Spot of Research!

Handmade crafts & prints is quite a new industry and style to myself, so I've been taking the opportunities to go out and have a look at what's on offer, the best way I've been able to do this is at craft fairs around Leeds, most recently I attended a day called 'Stalls' hosted in town hall which was small but quaint, some of the photos from the day below!

I loved this awesome knitted fried breakfast! So cute!

Beautiful fairy-tale inspired handmade jewelry!

Belle & Boo

I've been in contact with Belle & Boo and I'm hoping to not only get some information about how they started out from scratch and have turned themselves into a well respected pair of artists, but how they found their feet in the handmade and craft industry,  I wanted to speak to them due to them being Leeds based artists who graduated from Leeds Met and they started out in the same situation as myself and my housemate ( Fox Bunting ) so I feel their advice would be very appreciated, I'm hoping that as I continue to email them I could perhaps organize a visit or a meet up to meet the ladies in person!


Some of their work below

Final Promo kit, for now!

This was what I displayed in the group crit, I was happy with the feedback I recieved.


Points made where :

• Add more contact details
• Think about a possible logo
• Smaller version
• And the obvious pixellation

After the group tutorial tomorrow and the imput in that I'm going to set out to redo the pack but here's it for now!

Test Pieces!

Some of the test peices from the promo pack, the image somehow kept turning pixellated no matter what I did, so for now I'll leave it how it us until after a crit then I'll reprint, you can still see what I'm aiming for!

Colour, mmmm.

Added colour to the designs!

Self Promo!

Upon our return to third year, we were asked to begin to consider how to promote ourselves and how we can reflect this is in a promo kit we would design, I decided to make a business card and a cd packaging ( for a cd which would hold a small version of my portfolio ).

I initially had an idea I wanted to instantly run with, of an interactive business card that displays my illustration as a main focus, there was no point in me merely typing "illustrator" I wanted to show that I am!

A few initial ideas.

  

I wanted to create a business card that allows curiosity within it's inter-activeness, so I decided on the idea of a pull out style design, which would display the contact details and would manipulate the central image.

I began drawing up the initial illustrations, I wanted the illustrations to have a transformation theme, since the logistics of the design would allow for the central image to change, so I went with a classic storytelling idea and went with the idea and imagery of Little Red Riding Hood.

Summers over!

Summer Internship!






After a long and less than sunny summer we've all returned back to third and final year at Uni, I'm nervous and excited about the upcoming months, the first week or so has already set us up for what's expected and how it's going to work out, I'm excited that we'll be pursuing our own briefs, chosen by ourselves to benefit our design practice.

Over Summer I did a brief internship at Lady Luck Rules, down in Shoreditch, London, they're a super cute jewelry design company that takes simple and cute illustrations and ideas and turns them into fashionable accessories. Like so.

The studio itself was amazingly inspiring, it was heavily decorated and covered in trinkets and collected bits & bobs that reflected & inspired alot of the work produced. It was so amazing to see a creative studio ran by a small team of women who had started out 7 years ago designing and selling crafts, inspiring to say the least!

   

Although things didn't work out the best, I still took inspiration from what the team at LLR have achieve and there way of working, it was an interesting take of putting illustration into a different context, something I myself have never personally tried, maybe it's time?