SATURDAY SALE EVENT!

 

CLICK HERE TO GO TO SHOP!

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ELMerchant

WOWZA! A SATURDAY SALE EVENT! 

Get your hands on some hand made Christmas cards this weekend with 20% off all orders by quoting: "SATURDAYSALE" at the checkout!

Today I've been taking some great new snaps of the newly made cards to update my Etsy shop to show you all the "Merry Christmas" design in detail!

Remember! The whole design has been hand cut out of lino, individually printed and finished with a foiled star on top, making each card completely unique and one-of-a-kind.

Bag yourself a bargain and help make my weekend a little more fantastic 

Big Love x

Christmas Card Launch! GET YOURS TODAY!

WOOHOOOOOOOO!!! So the moment I've been leading up to all week has finally arrived and I am happy to announce that as of tonight, my handmade, typographic Christmas cards are ready to purchase via Etsy!

Each card is hand printed and finished with a foiled star, meaning that no two cards are the same and guaranteeing you a one-of-a-kind design every time! :D

For more information and to BUY follow the link here:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/elmerchant



I'm hoping that this is just the beginning for my little Etsy shop and that there will be lots more to come in the future. Look out people, Emily's empire will be expanding ;) Hehe....

There are 2 styles to choose from: a gold print & green foiled star or a red print with a gold foiled star and both come as either individual cards or packs of 5! Please read the listing properly before committing to buy!

I'd like to put a big shout out to everyone who's liked, shared and supported me thus far! It's always so humbling and exciting to see friends (and strangers) sharing your work. So BIG love to everyone!

Christmassy Creativeness: SNEEK PEEK!

So in the run up to Christmas I've been planning some Christmas creativeness and here's a sneek peek of what you can expect! The design is currently being fine tuned ready for production but exciting things are happening! And they'll be here soon!

I've also just finished cutting, creasing and enveloping cards ready for printing so by the end of the week there will be a finished hand-made festive fancy to purchase for you and your family!

I've been meaning to get back into making things for a long time now and slowly things are taking shape, fingers crossed the launch of my new card designs will inspire me to keep creating more and more and more in the evenings to share with everyone! 

Practice Makes Perfect: Calligraphy / Hand Lettering

Once again, it's been a little while since I've last updated my blog! Since beginning my job at a great little design company in Leicestershire, I have a whole new respect and understanding for all those 9 to 5 (or longer) workers out there! I feel your pain! I know your tiredness and it's taken me a little while to get into the swing of things.

In any case I'm not complaining - I realise how lucky I am for going straight into a job after finishing university and it's already provided me with so much more insight and knowledge in the world of graphic design.

In my spare time, I've taken to practicing my illustration skills in the form of typography and calligraphy! I even took a small morning course to get to grips with the correct way to write calligraphy this weekend, which was great fun! Now I've just got to stay in practice!

It shouldn't be hard - I absolutely LOVE it!

Welcome Back to Blogging!

Hello! Good day, good evening! It's been a long while since I've been active on this particular blog, but now that I'm beginning to get my head back together after graduating university, getting a job (OMG!) and beginning to prepare the foundations for my own creative business - I think it's about time I get back to what I do best! Talking!

So what's new with me?! Apart from the aforementioned series of events (Yes, I graduated with a first class honours degree in Graphic Design and Illustration and managed to get a job as a Junior Designer) I have been busy with freelance design work, whilst absolutely falling in love with calligraphy!  

As of yet, I haven't had time to invest in any beginner tools yet so instead I've been practicing getting to grips with how you'd hold a pen / brush by strapping two pencils together! 

It's actually really fun and I'm beginning to find my inspiration again after what seems like an age of having no spare time since leaving university. Of course, I can't and won't complain about being busy - I'm very thankful for all the work that has come my way. But sometimes... just sometimes it'd be amazing to just sprawl in bed for the day and do nothing but play xbox....

Logo Design: Airforce Themed

A few months ago, my friend asked me as a quick favour to design him a logo based on the Airforce's current design without it being exactly the same. It was only a for a few t-shirts he was having printed, but it's something that's given me time to de-stress from work about so I gave it a go!

Here's what I came up with!

Print Room Previews

I've been in the print studio a lot this week, trying to catch up on some work from last term and also to try out some new techniques for a project that's been giving me so much grief with what to do with it!

Hopefully I can make something of these prints so I can reduce my stress levels when it comes to this project. They look cool and quirky but it's the treatment of them now that is going to define whether they are fit for purpose or not...

(Vague much...?) :P

Muesli out of Museli: Typography project experiment

Apologies for lack of blogging recently, Christmas was crazy busy and I've only just got back into the swing of things with uni work! (Sorta...)

For one of my projects which is typography based I've been trying out some words using the food they're mentioning! Here's my experiments with 'Muesli' made of Muesli! :)

UPDATE: Great Gatsby Inspired Cocktail Menu!

Apologies for lack of updates, these past few weeks have been crazy!

Here's an update on the Great Gatsby style cocktail menu I was designing a few weeks back for my Students Union in Leicester! I'm really happy with how this turned out considering it was a piece that needed to be produced really quickly. As a result of this design I've also been asked to design some wedding invitations in a similar style so a job well done indeed it seems!

More updates to come soon! :)

BRAND NEW Canvas Prints!

Recently I was asked to print some of my work for a few customers, and it's the first time I've ever had work printed onto canvas! (By request). I have to say I really like the overall finish of them, but the pricing has little to be admired.

When I have the time I think I'll have to explore some more printing techniques and learn these things myself to cut down on costs! Fingers crossed the people will like them though! I do! 

