New pyjama designs in store

Some more pyjamas in production

I'm particularly pleased with the way the check turned out on this set as the idea was to emulate a cosy, aerie/Jack Wills style plaid and I think we've acheived this. It makes a nice change to incorporate some sketchy florals into nightwear

Two new lines I designed for Camille. Commercial, but still quite fun and very strictly to brief.

Animal Print Pyjamas at Peacocks

One of most challenging things I get asked to design is original animal all-over repeat prints. Its extremely difficult to come up with something fresh and unique, which is why I'm really pleased with the way this nightwear mix and match set has turned out. I think the print looks really contemporary and on-trend while still commerical.

New Strictly Come Dancing Girls' Clothing Range At Mothercae

I do all my licensed placement graphics via a third party, so I'm never sure where they could end up as the style guides containing my designs may be sold to anyone. Designs from the Strictly Come Dancing range I worked on last year have found their way to Mothercare which is a great retail platform for the collection.

Floral repeat prints and checks or maybe plaids?

I've been working on these allover repeat prints today, and some checks (or plaids for the American English). I find designing checks really theraputic but harder than they look.


I've been inundated with work requests the last couple of days from my regular clients and I'm now booked solid for the next couple of weeks which is great. looks like my self-directed illustration is going to put on the back burner for quite some time.

Nightwear seems to be staying strong in the downturn

Even after 7 years, I still get a buzz whenever I see my designs out there in the world, like the shortie set above. I found the Camille website the other day which is where some of my nightwear ends up. The first row and a half on this page are my designs, I love the poses they've got the model doing, its like they've asked her to really feel the message on the pyjamas.

I seem to be writing a lot about sleepwear at the moment, I guess thats because I've been working on it all week and been discussing some new opportunities to work with other companies on nightwear so its at the forefront of my mind. I've also added to the the nightwear gallery on my website. It seems its one sector thats staying strong in the downturn. I've always been one to follow where the work is so for now that's fine by me. Below are a couple of designs I completed today.

Designing fashion graphics step-by-step guide

I thought I'd show how I go about putting together my fashion graphics. This is just one process of a variety I use. I usually do most of my nightwear this way.

1. I compile a basic placement layout in Illustrator. I then put this into a very light greyscale and print it out.

2. I then sketch the characters onto the basic layout print.

3. I trace over the sketch in ink (I sometimes repeat this process a few times till I'm happy they're just right).

4. The ink sketch is then scanned in as a 300dpi bitmap and converted to greyscale in Photoshop. I usually play around with the lines in photoshop until I'm happy with them. I use a wacom pen tablet for all of my digital drawing. I then turn it back into a bitmap which I think gives the best results when live tracing.

5. I copy the bitmap and paste into the Illustrator layout document. I then live trace the design and neaten up the lines again.

6. I then compile the design in Illustrator and label any applique or embellishment elements.

7. I then use the print elements to create a complimentary all-over repeat design. I like to present the designs mocked up onto garments so I create a pattern tile of the repeat and apply that to the pyjama bottoms. I could scale down the placement print and use that on a t-shirt blank, but this would make the file larger. instead, I export the illustrator placement artwork into photoshop on a transparent background, save as a .png and then place that back in illustrator.

Working in this way means I get a nice un-uniform line quality that is still controlled and smooth. I neaten up my lines at every opportunity. One of my bugbears is rogue vectors and nasty jerky lines. I work in very different ways when creating watercolour style prints or photo-realistic textural designs. I might write a step-by-step guide on those one day!

Bread & Butter work - commercial nightwear

I've been working on high-volume commercial nightwear today. Above is one of the pyjama sets I designed. While this might not be the most cutting-edge, it is enjoyable and straightforward. And essentially, I'm still getting paid to sit and draw pictures all day.

The other day I blogged about feeling saddened by the poor standard of illustration and technical skill in commercial nightwear, pictured left are two of the sets I was shown as examples of bestsellers (these are not my designs). Well I guess we just have to give the public what they want!

Baby and toddler graphics on phirefly.co.uk

I'm really pleased to have added content to the baby and toddler gallery of my online portfolio. This is an area I'd really love to do more of, so I'm hoping now I have this showcase of some of my best work I can feel confident to approach potential clients.

I've been speaking to an agent in the US about representation over there, I really need to develop a strong body of self-directed art before I can seriously start thinking about that, so I'm now more motivated than ever to get cracking on some personal illustrative work.

I'm just struggling to find the time at the moment, I've been working on the website all day and tomorrow I'm meeting in London with the company I design nightwear for to discuss some new projects with them. While I'm in the smoke, I'm planning to visit the Dover Book Shop for some inspirational material and also Images 33, an exhibition of British contemporary illustration at the London College of Communication which I'm hoping will be equally inspiring. If I get time I'd love to visit my favourite gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, but I'll see how I get on!