New placement graphic T at Warehouse

Its a while since I designed this gothic graphic for Warehouse while I was still working in-house for a clothing manufacturer, but its now available to buy. It appears that since I last saw it the buyers have had their usual input and had some wings added and amended the central crest but theres no mistaking the print. It was always tricky to design for this client as the imagery they were prepared to use in the graphics was extremely limited, they wanted to acheive a gothic, etherial, All-Saints style without using skulls, crucifixes or other similar emotive imagery. I think this design strikes the balance though.

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.

Nuts

I have been working on lots of lovely hand-rendered girlswear designs for Adams recently. Its nice to have an opportunity to incorporate some original illustrations. This is one of my sketches I have been working with:

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.

New designs at next.co.uk

I've not blogged for a while as I've been completely swamped with work, and much of it consists of things that can't be released in the public domain yet, so I've not had much to share.

The new season collection is now online at next.co.uk, and here are some of my graphics that feature:

What I Wore Today...

I've joined the ranks of some of my illustration heroes, the likes of Gemma Correll, Amy Blackwell and Kate Wilson on Gemma's 'What I Wore Today' Flickr Photo stream. What a Wheeze.

Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbour's Shoes

I'm working on Miffy licensed girlswear this week which unusually for licensed is quite a lovely brief.

I spent the weekend visiting friends in London. While mooching about the usual haunts (Urban Outfitters/Shoreditch/Angel) I came across the work of James Hamilton Butler which I find very inspirational. I'd like to think its the style of illustration I'd be producing if all my time weren't spent on commercial projects. And I was interested to find out he also studied at Manchester.


While in london I also did some digging and found out that the Ash Viper trainers I so covet are sold out worldwide but will be available again in January. Counting the months...

I feel honoured to have been mentioned in a blog of a designer I admire, Jen of Frilldesign. I've been a fan of social networking online for almost 10 years now and I love that you can connect with likeminded folk so effortlessly

New Lost My Dog Designs

We've added a couple of new designs to the range of merchandise I've created for my chums at record label Lost My Dog. Its really nice to work on something completely self-directed but still within a commercial famework. This tote features the new abstract design, which I'm really pleased with as I think its the most 'me' thing I've done in a long time.

More S/S 2010 Girlswear graphics...

I'm almost finished with this tribal brief, perhaps another half day.

First I had to create some summertime situations for the characters I designed yesterday. Its a while since I did this kind of work so I really enjoyed it. I had them shopping in Miami, taking surf lessons and going to the beach...

I had to come up with a friend for the tribal zebra I did earlier in the week, and I'm quite pleased with how the feather-hair girl turned out as the brief actually said "this could be a tough one"...

I'm in-house at Next tomorrow on older boys jersey for the first time in ages. I've got used to working at my own pace (which usually means late into the night) so it will make a change to be working directly with the client and finish at 5pm!

And one day I might actually figure out how to size my jpegs so the resolution is better on here...

More directional ladies fashion placement prints

Well I finally got all 4 complete, here's the other 3. I would love to be able to really indulge in briefs like this, and lavish time and care on each design but they really have to be thrown together to an extent as I'm expected to produce 4 in one day at least.

This week is really hectic as I have projects for 3 different clients all with back to back deadlines so there's no room for overlapping. It's starting to feel like the super-busy days when I started freelancing full time back in Jan 2008 and I was doing 70-80 hours some weeks. Its not quite at that level just yet though!

Back to the tribal brief tomorrow, but for baby this time...

Directional ladies fashion prints

I'm working on ladies fashion today which makes a nice change from kids and nightwear. The brief (and I use that term loosely - when I do ladieswear, I rarely get a nice clear, specific brief) calls for etherial, ambiguous imagery with hand sketch and paint techniques. I always struggle when I'm faced with this kind of project as in essence its got to look like nothing, but its still got to be something and that's a real challenge.

I'm enjoying splashing the paints around and doing some hand rendering though, and the eagle design above it the fruits of this mornings labours. I've got to produce at least another 3 in that vein though so I'd better get on...

