Black and White Competition 2014

 Over the last month I have been working on this current competition by Tigerprint. The brief was to create a design with only black and white colours.The design would be used for cards, wrapping paper and gift bags.

When I first found out about this competition I was excited as I felt that this was the perfect theme for me. It meant that I could show my talents using my patterns to create beautiful organic creations.

This image on the left was orginally for the colour of love competition that I was going to enter. However I did not feel that it suited the theme enough, so I saved it for this competition particularly. For this design I chose to include as many hearts I could. In a variety of styles. I like the thought that the hearts or 'love' is growing and blooming.

These next three images are variety of some designs. I particularly liked the butterflies they seem a big thing at the moment. I am also enjoying decorating them with my patterns. The flowers were inspired by the effect that I used to get with a Spirograph. The looping petals give the flowers a few ways of looking at the flower, especially if you focus on one petal. I think the mixture of the flowers and butterflies work well together and relate with the shapes.

I particularly like the last image as the contrast of the black background with my designs, make the details more pronounced and eye catching. I think I will try this out with a few more of my designs.

Creating these designs for the competition, was a new challenge for me as my whiplash is still effecting me. I found I could only draw in 10 minute sperts. Where I then needed to rest my neck and arm, as I would be in quite some pain. I tried to push myself as much as I could but found it hard at times and frustrating.


For my future designs I think I will continue exploring with butterflies, as I like the summitry on the wings. I also like the thought of lots choices with a small surface pattern space.


When I submitted my designs I was hopeful of my entries as I thought the subject matter suited me well. However I was unfortunate to not be shortlisted. Which I found disapointing but  I will continue try to more competitions.

Accident

It's been a hard few weeks. Recently I have suffered from a car accident which has caused me to have whiplash. This has effected my daily life quite alot as I don't have alot of motablity in my neck, back and arm. So I have been restricted to doing little moments of drawing mostly trying things on my laptop. Even then I am only able to do 20 minutes maximum before taking a rest. I have found this quite frustrating but trying to use the time to do more research into my next collection of designs.

I am currently receiving physio and hoping I'll be back to myself as soon as possible. Little by little I am improving but in quite a bit of pain.

Building work

Since my last post, lots of things have happened. 

I have been to Bournemouth to see Russell Howard with brother, which was hilarious and great fun. I just wish I had my Nikon camera as the beach was beautiful especially with the waves crashing and the surfers in the distance. However I did get a few pictures with my phone which I might use them for future work.

I also got to catch with my friend N, it was great to see her and her baby bump. I always enjoy seeing her, she makes me smile a lot and a great friend to talk to. I can always rely on her to give a better prospective on things.

As well as this I have been constantly looking for work, I signed up to a few recruitment agencies, so hopefully will get somewhere soon. I hoping to get into the creative industry so I can use my talents and also grow within the industry. I have started another series of designs for my next competition, which very excited about. The brief is right up my street and I feel that I can really show off my talents. I can't wait to show you my designs.

Finally the last thing that is currently happening in my life at the moment is that my home is currently having some building work done. There is lots of noise, mess, dust and furniture everywhere its quite hard work trying to concentrate on applications or designs. So I've been trying to escape as much as I can, taking my dog out for extra long walks and going to Weston Super Mare. Trying out my Nikon camera and developing my skills with it.

Surface design competition 2014

It has been a busy week, but I can now tell you about the competition that I recently entered was for Tiger print.

The Surface design competition was the first of the year, and will be followed by many more.

The brief was to design a pattern that would be used for gift bags, cards, stationary, which included pencils and pencil cases, as well as wrapping paper. I needed to consider the audience my design was for, and where it would fit in the industry today.

So I chose to do some research into upcoming trends for 2014. Where I noticed that flowers were going to be big thing this year. As well as colour which seemed a big influence in upcoming trends and the specified surfaces that my pattern would be applied to.

With my designs I chose to do a modern take of the classic polka dot design that has been used on gift items for many years. My twist was to have the entire surface covered with pattern, instead of the classic block colours. I chose to have a leaf background as it felt it made more sense to have my flowers sit on top of them. As you would imagine them in a natural environment. The 'dots' were represented by my flowers in this classic design. I chose to make them more of an exotic nature as the influences from India have become a prominent feature in fashion, and I found the vibrant colours worked better.

The images above and below are my entry designs that I submitted for the competition, to represent a card format and the surface pattern. Sadly I was not selected to be shortlisted for this competition but I personally did enjoy designing work with a brief again. I found it interesting to work in colour instead of my signature black and white. I sometimes found it difficult to make the patterns flow as well as they usually do. Usually growing as a group but instead it was more independent seeds of designs.

What do you think of the designs? and what do you think of the colours? Any comments will be gratefully received.

New year

It's been a busy new year already, I been looking for work on constant basis. To hopefully boast my funds and get me back to routine.

As well as this I have been looking at competitions and recently just finished one. Which I'm quite excited about. I will talk about as soon as I can. Hopefully it will be good news. However I van already say it has giving me the encouragement I needed to start drawing again.

I've already thought of new designs I want to follow up. Being inspired by many things, and artists. I have some really talented friends and looking at their work always makes me want to do more.

The image I have show is some adorable booties my friend made for her baby, shes expecting soon, but don't you think they would sell well. I'm looking forward to seeing them on the baby and potentially on others. Where me and N have set up a stall with our new work.

So watch this space, there will be designs soon and hopefully lots of good news.