Takion for the font; the birthday boy loves science and mathematics, and I felt that font fitted that theme nicely.

The majority of the invitations were emailed out, but for those that were to be posted, I got 5x7" prints done at a Kodak Photobooth. This meant some of the border was chopped off, but they still came out very nicely. 

Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign CS6

KAS Billboard

I did my very first billboard this year, for the Kelmscott Agricultural Society, which has been keeping me pretty busy lately. I was a bit nervous doing a billboard, because there was no one to tell me what to do, and I'm more used to the poster and flyer side of things. (And it was a good thing I did the 2012 Theme illustration as a vector, and didn't have to worry about the size!) However, I think it turned out pretty well, and it was in a great location – with the lights on it at night it looked rather striking, I think. =) 

My lovely father went to the trouble to get me this photo:

For a closer look at the illustration, you can see my previous blog post.

All done in Adobe Illustrator (CS4 and CS6).

Cards: Wedding and Engagement

 I needed a wedding card today, so finished off one that had been sitting unfinished on my computer for some time. It was originally designed as part of a set with an engagement card, although we didn't actually give this particular couple an engagement card, so that's rather irrelevant – but I shall post them both together:

Both were created in Adobe Illustrator CS4, although I finished off the wedding card in CS6. When I print them out I add some glitter – on the ring for the engagement card, and in the bouquet and veil for the wedding card.   

It is possible that I'll change the wedding card to have a long skirt – but I was in a hurry today, so it stayed short. =)

Cards: Anniversaries

I've been very busy lately (good thing, but tiring =P) so I'm in danger of neglecting the blog, so here are some Anniversary cards I've put together recently:

Lilies of the valley for my best friend's 2nd wedding anniversary. 

And a lily for the 30th anniversary of one of my mother's friends. 

If I'd had more time I would have put a shadow in this one as well, but I put it together on Sunday, when I was completely flat out, so my object was to be as quick as possible so I could get back to work. As it was I used a similar colour palette and theme to the first card, to speed up my process.

These are the flowers associated with each anniversary, by the way.

Adobe Illustrator (CS4 for the first one, CS6 for the second)

Card: Mad Men Birthday

My cousin was having a Mad Men theme for her 30th Birthday Party. 30's an important birthday, and I always try to design something a bit fancier for special occasions, so here's the design I did (It was even more important to be fancy as we're unfortunately missing the party – she moved it forward so that she and her husband can go on holiday.... and now it clashes with our own holiday. =P 

In keeping with the theme I designed a Mad Men inspired card:

I chose to do a portrait of my cousin in a dress inspired by the 'blue 50s dress with lace' that I was told she's bought for the party. I haven't seen the dress, so it's probably nothing like it, but I made the effort. =P 

I'm especially pleased with those lights. My mother walked in when I was just starting them, and clearly didn't believe that they'd ever look like lamps instead of just blobs. The beginning stages of artwork can be so confusing! =P

Illustrator CS4, texture (from cgtextures.com) added in Photoshop.

Card: Baby Shower

Here's the design I did for a baby shower card a week or two back. I was unfortunately unable to attend the shower itself, as I was sick, but I was able to put together a card for it:

It's a simple design, but I think it's quite effective.

Illustrator CS4

Cards: Baby Shower

Here's a little illustration I did recently for a commissioned set of baby shower invitations. They didn't want anything fancy or anything that would cost too much to produce, but did request that the colour scheme be pale pink and that it include a baby in a pram with a Docker's beanie, as they're big Fremantle Football Club fans. 

I did the illustration in Adobe Illustrator, over an initial sketch that I did in DeviantArt's Muro (I don't normally do that, but I was playing around with it's new playback function), and the result is that if you're interested in seeing my very messy prelim sketch, you can probably watch it appear here: http://sta.sh/0rkwlrle0nm )

I printed each invitation out on presentation paper, 2 to an A4 page, and concertina folded them into thirds – and finally punched off the corners so they were rounded:

Not the best photos, I was in a rush to catch the post.... I tried to keep them simple while also making them a little different through the folding. Most people seem to stick invitations on the fridge, so something that worked there was the aim – but I wanted to avoid the typical A5-folded-in-the-middle route. 

Vectors: Health flyers

Here are a few of the vectors I did this week, to jazz up some informational flyers for a chiropractic clinic. Since it's hardly reasonable to charge the earth for simple flyers, where possible I used images already in my files, so you might recognise two of these. They're all coloured to match the client's branding. 

Two kids for a flyer about regularly checking kids' backs for scoliosis. For this I quickly vectored Trouble, which took me about 30-45 minutes.   