Paisley Park

A paisley design for the tribal brief...

Tribal girlswear butterfly print

I've been continuing with the tribal brief, completing the artwork above which will be a oversize front placement. I've been developing ways to create etherial painterly and photographic effects which are still solid colour and therefore viable for standard screen output and this butterfly is an example of this technique.

I'm off to Manchester now to visit some old friends and soak up some big-city culture (and no doubt get my Urban Outfitters fix)

Have a good weekend!

Working from home on a sunny day - tribal girlswear brief

I've been working on a great brief today for older girlswear 2010, incorporating some lovely tribal elements. There's been lots of hand-rendering involved at this stage so I've been lucky enough to sit outside and work in the garden and enjoy the gorgeous weather we've had today. The jolly pair above who started life in the sunshine will hopefully end up on a girls tee on the high street.

This has been my studio for the day:


My colleague is a bit lazy...


But the locals are friendly.

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.

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!

Britain's Got Talent brief nears completion & more work for Adams

Sometimes I'll enjoy a brief so much more than others and find it really easy to complete, and theres no obvious reason why. the Britain's Got Talent project has been one of these. Perhaps its a combination of a good client, who in turn has a good client, both really decisive and constructive. Above is a watercolour sketch design for boyswear based on the one I already did for girlswear which they loved

Hopefully this latest round of amendments and recolours is the last and the project will be signed off.

I had a lovely email from the designer at Adams with some great feedback on the recent watercolour designs I completed for her and a request for lots more work from me. Adams is another good client, with concise design briefs and clear design direction, and not too unnecessarily picky so I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks working with them.

Pick of the new prints at Urban Outfitters, Lost in London & Susie Ghahremani

My London trip was very worthwhile, dispite getting lost in the Elephant & Castle subway system and getting to the LCC too late to get in to see the Images33 exhibition. Luckily, the show is touring so I will catch it later in the year at Birmingham or Nuneaton.

I did manage to do all of the other things I'd planned though. I met with my customer who I design nightwear for. I had mixed feelings after the meeting. While I'm really upbeat about the fact they've managed to secure some new business and have plenty of work for me, I couldn't help feeling downhearted about the quality of graphics they're using as design direction.

Perhaps its a result of working at Next and enjoying real investment in beautiful design, but the placements and appliques the nightwear customers are settling for is truly dire. This level of the market is always going to be more commercial, I always accepted that this easily accessible mass-appeal design isn't going to push any design boundaries.

It struck home more than ever yesterday that the designs I'm being asked to create versions of and the ones being manufacted by my customer which have been created by my peers are saddeningly poor. I'm trying not to dwell on it too much though and the only thing I can do is try and keep my designs to a standard I'm proud of regardless of customer.

I also made it to the Dover Book Shop which exceeded all expectations. Kid in a sweet shop doesn't even come close. I'll save the details for another day...

Urban Outfitters is probably my favourite retailer. The store is like a treasure trove especially when you don't have one nearby and only get to visit on the odd occasion. It quenches my relentless thirst for constant newness and while many of their lines don't appeal to me directly as a customer, I find it all pure gold from a design-inspiration perspective. I got the images at the top of this entry of my favourite prints currently in store and had there been any Ps left in the filigree 3-d alphabet, I wouldn't have been able to restrain myself. Instead I had to settle for a hen-adorned hook rack from Top Shop to satisfy my newfound compulsion to procure obscure objet.

I also bought this set of notecards by Susie Ghahremani, my latest inspirational illustrator. Her work is so lovely. I'm dying to put pen to paper but I'm now booked up till late next week which is great from a paying-the-bills point of view but not so good for developing a self-directed body of work...

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!

Ikea fabrics

My crafty friend Anna has found the most fabulous fabric in a most unexpected place, Ikea. It has further fuelled my desire to get working on some repeat prints for a small run of fabric from spoonflower. If only I could ever get this Britain's Got Talent brief finished....