Sunday 28 December 2014

Another Bloomin' Christmas (Post)

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Firstly, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas! I've been a little slow to share these gifs but nevermind! I created these for a couple of lovely bloggers a little while ago for them to use as part of Christmas-themed posts. The disappearing gingerbread man was commissioned by the brilliant Christina who runs Kimi and Me, and the cute snowglobe was created for the lovely Shannon who blogs over at Beauty Is Soul Deep. Why don't you pop over and say hi! 

C xxx

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Silent Night


This last of my Christmas illustrations! I hope you all enjoy the festive season - take care and have lots of fun!

C xxx

Friday 19 December 2014

Christmas Gremlins


For all you people who don't really like Christmas that much - it's okay! You can admit it! I decided to make this as a bonus illustration but I still have one more cute, festive illustration to share. The gremlin on the roof looks genuinely sinister - look at him! 

C xxx

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Monday 15 December 2014

Walking in a Winter Wonderland


My second Christmas illustration. I still have one more to share so look out!

C xxx

Friday 12 December 2014

Zoe London GIF!

Zoe London Blogger Gif
I posted this on Twitter yesterday, but thought I'd make a little blog post too. I've been a fan of Zoe for ages and I always love illustrating her - she's very inspirational! Her content is always fresh and honest so she really does stand out. 

I also decided to test this gif out as a header over on my 'test' blog here and it looks pretty cool! I'll be offering these from now on, so if you're looking for a blog header that's a little different or just a cute portrait then give me a shout. 

C xxx

Thursday 11 December 2014

Christmas Bells


I'm trying to be a little more festive on the old blog this year, so I've prepared a couple of different Christmas-themed illustrations to share! I'll be posting them all in the run up to Christmas day - not too long to go now. 

Have you got any special plans for the holidays?

C xxx

Wednesday 10 December 2014

Animal Spirits: Bat


Following on from the little red fox, we now have baby fruit bat! It's pretty darn tiny though!

C xxx

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Singing Christmas Bird

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A happy Christmas bird! Still practising gifs. I'll have some special Christmas illustrations to share soon too! 

C xxx

Thursday 27 November 2014

Flower Girls



Just a couple of cute, happy, summery flower girls! 

C xxx

Monday 24 November 2014

Animal Spirits: Fox


I got inspired again by Amelia's 'That Which We Do Not Understand' brief (and also an episode of Voyager!) so I decided to make a new series based on animal spirits. The next one I've got planned is a super cute bat. 

Strangely, after I'd already created this illustration, my boyfriend bought me this really sweet game called Never Alone and as soon as I started playing it, it called to mind this illustration, so maybe I'll do an arctic fox piece too!



C xxx

Thursday 20 November 2014

Interstellar


I went to see Interstellar in the IMAX this past weekend and it was jaw-clenchingly good! The soundmix/score just made everything seem really intense and unnerving - definitely recommended!

C xxx

Tuesday 18 November 2014

Comet Landers


My illustrative tribute to Rosetta (and her baby!). 

C xxx

Monday 17 November 2014

Happy Faces

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Just practising making gifs! Hopefully I'll have some better ones to show you soon.

C xxx

Wednesday 12 November 2014

Tauriel

"She walks in starlight in another world."

The new Hobbit movie will be hitting our screens soon (yay!) so in honor of that I decided to create an illustration inspired by Tauriel. I was a little dubious of her at first, but she quickly became one of my favourites - she's just great! I'm really glad they decided to create her character for the franchise.

So anyway, for my illustration I took inspiration from Kili's quote "She walks in starlight in another world" but I also wanted it to be a little different and unexpected. I've used a limited palette (I'll stop talking about this soon, I promise!) and lots of space/galaxy elements. 

Are you a Hobbit/Tauriel fan too?

C xxx

Friday 7 November 2014

New Baby Greeting Card





So, this idea popped into my head a couple of days ago, and seeing as I've not really done anything like it before I thought it would be good practice! It's based on one of the most iconic scenes from The Lion King (of course!) and it's my take on a new baby greetings card. The baby looks like a pretty cool dude in my opinion. 

I'd love to know what you think. Would you buy this if you saw it in a shop? I think the text and decal would look nice if they were embossed maybe!


C xxx

Thursday 6 November 2014

Jim Noir Commemorative Album Art

A couple of days ago Jim asked me if I could make a little poster to celebrate the release of his new album 'Finnish Line' which was released on Monday. I based my illustration on the original album art and it features most of the same characters with a similar colour palette! I'm really happy with how this turned out in the end. It reminds me of a family that might appear in a vintage childrens book. 

Did you all have a nice Bonfire Night? There was an international market in town, so my boyfriend and I had a wander around and bought some Italian chocolate (not very traditional of us!). 

