'MIRAGE' Textiles Pattern (2 part series) - NOW AVAILABLE!

Woo, I'm excited about this pattern!
Lovely, simple pattern to make and looks great!

I've named the pattern 'Mirage' and it's part of a 2 part series.
The other half, you can find on Society6 also!

To see the rest of the collection of this design, follow this link:
http://society6.com/Elmerchant/MIRAGE-02_Print?show=promoters#user_list

AND THERE'S FREE SHIPPING UNTIL SUNDAY!!!

Promote, and share with all your friends! :) 

Woop! I finally have a logo!

So I was just about to put a small presentation together for a project I've been working on and thought it'd actually be really cool if I could put my own 'stamp' on it sorta speak, so what better way than to make a simple logo for myself. 

I know a few of my friends have already made themselves a little something that they use, I just hadn't got around to making one myself nor have I really needed one in the past. 

Admittedly, the logo itself isn't much at all and it literally took me about 5 minutes to make, but I like it and it will do for now until I can come up with something better (or need something better even!)

The good thing about something this simple too is that you can jazz it up a bit with colour, as and when you need it! Anyways... without further ado... 

Voila!

Branding Project: More Logo Tests

Last week I continued working on the 'Coral' project with some different ideas. 

Considering the brand is meant to have lingerie and swimwear strands (under the name of 'House Of Coral') then I thought of using something lacy looking to encompass this. Something girly, flirty and fun.

My first idea was to use something that looked like the lace you find around the top of a pair of stockings and then fill the centre with a title. I quite like how this looks overall but I'm not sure how well it'd work as a logo on its own.

From there I wanted to try something that would look like a cut-out / stencilled look - and possibly something that could be laser cut to achieve this...

This is where my ideas led me... 

I thought that this kind of design would work well if it was used for a clothes tag or a price tag.

The side design could be cut out with a laser and it could be quite elegant looking. 

Similarly, I thought that something like this might look nice for a tag or logo or shop front design.

However, as nice as it might look I was concerned with the practicality of cutting something out this small... There's bound to be a better way or simpler way to do something elegant and fun...

Further designs to follow soon... :)

NEW PROJECT: Company Branding / Logo Design (Initial ideas)

FINALLY! I have a new project to work on at my internship and it's a branding one involving everything you can think of... logo, posters, website, shop graphics... the lot!

I've done all the preliminary research about industry competition and started putting a client presentation together so when the project is finished (I don't think i'll be here long enough to finish everything) - bits can be dropped in easily as there's already a template available. 

Today is the first day I've begun making some logos for the new company, who are calling themselves 'Coral'. I think the first obvious steps of designing the logo would be to do what I've done and go straight to working with coral shells and sea coral. 

With the first shell I think I am going to try to figure out a way to use this as a 'C' for the start of the company name 'Coral'.

-A Closeup of two of the shells-

-A closeup of two pieces of sea coral-

I have also tried to use a kind of hibiscus flower native to the company's startup country - Jamaica. I'm not too sure how I feel about these yet though...

- Close up of flower-

This is just the start. More to come soon...

Moroccan Patterning: Continued

As a continuation of my post from yesterday, here are some examples of colour schemes I began playing around with after deciding on my pattern. Moroccan colours are generally quite earthy and golden, but their flag also has green in it. I tried to consider this when choosing my colours.

1. Red and Gold (simple but effective)

2. Green and Gold.

I developed the flowers a little further here by adding in some detail to their centres

3. Red, Green and Gold.

My favourite of the three. Bold, rich and lively.

I also played around with some other shapes and textures to try to create a mosaic/tiled effect.

Below is an example of what I mean.

I also tried creating a simple texture in Photoshop, which I'm aware the boss doesn't favour using (and which I'll post soon), but to be honest is my favourite design of them all... We'll soon see what the client thinks when he takes my mock-ups to him to view.