Creating A Cocktail Menu! (Gatsby Style)

Recently my boss asked me to create a cocktail menu for our Students Union new cocktail night. I've been given complete creative freedom with this, which is always a little more difficult than working to a brief, but tonight I've really taken off with the design!

I found a menu in a similar style and it made me think of The Great Gatsby and glamour and tried to capture this in the design. It's still unfinished, but tomorrow will be fine tuning everything and then getting it ready for print on Friday!

I was a little apprehensive about doing this but I'd be quite proud to tell people I've created this now after realising what I want to do with it! Keep an eye out for the finished product soon!

Twitter Poster: Another progress preview!

Just another little progress / preview picture of a bird characature of Milton Jones that I'm working on! :) All of the body and face is now done, just the feet to shade before I can begin adding in some simple highlights! 

SNEAK PREVIEW!!! Twitter Poster: Wing Shadow

So today I've been working on a project based around twitter and so in my design there of course is a bird! (Original I know!!!) But I thought I'd post some developments on it as they're happening.

If you've previously seen anything to do with a twitter project on this blog, please disregard it now! Concept has changed entirely as I'm sure you can see from the previous post! 

Below is a little preview of some of the shadowing I've started to add into one of the wings. And man it's taking a long time!!! Stay tuned for more updates!

Image Making Trial: Comedians Into Birds

For one of my projects based on funny tweets I've decided to try to make some famous comedians into the style of the twitter bird. My first attempt is at Roy Chubby Brown and just using simple line work and block colours I've coloured it in fine. All I'm wondering is how long colouring the rest of the birds is going to take... (Probably too long)... with how much time I have left and if it's really going to be worth it.... Hmm...

Another option I could pursue is perhaps just using tones as opposed to block colours. This way, shadow and highlight can be created easily and might look better overall....

I'm not sure... I hate choices. 

Halloween Makeup 2013: Cracked Face

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HALLOWEEN! :D

This year I wanted to do something a little different for halloween due to the fact that I was going to be dressing up more than once and wanted to save the real gore for the big party! (This one was just something I threw together quickly before I headed out to work!!!)

For my alternative to gore I decided to paint my face as if it had been cracked open / smashed. I found some reference pictures on the internet and set to work on this little beauty below, which only actually took me about 40 minutes to do. I was pretty unsure about it at first as the black lines on their own looked a bit crap, so I had to go in with some white highlights and some bronze eyeshadow for shading. In the end it turned out really well though, however it was sometimes often difficult for people to make out what the face paint was meant to be in person as the contours on your face (in person) make it a lot harder to decipher. When you're showing someone a picture, your skin looks flatter and you can see the illusion much, much easier!

I'm very happy with how this turned out though! Shame halloween can't be more than once a year! I love doing crazy make-up! 

Comedy Poster: Turning Famous Comedians Into Birds!

For one of our third year briefs, we have to design a poster for a comedy festival around the theme of twitter so I thought it would be pretty funny to try to turn some famous comedians from over the ages into birds! (Or just dress birds up in their attire)

I've tried to pick comedians with a distinct style so that it's easier to extract enough of their identity onto the blank birds. Below is a preview of some ideas I've come up with today! Bare in mind, these are preliminary sketches so the birds will end up looking much better by the end of the project!

See if you can guess who's who...

New "Rust" Collection on Society6!

I'm really happy that I've recently discovered Society6! It gives me a chance to put my designs onto things I've wanted to for a long time, but have had no way of physically doing it. Although I'd prefer to be making everything myself, for the time being this is the best possible solution I can see! And it does have it's positives with people being able to promote and comment on your designs! 

So without further ado...

Available on all kinds of products! 

You can find the website here: http://society6.com/Elmerchant/Rust-aKd_Print

SOCIETY 6 SIGN UP!

WOOHOO! I'm finally on Society6! 

Check out my designs on some awesome products!

You'll also get free shipping if you decide to buy when you follow the link!

http://society6.com/Elmerchant?promo=01ca38

If you're feeling kind, please share with your friends! <3

FASHION FOR CANCER: Promotional Event Poster

In the past couple of weeks I have been trying to design a poster for a friend, who is putting on a fundraising event for 'Fashion Targets Breast Cancer' - a charity organisation doing some great work at the moment! I thought it'd be a great opportunity to help out in any way I could and was very happy to be asked to create the event poster!

The event will be held in DMU (De Montfort University) Student Union in Leicester on Sunday 3rd November, 2013 from 4pm onwards.  Everyone is welcome and there will be great things happening such as a catwalk showcasing DMU designers as well as outside companies! Plus there's going to be a guest performance from DMU's own cheerleading squad. 

You can find out more about the event and the charity by following the links below the poster! 

Facebook Event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/582038615187958/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming

DMU Event Twitter Account:

https://twitter.com/dmuvscancer

Fashion Targets Breast Cancer Twitter Account:

https://twitter.com/FashionTargets

Associated with DMU Square Mile

Illustrator Brushes: Making A Watercolour Effect

Inspired by some fashion illustrations I saw,  I decided to try to make some images for a friends poster using the brushes on Adobe Illustrator. I wanted a watercolour effect and tried building up some subtle contour and shading using different brush styles and colours.

The only thing I found, which I didn't like was the fact that the colours weren't that vibrant when you used them with the 'watercolour' effect. Understandably, watercolour isn't meant to be eye-popping anyways but I think it could have enhanced it slightly.

I suppose I could always actually paint an image to get the desired effect, but that's going to be for another time...