'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! :) 

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

Effect Test: Watercolour Painting In Illustrator

Continuing with some effects tests in Illustrator I wanted to do another watercolour image.

I used a random face off google for the black features, but then tried adding in tone and depth with different colours and shaped strokes with the built in brush tools.

This was inspired partly by one of my favourite artists, Marion Bolognesi, however I still have a way to go before I reach the standard of art that she produces!

Pattern Sneek Peek!

Inspired by some simplistic art work I found online, I've recently been creating a pattern for a competition. I don't want to give too much away as of yet though but here's a little preview of some colour options...

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: Repeat Pattern/Texture (Final Option)

The final option I created for the Moroccan food van I was asked to design for (at my internship) was a repeat pattern I made using a pattern I found and a texture that I created. This actually turned out to be my favourite result of them all, and annoyingly it only took me about 1 minute to create as I was messing around with some Photoshop effects for some ideas, and this happened! 

Yet again, it's another case of a happy accident when it comes to me creating patterns!

I kinda hope the client picks this pattern to cover his van!

It's definitely the best, in my opinion!

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...

Competition Time!

To try to keep myself in practice/my hand in the door sort-of speak, I am going to be trying to enter some design competitions over the summer and I recently found a new website (http://www.creativeallies.com) where this was possible!

The piece above was something I created using a similar pattern that I have previously displayed on this blog (but altered slightly to fit the competitions brief) as it seemed to tick most of the boxes that it was asking for. It is a commemorative piece of art designed for the music artist Woodkid to celebrate the release of his debut album, The Golden Age! 

Soon, I think there will be a chance for people to vote for their favourite entries so I am excited to get the link posted out as soon as thats possible! Fingers crossed my design can gain some good numbers!

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! 

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!

Making Texture: Another Happy Accident

Yesterday I was attempting to make a textured background for one of my magazine pages using an image I found of a bit of rust. With some twisting and turning of the image I managed to create this FREAKIN' AWESOME pattern in the texture!

Sadly, it was too detailed to use as a background but it'd be perfect for using as a tiled image somewhere else! I like these happy accidents I have! :)

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)

Making Texture With Spray Paint

Today I've been trying to make a sort of abstract pattern using spray paint. The purpose for it is to act as a colour scheme / texture scheme for a project I am working on involving creating an identity.

I tried spraying onto paper and then taking some of the paint back off with crumpled up magazine pages, which worked fine but the best effect I was able to create was made by spraying onto acetate and then extracting. 

This first image is done using white paper, but the magazine paper I used to pick select bits off the page couldn't take as much of the paint off the page as I wanted it to, to reveal more white underneath. 

This second image is much more successful and was created using acetate. Because it is transparent, when I scanned it in - the gaps became even more white due to the light scanning it. Double win! 

This is the image I'll be using for my final colour/texture scheme in project.

These two final images are just the paper I used to cover my floor so I didn't get paint on the carpet! The different layers of paper and acetate that were laid on them made a pretty cool pattern though! 

My Book Design: Professionally Printed

I came home yesterday from a birthday trip and amongst some other packages, this beauty was waiting for me. If anything I think it excited me too much... But it looks so cool! And knowing I made it just adds to it. I feel sorta proud of something and it doesn't happen often!

So relieved that it's another thing I can now cross of the To Do list! :)

Book Making Catch-Up: Stencilling work

I came home today from a week away from pretty much all of my work and as nice as it was, I knew how much I had to come back and finish. The first thing I picked up today though was my old Book making brief for our first assignment, which was to re-style a book in a sense based around the theme of 'Point'. Mine (which there will be a video for soon, to show the process) bases itself around Points around the world. 

I've cut out the centre of an atlas and the stencils pictured below are going to be positioned correctly to make up their respective images within the hole. It'll then be put onto a wire and that will enable the stencil wheel to spin. 

ANYWAY!!! These are the stencils in their various layers and forms and then at the bottom I've layered them digitally (and adjusted the colours) for you to have some idea of what it's going to look like and what bits of each layer go where! I'm not sure if my final presentation will have anything other than white card though, I dont really like the colour. 

Final layered image makes up 5 famous landmarks:
- London Eye, England
- Sphynx, Egypt
- Eiffel Tower, Paris
- Hollywood Sign, Los Angeles
- Great Wall of China, China