C xxx

Wednesday 5 November 2014

Retro Zoella

Another illustration in my new portrait series. It occurred to me the other day that I've never drawn Zoella before which seems very strange to me! It's been so much fun working with such a limited colour palette, you start to realise that you don't need so many hues to create an interesting piece. 

Also, make sure you take a look at my Kickstarter post! It'd mean so much if you did. 

C xxx

Tuesday 4 November 2014

Amelia's Magazine Kickstarter Campaign: 'That Which We Do Not Understand'

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen me posting some sneak peeks of the illustration I created as part of Amelia's open illustration & creative writing brief 'That Which We Do Not Understand'. If you're not familiar with Amelia's Magazine, then please do check it out! If you love art, music, illustration and all sorts of creative endeavours then it's a site I'm sure you'll adore. 

If you're already a fan, then you'll know that this year is Amelia's Magazines 10th anniversary. Amelia has already released two stunning anthologies of illustration and art, and to celebrate this special anniversary she is trying to create a brand new volume. In addition to the book, Amelia will also be offering some stunning limited edition prints - how exciting! There's still a little time to contribute work if you're an artist or a writer, click here to find out more about the brief. 


'Moon Rabbits'
I'm really excited that my submission has been chosen to feature in the book! The inspiration for my piece is based on the folklore tale of the 'Moon Rabbit'. There's quite a few versions of the story as it's popular in a couple of cultures - I've put my own sort of spin on it though. My idea represents a rabbit who wants to journey to visit the moon goddess and as it gets closer to her, it becomes part of a constellation so that it can always be with her. 

This project really means a lot to me, as it's the first time I've had the chance to be published in an anthology! I've been working really hard lately on refining my style, so it'd be great if more people got the chance to see my work. I've followed Amelia's Magazine for quite some time and it's always been a source of inspiration to me so it's incredibly exciting to get a chance to be part of it! 

Anyway, I suppose I should explain a little more about the Kickstarter project and all of the goodies you can receive if you decide to pledge. You can pledge as little as £5 or as much as £1000 - so there really is something for everyone! The main goodies are the limited edition art book and prints - these are very special as the book will have gold spot printing on every page and the prints will have details of real gold leaf. If you'd like an example of how it will work, all of the gold portions of my illustration above will be made with gold spot printing; I think that it will look so unusual and pretty.
In addition to the new art book and prints, you can also pledge for limited edition art postcards, rare copies of Amelia's Magazine, lovely t-shirts as well as some of Amelia's other illustration books. By pledging for prints, you're really helping these artists out as they will receive 50% of the profits which I think is fantastic.

If you're a fan of my work and are looking for some amazing Christmas gifts for art lovers, then please do take a look at the Kickstarter campaign page here. If you pledge early you can pick up a copy of the limited edition book for just £15! 

I think that's pretty much it! Please do let me know if you decide to purchase the book/prints, and I usually hate to ask for favours, but if you could tweet with a link to this post then I'd be super grateful. 

C xxx


Friday 31 October 2014

#makemeadesigner Art Competition with Direct Blinds



I was recently contacted about a fantastic competition Direct Blinds are currently running to find a new up-and-coming designer. The prize is amazing because you can win the chance to design your own product range with the brand - how cool is that! I think this would be a particularly brilliant opportunity for students/peeps who have just graduated. The brief is very open, you can create any type of artwork you'd like (although remember, it has to work on blinds!). I came up with a theme based around 'Winter Birds' and decided to make one of my images into a repeating pattern. I'd love to know what you think! I was thinking they could work well in a kitchen or conservatory (or orangery as my mum would say). 

There are a couple of ways to enter; you can check out the Direct Blinds competition page here, or you can enter via Twitter, Instagram and Facebook using the hashtag #makemeadesigner - remember to tweet to @DirectBlinds! 

I know quite a few of my followers are arty/creative types so please do let me know if you decide to enter. 

C xxx

* I was invited to take part in this competition and received a box of art goodies to help me create my entry! 

Thursday 30 October 2014

Mid-Century Portrait of In The Frow

Continuing on from my last post, I thought I'd keep with the mid-century theme and decided to create a portrait of In The Frow's Victoria. I've kept the colour palette very minimal as I think that works well with this sort of style and provides a good challenge. I'd love to know if you like this type of style too? 

I don't have any Halloween illustrations planned for this year as I've just let myself get behind but I'm trying to think up some cool Christmas designs. Let me know if you have any ideas!

C xxx

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Glug Brum Open Call



These are my entries for the Glug Brum open call poster competition! You can read all about it here if you'd like to enter, but the themes for the competition centre around 'creativity' and 'play'. You can choose between a few colour schemes for each illustration you want to create, which ended up being a fun challenge. I tried to capture a sense of fun using very simple, graphic imagery with a mid-century flavour. I wanted my posters to look like old vintage posters that have been around forever - hopefully I managed to achieve that! 

C xxx

Monday 27 October 2014

The Hogwarts Express


My dad's been a bit poorly recently, so whilst he was in hospital, I decided to make him this poster to cheer him up a bit! The Hogwarts Express ended up being one of our favourite rides whilst we were in Florida, so I thought it would make a great memento of our awesome holiday too. I just wanted to make something very simple and graphic with vintage-y colours. I looked at a lot of old travel posters to get a feel for the type of text they contained, I actually stole the line at the bottom so it's super accurate aha. 

I hope you're all having a good week. Have you got any fun plans for Halloween? I'm sure we're going to see MANY Elsa's running around this year.

C xxx


Tuesday 21 October 2014

Lagertha


So, I've mentioned that I'm quite the fan of the show Vikings (and in particular Lagertha who is just amazing!) so it was only natural that I'd eventually make an illustration based on her. I decided I'd give the illustration a storybook feel that focuses on her personal journey and fight for independence. I'm pretty pleased with how this piece turned out - I hope you like it too! If you've got any suggestions for new illustrations you'd like to see, please just drop me a comment below. 

C xxx

Thursday 16 October 2014

Palm Ghosts for Amelia's Magazine


This is another little illustration I produced to accompany an article for Amelia's Magazine. I was really pleased that Amelia asked me to contribute again so I hope I did the piece justice! The article is an interview with Palm Ghosts/Joseph Lekkas and I based my illustration on the song 'Canaries in the Mine'. If you want to read the interview, you can do so here

I think my creation is pretty straightforward given the name of the song aha! I do have some happier illustration planned though, never fear. 

Thanks for all of your lovely comments on my previous few posts. These last few weeks have been really quite stressful and they do cheer me up a bit! 

C xxx

Friday 10 October 2014

Hannah Schneider Illustration for Amelia's Magazine


I was fortunate enough to be asked to contribute an illustration to Amelia's Magazine this week! I've been a fan of the magazine for quite awhile now so I was super pleased to be able to participate and share my work. Amelia was really lovely too. If you're an illustrator/artist, I'd definitely recommend looking out for open briefs and callouts - you can keep up to date by following Amelia's Twitter feed

Anyway, my illustration was inspired by one of the songs on Hannah Schneider's new album, Red Lines. I decided I wanted to create a simple, graphic illustration to represent the song Wild Geese. My idea is that the girl on the shore is turning into a goose herself because she wants to be able to fly away with them! 

If you'd like to read Amelia's interview with Hannah, then you can do so here

C xxx

Monday 6 October 2014

Seven Things


My sweet friend Jennie tagged me for the One Lovely Blogger Award, so here are seven little snippets about me (if you happen to be interested!). 

1. I'm an intensely private person and I really don't share very much at all so it's a little strange to be writing this! I think I'm getting better and obviously will answer questions if asked, I just don't often volunteer too much. 

2. I've just returned from magical Orlando! I did all of the usual Disney stuff but I also got the chance to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I now think that the Universal parks are my favourite and are edging Disney out slightly - Diagon Alley was just so good! If you have any Florida related questions, I'd be happy to answer them as best I can. 

3. Despite my love of Harry Potter, 'The Secret History' is still my favourite book. Donna Tartt is such a great author and it's almost painful waiting for her books to be released. Moar books needed! 

4. I love most small animals but I'm still quite scared of dogs. It makes me feel so mean! If I see one wandering around without an owner close by, I always worry that they might chase me. 

5. I have hundreds of favourite illustrators, the list seems to grow day by day. However my recent find is Brittney Lee, if you're a Frozen fan you NEED to check her out asap. 

6. I'm not a very healthy person really; I eat lots of chocolate and biscuits and I really don't feel bad about it at all! 

7. I freaking love Star Trek. That's another obsession that grows daily. Worf is my favourite character, but I also love Doctor Bashir. Quark and Nog are pretty darn high up on the list too. 

I'd like to nominate my pal Marta!

C xxx

Imogen's Angels


This is a little commission I worked on the other week for a lovely lady called Rose. Rose has set up a fund/charity in memory of her daughter Imogen who was stillborn in 2012. She hopes to be able to help other grieving parents whilst simultaneously raising awareness. The logo idea was all Rose's, I just thought it would be pretty to set the scene at night and add some stars and a deep rich sky. 

I'd really love it if you could give her a follow on Twitter, I'm sure it would mean a lot! 

