K is for Key

K is for Key 

I’ve been having a lot of fun creating K is for Key. I have experimented a lot with the drawings and patterns whilst also silently singing to myself “I got the keeeeey,I got the secreeeett!”  (click here if you haven’t heard said song and wondering what on earth I am waffling on about!)

I decided to create a mock up with the key patterns, using them on a book mock up which could be a journal or a notebook. I haven’t shared a lot of my mock ups before, but it has been really exciting playing around with these patterns and I am really pleased with the outcome.
Key drawings in black ink and dip pen.

This has become my favourite way to create the initial drawings, using black ink and dip pen, then scanning this in at a high resolution and working with it either in Photoshop or Illustrator.

K is for Key Pattern

I’ve also been trying to break out of my usual turquoise and green colour palette. After some research into different colour palettes I really liked this peachy/salmon pink and grey combination.

To finish off my K is for Key designs here is a simple framed print, with some little wooden houses. Which made me think this could also make a pretty ‘New Home’ print or card.

L is for Leaf

It all started with a wander through Kew Gardens on a beautiful Autumn afternoon. I couldn’t resist collecting lots of beautiful fallen autumn leaves.

This led to a few inky doodles, using black ink and white gel pen. I then scanned my leaf doodles into the computer to create my full colour leaves (see below). Although I had a play with blue and green (my ‘go to’ colour palette), I thought I would stick to the autumnal colours.

and here is my autumnal leaf pattern.

P is for Pirate

This was a collection of kids illustrations and prints created last year. I struggled a little with the colour palette and deciding whether to work in Illustrator or photoshop. Having worked on it on and off for several months I am finally happy to reveal it here.

In the end I went with a simpler turquoise, purple and dark blue palette. I also pushed through with illustrator to create the patterns and artwork, prefering he flat colours for these compositions.

Below are some of the additional co-ordinating patterns in more detail:

Anchors Ahoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

Knotted (I’m still loving the rope & knotted nautical designs; here in a pale turquoise)

 

 

 

 

Palm Deco (revisiting a my palm tree pattern that works really well with this theme; recoloured in purple to match the colourway)

 

 

 

 

B is for Brooch

2015 kicked off with another round of creative bootcamp in the form of Lilla Rogers MATS bootcamp course. This first month we were tasked with creating a journal design inspired by Edwardian brooches.

The brooches I was most drawn to were simple designs with beautiful faceted gems in greens and purple.

Here are some of my initial doodles and drawings of the gems: 

ink & wash drawings

pencil sketches

Here is the final journal design I created. Using the simple brooch designs to create a repeating pattern as a cover design. With the addition of a hand written journal font to the left.

After creating the journal piece above, I was really inspired by the simplicity of the small colour swatches and the same facet design. So decided to play around with this to create a simple faceted polka dot design.

I have also been having a little play with an S is for scribble logo (see above) hopefully more of this to come in another post soon.

F is for Flower

 

…or F is for Folk Floral

March & April were busy months for me taking part in Lilla Rogers MATS part B.

Although I wasn’t able to post much whilst the course was going on I will attempt to post some of my favourite pieces here over the coming weeks.

This folky floral print had been created in Week 5 for the Party Paper brief. The aim had been to create a design for paper plates and napkins, however it was clear that this was another design that would work better as a bolt fabric pattern. So here it is with a folksy geometric co-ordinate.