A health professional, based loosely on one of the actual people at the clinic. 

And a vector of Ready for Anything, which (fortunately for me) I'd already vectored up as a media example for a job pitch – so I just changed her colours. She was for a flyer about helping kids manage asthma through checking spinal health. 

All done in Adobe Illustrator CS4, with a Wacom Intuos 3.

Card: Lotus

Here's a card I designed on Friday for my Aunt's 60th birthday.

I chose a lotus theme because I'd wrapped up the parcel with an origami lotus, and the present was a circular pendant with Swarovski crystals, which transferred well into stylised water ripples. There's a bit of confetti glitter softening the edges of the centre of the flowers, and adding a bit of sparkle. 

The design was put together in Adobe Illustrator CS4, and printed on double-sided Epson Matte paper. The floral pattern on the petals is from the pattern set in the font Melany Lane – I didn't have time to come up with my own pattern. 

And tagging along on this post are a few digital gesture sketches from more photos of the dancer, done in Adobe Photoshop CS4 over the course of about 10 minutes. I should do more gesture sketching.

Illustration: Mother Nature

Client work, for the Kelmscott Agricultural Society.

The Society's 2012 theme is 'Life on the Land: Mother Nature'. I've done several themes for them before, but never this early; the illustration was needed for inclusion in an ad featured in a year-long tourism publication that is to be released next month. I'll probably do a few tweaks before this is used in the rest of the Society publicity next year, but the deadline was short, so for now it's done.

This is the original concept (I did five) but it was requested that I change the globe to animals and farm produce. Given the short deadline, this was a bit of a struggle, but I think it came out all right. I quite like the ducks.

Given that this has to be used in a large variety of applications, I did it in Adobe Illustrator. This is the outline map, and a detail of Mother Nature herself.

 

Adobe Illustrator CS4, 20.5 hours.

Illustration: Tree Full Of Owls

A Post for Halloween!

This is entirely down to Makenzi Crouch, who suggested that we do a story & sketch for Halloween. Unfortunately, at the time I was suffering from a sick headache that was about to develop into a migraine, so to make things easier I sent her an old image with a vaguely Halloween-y theme, and let her play around with that. And once she'd finished her story, and I could see/walk/type in a straight line (hooray!) I gave the image a bit of a tweak to fit in better.  

So, without more ado:

.......

Most of the porch lights on Alpert Court were out. The only reason anyone bothered to trick-or-treat here at all was for Mr. Jackson's candy, and only a very few - the well-informed - braved his house. Chris had been scared so badly last year that he had promised himself he wasn't going to go anywhere near Mr. Jackson's house this year, and now he found himself standing at the end of the walk again, distracted from the ghosts swooping around the porch by something in the tree in the front yard. He tugged nervously on Matt's sword.

"Matt, there's eyes in the tree. Matt!"

.......

What happens next? Go over here to read the whole thing!

And, for your edification, here's the original image:

This was done way back in September 2009, when I was just starting to use Illustrator. I've come along way since then – this was mainly just me poking around with various tools to see what they did.

Inspired by a line from the 1956 musical High Society:

"Uncle Willy, this morning you look like a tree full of owls."

No, I don't know what it means either.

******

I think the night time version looks better than this one – but that's okay, I wasn't trying to do anything fantastic with this in the first place. ^.^

Illustrator CS4. 

Design: Ads and Posters

Despite appearances to the contrary I am actually still alive. Just very busy, and by the end of the day, too tired to sketch.

However, I have not been inactive! As proof of this, here are a couple of snaps of some design work I've done recently. I just got my hands on some prints.

Remember The Year of Biodiversity Schedule Design? This is more work relating to it. One full page newspaper ad (plus a considerable number of small ones) and A4 poster and a DL flyer.

I think they came out rather nicely. =) Nice and colourful. 

Design: Schedule Cover

I recently designed the cover for schedule for the 2010 Kelmscott Annual Show – for the theme of 'Year of Biodiversity'. 

And yesterday I got my hands on a printed copy, which I think turned out pretty well. 

I designed the main image in Adobe Illustrator. There's a bit of a push to 'modernise' the show at the moment, I think, so I tried to keep it clean and modern, and kept colours to a minimum, just adding yellow to the two logo colours of blue and green:

The plants and animals were grouped around the logo (The KAS with the circle below) with the jumping horse inside the circle being an image they've been using since, apparently, 1995. The image had deteriorated badly through repeated copyings, so I got hold of the earliest possible version and vectorised it (which was, I must say, very tedious)

I added a background and text:

And here's the final result: