Friday 28 August 2015

Commission Round-Up

This year is going so quickly that I'm struggling to keep up! It's been a busy few months in the studio with several big commission projects and a relocation in between. We've now moved from the sunny shores of Anglesey to the beautiful town of Elgin in Moray. I've only ever spent a few days in the Highlands before, so living here is an absolute delight and I'm surrounded by new inspiration! 

Here's a round-up of a few of the projects that I've been working on recently.

I started the year with one of the most exciting challenges of my design career so far... illustrating a children's book! I've been working with the lovely 'Little Door Books' from Blainslie who have just been at the Edinburgh Book Festival for their latest book launch. You can check out their Mac and Bob book series on their website. 


Image courtesy of http://www.macandbob.co.uk

These lovely books were and illustrated by Dave Sutton and I love how much fun and energy they bring to the stories. Alan Windram, the author behind Mac and Bob, has also written the story I'm illustrating now. Watch this space!!

Although I can't reveal the artworks until the big launch next year, here are some early character doodles which I rejected for this project but could develop into something else.

These aren't the only doggies I've drawn so far this year, since I also had a commission to design a bespoke pet portrait. This was a particularly fun project and I had the handsome canine Duke for a muse. 

I created a similar portrait last year as a present, which was inspired by the work of Belgian artist Thierry Poncelet. I discovered his work in Bruges and absolutely fell in love with his humorous anthropomorphic animal portraiture. I decided to depict my husband's favourite dog, a Hungarian Vizsla, in his own RAF uniform. 


This time, I was to depict Duke in his owner's RAF Regiment uniform. I think he wears it well...



I've also completed several other projects including illustrations for wedding stationery, social media artwork for Cambridge Weight Plan and some designs for adorable baby bibs with Roslin-based company Cheeky Chompers. Phew! After all that, it's nearly time for Christmas again!! 

If you would be interested in commissioning me for any bespoke artworks or projects, please do get in touch! I would love to hear from you.

Monday 12 January 2015

Welcome to 2015!

It's my first day back to work after an amazing festive break! Christmas is always my busiest time of year so it's nice to get a little downtime when it's all over. This year I was able to take a few days off and travel to Iceland. It was a wonderful place to visit, and full of exciting inspiration!

I took photographs of some fantastic street art spotted around Reykjavik:




I just loved the beautiful colours and quirky subjects. Check out the spooky eyes peeking out of the tree trunk! 

I was also lucky enough to see the Northern Lights, which I've been longing to do for years!



It was a huge challenge to photograph but I think the results were spectacular. I'm pretty sure the Northern Lights will be making an appearance in future designs!

Reykjavik was wonderfully Christmassy and I'm now brimming with ideas for other festive characters. For the moment, these will have to wait while I take on a new commission project. I'm soon going to be starting work on some illustrations for a new children's book! I'll be working with the lovely folks at Little Door Books in the Scottish Borders. I can't wait to get started! It's a fabulous excuse to lose myself researching the work of some of my favourite illustrators... Taro Gomi, Jon Klassen, Oliver Jeffers, J. Otto Siebold, Shaun Tan... the list goes on!