C xxx

Friday 19 September 2014

Lynn and her Lion

This is a private commission I recently completed for a lovely lady called Lynn. She doesn't currently have a blog but is looking to start one up in the future based around book publishing - I really hope she does as I think it would be interesting reading! Lynn's concept was quite simple but really sweet. She wanted to be hugging a big Aslan-like lion wearing a cute autumn inspired outfit with colours to reflect the season. I suggested adding a few autumn leaves on the ground to complete the scene. 

Lynn was brilliant to work with and I'm so happy that she chose to commission me! I'd be delighted to collaborate with her again in the future. 

I also wish I had the green dress from the portrait!

C xxx

Monday 15 September 2014

Artists I Love: Oana Befort



I came across Oana's work quite some time ago, and was immediately drawn to the vibrant, lush colours and floral motifs that Oana includes in most of her pieces. Her work makes me want to dig my watercolours out again! 

Her work is so beautifully detailed, just look at the first bouquet illustration. There is a lot going on there, but it doesn't look overly 'busy'. I love the variety of flowers she has chosen; it really reminds me of hot summer days. 

You can view more of Oana's delightful work on her website, or buy prints/bags/shirts on her Society6 store!

C xxx

Friday 12 September 2014

Wildstar


More pixel art today! Again, this is pretty much the result of an experiment. It's actually fairly fun to make these, as you don't have to worry so much about precision. 

This illustration is based on an MMO called Wildstar which I've been playing recently. If you guys like it, I could do some more based on the planets in our solar system. Just drop me a comment if you'd be interested in seeing those! 

C xxx

Wednesday 10 September 2014

Digital Sketch #1


Nothing fancy at all, just a bit of a practise sketch! I tried to create this really quickly so I didn't stop and think too much about what I was doing. This is something I really struggle with because I work digitally - everything is usually so precise and I spend a lot of time looking at little details, trying to make sure they are perfect. It's nice to explore other ways of working in Photoshop from time to time! 

I must just say, if you are looking to start illustrating etc, you really don't have to shell out on PS, there are plenty of other free applications you can try. Krita and GIMP spring to mind and include many of the same features as PS. Give them a try! 

C xxx

Monday 8 September 2014

Artists I Love: Drew Wise!




I mentioned Drew very briefly in a previous post, but I really thought his artwork deserved a post all of it's own! Look at the pixelly goodness! 

I really adore the attention to detail, from the fonts to the colours - everything is just so. The Hodor illustration is brilliant, even though this idea has been used so frequently, I think it really works as a retro game. 

All of these designs are available to buy on shirts (as far as I know) and they'd make awesome gifts. 

You can catch up with Drew on his tumblr blog to find out a little more! 


C xxx

Thursday 4 September 2014

Back Soon!


Just a little announcement to say that I'll be away from the internet/social media/my blog until the 20th! I've scheduled a few posts in the meantime though, so I hope they'll do until I return. I'll try my best to reply to emails if I get the chance, but I won't be able to do any commissions during this time! I'll catch up with all of your awesome blog posts as soon as I can. 

See you soon! 

C xxx

Tuesday 2 September 2014

Master of Whisperers


Another GoT poster for you! My inspiration for this illustration were typical, sleazy gossip mags - I stole the Loras and Renly headline from Look I think (although it might have actually been about Cheryl Cole - who knows!). The timeline is a bit of a mashup but I haven't included any spoiler so there's that. 

I don't know what to make of the severed hand pendant really - I just wanted to include something a bit absurd! 

I have Littlefinger and Davos posters all planned out so hopefully I'll be able to work on them soon. 

C xxx

Friday 29 August 2014

Dolled Up!

A short while ago, Christina who runs the blog Kimi and Me got in touch asking if I'd like to work on a collaborative blog post! I've been a fan of Christina's blog for awhile now, so of course I said I'd love to. I can't take much credit for the idea at all, but basically we've both put together a little collage/paper doll of our ideal summer holiday outfits. I know it's almost September but we thought that lots of people like to go abroad during this time, and anyway, I'm still hoping that we might have a few hot days here in the UK! 

Here is my paper doll! I've never, ever created one before so I hope it works. My printer doesn't particularly work very well (and it's ran out of ink!) so I couldn't test it beforehand. 


Please let me know if you decide to print this out! I think it would probably work best on thin card, but you could use normal paper and then maybe just use some blu-tack to hold the clothing onto the doll. 

Please head on over to Christina's blog to check out her lovely summer collage! 

C xxx

Friday 22 August 2014

Drogo's Go-Go's


Here is my latest GoT/ASOIAF poster! I think I like this one the most. I got the 'Drogo's Go-Go's' idea from Tara & Jade, the lovely girls who run The Style Rawr (thank you both for being so imaginative!). I also added some of the baby dragons I created for a previous illustration. 

Look at Drogo's angry face!

C xxx