Start Of The Summer Work: Moroccan Pattern Work

Yesterday, I began my first day at a graphic design company as an intern (and thankfully not the making cups of tea kind!) I've actually got some work to do! The office is fairly chilled out, with 3 of us as interns and a few 15 year olds on work experience running around and so far - so good. The only thing I'm not enjoying (and won't begin to) are the long days. 9am leave the house, 8pm arrive home :(

The first project I've been given however is a patterning project for a client starting up his own mobile Moroccan food van, so the aim was to create a pattern/design we could digitally print to cover it.

What's also challenging about working here is that the boss likes to do everything using Adobe Illustrator, which to me (at times) can seem like a nightmare! Anyways...

1. Outline created using the pen tool to mimic the shape of a Moroccan lamp

2. Filigree/Natural design found to fill in gaps and create a different look

3. Flower design created using multiple shapes (very messy)

3a. Cleaned up flower design with the star of Morocco in the centre

All of these small components had to be tested out in tiles / whatever design I thought would fit the van well and colour would be a key issue. Today I think I have finished my preliminary ideas. Tomorrow the big boss will hopefully tell me where to go from there on... 

More pictures to come...

Book Illustration: Brave New World

As part of our illustration module at the beginning of the year we were asked to make 3 images and a cover to use to accompany the book, Brave New World. 

The book itself if quite messed up, and reminds me almost of George Orwell's 1984 - but opposite. I've tried to make the images represent this twisted, backwards reality with a series of abstract portraits to tell the story. 

Book Cover

The night before the final deadline I decided to re-draw two of the above images (Cover and decapitated head). Looking back on the work because it was done a few months ago, I'd like to think I could do a better job of them if I tried again however they sadly weren't going to be worth enough marks to warrant a complete re-design.

Finished Zine: View on Issuu

Finally finished my Zine and handed it in last Thursday, which was a big relief! 

I thought it'd be cool to share what I made on here!

My Zine is based on a typical lifestyle magazine, but for the dead housewife!

So a little bit of a twist on the norm.

Anyways.....

Check out AFTERLIFESTYLE ZINE here!!!

And let me know what you think! That'd be awesome! 

Animation: Character Design Sheet

I'm so glad that my animation work is coming to a close! Today I sent of this, along with some other things to get printed ready for the start of assessments next week and I can't wait to see a physical copy of them! This is one of the final sheets I've produced to accompany my animation and I'm pretty happy with it considering I made it at 4am today! 

Zine: Accompanying poster

In the same brief as our Zines we also have a few different outcomes we have to show such as 2 postcards and one A2 poster. I decided to base mine around an image I already had made and also a spread that I didn't end up using, so that it wouldn't have been a waste of time!

The name 'Mascarilla Mortuoria' means 'Death Mask'  this essentially is a glamourised advertisement for a new perfume. It's not quite finished yet, but here's what I've got so far! :)

Zine Complete! - Layout Previews

I'm actually quite excited that I've finished my zine! I've put a lot of hours into it recently to make it better than it was before my first informal assessment and it's totally paid off (i think). 

A few people have seen unfinished spreads in there and a few have even asked for a copy themselves, which is a real compliment! Hard work does pay off! 

Here are some previews of the spreads I have included in the finished piece.

These of course are not the final things though - just a teaser!

Zine Design: Finished Dead Housewife / Cover Girl

I started illustrating new components for a spread yesterday for my Dead Housewife based magazine and in the process of drawing this girl, realised that I could also use her as a cover girl for it. 

Here are a few screen prints of the different stages the design went through.

As you can see, half way through I decided to completely change the colour scheme and made everything she was wearing a shade of green.

I also really like the texture I've managed to get into her hair.

                 Snap shots of each step of the design and any changes that were made

Finished design with added textures

Zine Design: Bulking Up The Content

Today I'm working on creating some more content for my Zine, based on a 'Good Housekeeping' magazine - but for the Undead. This particular image is for a page where new, hypothetical products are being reviewed in an 'Up and Coming' section and it is an advertisement for decorative Toe Tags.

I'm trying to keep the theme of the illustrations the same throughout the Zine so everything is being done witha graphics tablet in illustrator, before adding colour and texture in photoshop.

