Ditzy Fish

It seems like a long absence since my last post… but I have been away, down south to get some sun and sand!

At the Beach

We all took some craft stuff to do… but instead I read my book and relaxed.

Now that I am back, I really wanted to experiment with a repeat pattern technique that I read about in a book.

The idea is that you create your design in quadrants, then cut them up and shuffle them around so that all bits match up.

I decided to create a design that I may be able to enter into the Spoonflower weekly contest. The theme is Ditsy sea creatures.

It was quite fun, though without a ruler, I didn’t cut the squares very straight, so it didn’t all line up perfectly.

Now to add some colour….

I then scanned the finished quadrants into the computer to realign and manipulate the image…

The Ditzy Fish textile design

Notice some bits don’t line up? That is OK… It was good to see how well this simple technique can work.

I uploaded the design to Spoonflower to see how it would work as a continuous repeat design….

Spoonflower repeat

I don’t think the design is resolved enough to enter into the weekly contest! But it is certainly a start and something that I can work on!

More Cushion for the pushin….

After my exhibition I have had lots of my fabric left over. If I had time I could make a whole dress collection!!

The quirky fabrics are all a part of my ALPHABETISM collection! Each letter of the Alphabet has a matching graphic…

Since November last year I have been creating Cushions using my fabrics. I think they really work because they are bright and crazy prints, but in cushion size, they are enough to highlight a room. I have also been giving them to people as unique handmade gifts!

A is for Aeroplane

E is for Engine

V is for Vacuum and L is for Light

G is for Gnome

Z is for Zombie

P is for Peacock

B is Babushka

And finally… not a part of the previous fabric collection… a fabric that I designed for Christmas…

Wouldn’t you love one of these in your lounge room to add some colour?

Big Day Out

A friend posted on Twitter this morning and pinged me in to a competition that she thought I should enter.

The Big Day Art Competition

run by themusic.com.au , they asked users to design the cover of their next print edition

• All you have to do is send us your impression of an artist on the current Big Day Out schedule and upload your entry in the Festivals section of theMusic.com.au (then click onto Big Day Art page).
• The prize? Not only will your entry appear on the front cover of Inpress/ The Drum Media/ Time Off, but the lucky winner will also win a pass to the Big Day Out plus CDs by Big Day Out artists. But it gets Bigger and Artier than that! To celebrate the BDO festival’s twentieth anniversary, we are also giving the winner exclusive prints of heritage BDO poster art.

Their suggestion was to run with the ‘handmade theme’ that is reflected in all Big Day Out Promo for 2012.

Instantly I was inspired by Frankie Magazine and their handmade aesthetic.

So I started by doing a watercolour illustration of a jar…

I love the texture and feel that watercolour can give!

  

To add the Big Day Out artist, I loaded the image into Photoshop and worked some magic….

I don’t really know what they are looking for… but I thought this was a cute idea… having the band in the jar with the label on it… Just like Jam!

Big Day Art competition

Le Skull

Le Skull – Still life with Lobster and Croissant

Le Skull

I don’t really know what inspired me today… I started doodling a skull and decided he needed a moustache… one thing lead to another and I felt the composition needed some other Vanitas Still Life inspired objects. Thanks to the traditional Dutch masters, I created this illustration.

Still Life with Fish, Pieter Claesz

Oui Oui! You like?

Le Skull: Still Life with Lobster and Croissant

It was a Hoot!

The New Year has come and I had a great start to the year! After a night of family fireworks and then a pirate party to bring in 2012, I spent the first day of the year at the Beach…

First day of the Year! 2012

Inspired by the colours of the fireworks and the desire to create some texture in my illustrations, I have experimented with some collage.

Getting creative.....

Using a colourful magazine that I had lying around, I cut into it to triangle pieces. I used these to create a feathered texture overlayed over the top of a gouached cardboard background. I really liked using the cardboard as it is not only a recycled material, but it gives a totally different feel to the work than watercolour paper does.

Once I had photographed the work, in Photoshop I digitally smoothed out the layers using the ‘paint daubs’ filter.

It really was a hoot….

It was a Hoot

Coming to life

Now that I have this crazy character, I have made my FIRST attempt at a quick flash animation.

I started with a quick digital sketch

Digital Sketch

I then imported the image into Flash and played….

It is nothing to rave home about – I tweened one piece of grass and got the lawnmower to chase it!

It is exciting to see something come to life that was static before.

This is definitely something to play with more!

Cut my grass

I woke up this morning to the sound of the lawns out the front being mowed….

Then the smell wafts through the air and it truely feels like summer!

This inspired me for today’s illustration. I always think of the lawnmower as a live being that wants to chomp away at the grass and anything that gets in its way!

 

The Hungry Lawnmower

 

The Hungry Lawnmower

And so it begins….

When you look at a blank piece of paper, it is really hard to figure out what to put on it…..

Just mucking around with watercolours, I tried to let myself go and loosen up…. I don’t really know how successful this illustration is… but it was fun trying….

The Tough Owl

The Dragon Golf Course

The art of illustration

I have a lot of ideas that flow through my head… I often hope that when I put them onto paper, they are going to look as good as I imagined…

sometimes they do… and sometimes they don’t…

This blog is an experiment in how far I can challenge and push myself to reach my creative potential.

This time last year I was lucky enough to have a studio space for 6 months.

When in the studio I designed fabrics using different illustration techniques… I like the way my work translates into a digital medium and the fabrics gave my illustrations a really polished feel.

So now it is up to me to create my own ‘studio’ time…

Ready, Steady…. GO!