Best day ever!

I'm not usually one to make a fuss over my own birthday, but since I was turning 30 I thought I might as well get all of my favourite people together and shower them with food and drinks and kisses and have a damn good party.
So, on the beautiful grounds of my Mum's house on the Mornington Peninsula - party we did.
We drank margaritas, ate an ongoing giant spread of deliciousness and group hugged on picnic blankets. Once the sun went down the night fairy in everyone came to life, as did the flower lights I crafted from vintage chandeliers, crystals and petals.
My best friend James, my Mum and my boyfriend Dave gave three of the most beautiful speeches and I was so moved by their loving words, I might have had a mini tear.
I can't describe how much love I felt from the moment the first guest arrived until the last ones left the next day - I have the most beautiful people in my life and to have them all with me to celebrate was a real blessing.

Here's some pics from the best day ever xxx

Cats - the new black

It's a well known fact that I'm a self confessed crazy cat lady. Always have been, always will be. They're so fluffy and cute and mental and funny. Best.
Right now, if you pay even the smallest amount of attention to the internet you'll know that cats are officially 'on trend', which is great for me as for as long as this fad lasts, my obsession with cats will make me seem fashionable - in fact, when it comes to cats - right now I'm Karl fuckin' Lagerfeld.

Once everyone has moved on from cats to unicorns (wait... that might already be happening) then I'll go back to being the crazy person that gets emotional looking at kittens and puts containers of water out in the streets for all the homeless cats on nights when it's really hot (yes I actually do that and I'm fine with it).

So for now, while I'm working on a whole lots of projects that I can't talk about yet because contracts are still being signed and so on and so forth... here's a quick sketch I did of a you-know-what. xxx

Sneak peek! Work in progress shots for the Shoeshine Mag cover

Illustration is fun. So much fun. I fucking love it. I go into a weird-concentration zone-coma-state when I'm working on something that I'm completely wrapped up in, which luckily for me is all of the jobs I work on because I have the coolest clients and best people to work with.

I get lots of questions from design students asking me about my process. The way I work differs between every artwork, so it's always hard for me to articulate a typical example of my work flow. For the last project that I posted about, the super fun illustration for Shoeshine magazine - I decided to pay a bit more attention to my process so that I could record the stages and share it with you.

So, from left to right... here we go:

Reference imagery is important, especially when working with branded product - as I want to stay true to the core elements of their product that make it so unique. Although a pair of Vans Classics is quite a streamlined design, the double stitching, fall of the laces and location of the logo pip are all important attributes to convey in order to make them look authentic. 

The brief from the marketing team was for me to replicate myself customizing a pair of Vans classics in the form of an illustration for the cover. I moved all of my typical tools, pencils etc onto a white sheet of paper and styled them to sit in a loose frame format around the shoes. I then had this little scene photographed, with my hand in it. I had about 20 photos taken and the one you see in the pic was the one with the most suitable composition for the cover.

I then import the image into Illustrator, and me and my wacom tablet go flat out for a few hours drawing up the line work to form the base of the illustration as a vector drawing. I make sure all my lines have the same characteristics to them for consistency. At this stage I start adding in extra elements to fill out the negative space. I didn't have reference pics for things like the playing card and the donut, I just drew them in afterwards. It's at this stage I send the image to the client for them to check that they're happy with it. I don't want to move past this stage and colour up until Ive got the line work confirmed.

The client loves the composition (yay!) so I can go ahead and colour up. I import the vector line work into Photoshop and using what feels like hundreds of layers, I gradually build up texture, color, shadows etc. I used alot of the Platypus brand 'teal' colour, which I was supplied a pantone for. I could use whatever colours I liked as long as that colour dominated and the image wasn't gender specific. This stage probably takes the longest, as I'm really fussy with colour and spend ages getting the balance right and making sure there's no colours beating up on the other colours. Bringing the right amount of tonal variation in so that it has a hint of depth but doesn't look ridiculous also takes some time. The whole time I'm keeping in mind that the Shoeshine header and some copy has to be added, so I leave some room at the top and around the sides for this. Otherwise the text will get lost and no one will be able to read it which would completely defeat the whole purpose.

I send this off and hip hip hooray - client loves it! We tweak a couple of minor things and then I package the file up for finished art and send it on it's merry way into the capable hands of the clients design team who then bring all their copy in and get it ready for print.

That whole thing takes the best part of 3 days - however because I do all my freelance work at night time while I'm at Cotton On during the day, I think I had split it out over about 7 nights. Vans and Platypus are pretty much the best client in the world so they are always a pleasure to work with.

Hopefully that gives you a nice little insight into the nitty gritty's of my process. Now get off this screen and go make some art xxx

New work - a super fun collaboration with Platypus Shoes & Vans!

If you're a freaker for sneakers like I am - you'll be well associated with Australia's Platypus shoe stores. Stocking all the brands the cool kids love to wear, they are one shit hot brand. Which is why I was STOKED when they asked me to illustrate the cover of their latest instore magazine, Shoeshine . This issue of Shoeshine is now instores, and not only does it feature my illustration on the cover (and yes, that's my hand - I'll post some 'in the making of' pics soon!), but it also has a cracking competition where you can win a pair of Vans Authentics customised especially for you - by yours truly. I'll be chatting to you on the phone to discuss the winners design and then getting busy with my paintbrushes, glue guns - whatever it takes to make the most amazing Vans ever!
I'm SO excited to get to work on these shoes! Competition closes at the end of March and you can find out how to enter through their facebook page here. xxx

Home Sweet Home!!