Below is a before and after of one section of this new spread. 

Line Work

Piece Almost ready for spread. 

Exhibition Poster Graphics: I Finally have an idea!

Finally, after many weeks of despising the promotional side of my Exhibition project I have an idea of what I'm doing with it. I had a tutorial with a tutor and some other students earlier today and this wasn't precisely what they suggested I do after looking at my initial plans, but what I then went on to draw helped me come to this conclusion!

The exhibition is based around the WW1 Uncle Sam posters (well, a selection of them) by James Montgommery Flagg and so I wanted to make a little insignia / logo that I could apply to all promotional items, and tonight... I have finally done it!

I started off in illustrator with my original silhouette line work and added a circle and some lines in for later on. 

I then took the image into photoshop and added colour to make it look like the American flag, and also changed the outline colour to white to stop it looking so cartoony.

Finally, I added some texture as I wanted to make it look less harsh on the page, and everything looks better with texture in my opinion! I'm not sure if this is going to be my final logo idea, I think it's probably worth still playing around with colour levels, but I'm finally optimistic that I'll finish the project with at least one piece of promotion! 

Day: Successful

Creating a brand identity: Poster Promotion

These three screen shots are the three final ideas I had for promotional posters for a graphics project. The whole logo and theme of the brand is based around the old, retro play buttons on cassettes and personal stereos - but with a modern twist. Logically, I called the range 'Play' and Goji is the brand that I am designing for. 

The posters are just an accompaniment to a pattern and a packaging based project, but I thought it'd be nice to try to tie in a poster with it for additional content.

This first one for me makes no sense to the actual theme of the range that I've already created, but it does look nice! 

This for me is one of my favourite designs but it also doesn't fit the existing theme of the range, as it's very minimal texture with lots of white space and is meant to resemble a spray paint type effect with the gold. This is just very decorative. 

This one however DOES fit the style I've been working with and I've also tried to make it look like a paint drip to tie in with the look of the pattern. This is the one I will be developing a little more to make my final poster. All it will need is some added information about the brand and it's good to go!

My "Happy Mistake"

Last night I was trying to make a metallic-looking texture to use as a colour scheme for one of my projects. I'd made some spray paint patterns with gold spray but when I'd scanned them in they lost their shine and their glittery appearance so I looked online for a simple metallic background that I could use alongside the sprayed patterns and combine them somehow to create more texture.

I started off with two separate images:

The first the metallic surface I'd found and the second the spray paint texture I made. I tweaked the levels and using the blending mode 'Divide' on Photoshop my main tile was made.

This was the end result of that process. 

As I was using this to cover an A4 sized pattern, or at least part of it, I copied the layer a few times and rotated it, flipped it etc. So that it all blended in nicely together and so that when overlaid onto my pattern, there wouldn't be any harsh lines showing where a few images had been used and stuck next to each other to cover the entire page.

What I didn't realise however until long after I'd finished, is that the pattern I eventually made by piecing a few of these images together was something even nicer than what I had intended! 

This final result reminds me of a kaleidoscope effect, or even some sort of jewellery like amber or rose gold. I guess sometimes the coolest things do happen when you don't intend for them to! Or as my teacher once called things like this... "Happy Mistakes". (But that sounds a bit dodgy to me)

Zine Design: Making Changes / Updating Template

This morning I concentrated my time on bringing my Zine design up to date and making some changes that I though were necessary for my next assessment. The thing I was most concerned about was one of my comical 'style' pages that focusses on 'What apron is best for your body type' (Since my Zine is based on a Good Housekeeping-style magazine for the dead housewife)

The thing I didn't like about it was that I had originally hand drawn, and then scanned in my illustrations, which looked fine, but have ended up not looking like the rest of my illustrations in the Zine as I have done the rest of them digitally. 

Today was all about drawing in some new heads and adding them to the existing bodies. 

Below are the line drawings of the new heads, meaning to be a mix of all ages to fit the theme of the magazine - and then the final result of the page when imported into InDesign.