I'm still jumping with excitement as I write this... we bought a house yesterday in Melbourne and it's the CUTEST place in the world - absolutely perfect!! It's a few km's from the CBD and has a studio overlooking the back garden which is a dream come true for me. After looking for about 5 months I was becoming very tired of the whole house hunting process, a total drainer. We bought that house at Auction (which was torture - I will avoid ever buying at an auction ever again) and when the 'gavel hit the gravel' (as the auctioneer enthusiastically put it) I just about burst into tears with relief and joy.

We move in on the 31st on May and I can't wait! I've been overwhelmed with all the kind words of support from family and friends when we told them - I think a house warming party is definitely in order to kick off this next exciting chapter of our lives xxx

Bil Donovan Masterclass

I'm dying for to to be the 23rd & 24th of March 2013! I scored a coveted place in the sold out Bil Donovan Illustration Masterclass and I am SO excited!
Not only is Bil the Lecturer in Fashion Illustration at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and Artist-In-Residence for Christian Dior Beauty, Bil's client list includes high end brands like Yves Saint Laurent, Vogue, Mercedes Benz and heaps more.
Illustration plays a major role in my career as a designer and is my life's passion, so the opportunity to meet and learn from this man is a real privilege for me. Cannot wait! xxx

 

Illustration by Bil Donovan, of course. xxx

Super fun summer collaboration with Vans!

I've be the worlds worst blogger... realising only tonight that it's almost been a month since I last posted. That is mainly thanks to me spending a couple of weeks in Bali and the lead up to that trip was mental getting everything prepared with all of my work before I went away, and the time since I've been back has been K-K-KRAZY.
But I'm here now, and very excited to give you a heads up about my latest collaboration with the amazing brand - Vans.
I've been doing some work with these guys and we're all feeling pretty excited about the shoes I've been customising for their special events - and this new set I've just done for the Vans tent at the Big Day Out is something I'm really proud of. If you're attending any of the Big Day Out festivals in 2013, head over to the Vans tent to check out the custom shoes created by both the amazing artist & tatooist Steen Jones and myself - and then get yourself busy in the Vans tent customising your own pair of Vans so you can be kicking it at the BDO in some serious swag.
The Shoes on the far left and second from the right and mine, and the other two awesome shoes are Steen's. Mine have started to cop a bit of a beating as they travel around Australia to all the festivals but it looks like there's still enough glitter left for them to bring the party to the Vans tent. There'll be glitter and rhinestones and paint and pens and more for you to customise shoes with - see you there! xxx

Last post for 2012! New work for Zig Zag!!

The last day of the year... I'm sitting here in a singlet, pj shorts and ugg boots - my outfit of choice at least for the first half of the day throughout this crazy Christmas break. My cats are behind me kicking and chasing paintbrushes all around the house. I've started painting again and Frankie and Scout think this is awesome. So many things to knock over!
I'm painting for a new collaboration with Vans - and this time we're going on tour! I'm creating some custom product for the legendary shoe brand and my shoes will be heading out and about with the 2013 Big Day Out tour. My schedule doesn't allow me to attend all the shows - but I'll be at the Melbourne one for sure. Come and say hi and talk to me about food and how good glitter is! I'll be sure to post some work in progress shots of the Vans product for you :)

The picture I'm posting is from a new brand I have been working on for the past 6 months - Zig Zag.
It's a massive stationary range for kids and it's available online now. I've created artwork for A4 Carry me notebooks (pictured), A5's, Mini notebooks, Back to School notebooks, pencil cases, sticker packs etc etc. The range is huge and it's a tonne of fun.
Pictured is the Deco Sun A4 Carry Me Notebook - I LOVE the artwork I did for this - definitely one of my faves for 2012.

Happy New Year everyone, thanks for all your high fives, kind words and amazing support. It's been one crazy, fabulous year. See you in 2013! xxx

My first crack at... HOMEWARES!

I am obsessed with lovely looking things, and homewares are always on my radar. Thankfully I'm about to embark on the hunt for a bigger house - as our Kensington pad is beginning to feel a bit too cosy for our family of 2 x humans / 2 x cats and all of our lovely looking stuff that we've collected along the way.
Over time, in my search for things that look good, I've developed a growing desire to design some homewares myself - and that time has come! Actually, it came three months ago when I worked with the amazing Kristy at Cotton On to develop this set of cushions, but it's only now that they're in stores that I can tell the world about them. They're a natural canvas, one is printed with my illustration and the other with a chevron - and both are trimmed with the world's cutest little pom poms!
I'm SO excited to have been able to create this product - I'm just itching to do more so while my sketchbooks are getting thrashed you can head over here to grab yourself one of only 300 available online and in selected Body stores globally. xxx
ps: please forgive the horrendous photo in the online store. Must have been 'wear a blindfold to work' day when they shot this in the ecomm studio.

Raising some big $$$ for the Dandelion Support Network

In my last post I showed you a new print I had created for a charity exhibition called Alphabetica. As you can see from the pic there was a nice turn out at the opening and sales from the event raised a whopping $20,000 for the Dandelion Support Network Charity. (By the way I love pics from exhibitions and how funny everyone's faces look when they're snapped mid conversation...)
I'm SO happy for the Dandelion guys, they do an amazing job and I am thrilled to have been able to contribute to their continuing success.
I also must apologise for being a bit quiet on the blog - I've got some very exciting projects in the works: another collaboration with Vans and also a new project that is blowing my mind and unfortunately very top secret probably until this time next year. Not sure how I'll contain my excitement and keep it on the downlow until then... but as soon as I can share I will! Eeeeek!! xxx