Illustration

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I love …

August 11, 2008 in Interesting Finds | 1 comment

I often ’shop hop’ through etsy and enjoy marveling at other’s talents. Here are a few of my recent favourite favourites.

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From top left to right: A hand painted and etched Ivory and white cylinder vase by oneblackbird; An adorable embroidered bird with bling by hownowdesign; Crochet patterns for a very cute family of little Chinese Zodiac animals by edafedd; A print of an original illustration done in watercolour and ink called ‘Cardboard Town’ by monjojo; An upcycled butterfly brooch pin made from playing cards by BululuStudio; and a crochet, string wrapped, wood and felted beads summer bracelet made by Stemellina.

Helen Musselwhite’s fabulous Art

July 8, 2008 in Featured Artists | 4 comments

I’m always on the look out for inspiring artists and Helen Musselwhite is one of those that instantly drew me.

Helen uses bold colors, strong graphic lines and familiar images and creates fictional almost fantasy scenes. She describes her work has having a distinctive hand crafted quality with hints of mid century design, folk and ethnic art. I also think it has a fantastic contemporary feel as fairy-tale land is a definite fashion and design trend. …and if it was not, who wouldn’t like to live with unicorns, rainbows, bunnies and all other lovely, harmless and good things.

These artworks are hand cut, folded and scored using a wide range of papers and cards and then further worked to create patterned and textured surfaces. Helen then uses this to build scenes in box frames.  To visit her etsy shop click here.

Eugenia Tsimiklis

April 29, 2008 in Featured Artists | 1 comment

Here is an amazing fashion textile designer, graphic designer and illustrator. What a potent mix!

Eugenia Tsimiklis moved to London from Australia in 2001 and when asked in an interview by blogger Chris Bowden what her inspiration is she said that it comes from being in a bustling city. One of my favourite questions asked is always ‘how do you approach a project?’. Her answer: “I look through as much visual material as I can, from a variety of sources, then incorporate small aspects of what I consider successful design with the image I have in my head, to make it my own”. I like this - starting broad, narrowing it down and then applying this refined collage to the idea and picture that has germinated in your mind.

I especially love Eugenia’s textile designs. She only got into this when she was approached to do freelance projects and then realised their was a market for it. Since she has done fashion textile designs for several great labels such as 33south, FATAIM and theworldchico.

I love the touch of Art Nouvea flow that her designs have. Even her website (above) has a touch of it…

Eugenia’s says her passion is drawing and creating images. She loves above all things pattern, decoration and colour. This passion and love for design I think is transparent in her work and is what makes her so good at what she does.

Linn Olofsdotter

April 18, 2008 in Featured Artists | 1 comment

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Linn Olofsdotter is one of my all-time favourite illustrators. She is from Sweden but resides and works in Boston. I first came across her work in the front of a magazine that I had bought for next to nothing and I thought the drawings were too beautiful to tear out - so I still have the magazine! Several times I have used her illustrations as inspiration for many project front-covers. Now that I have discovered her website I wish I had more projects I needed to develop front covers for.
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Linn’s creative process starts usually with drawing, either with good old fashion Bic pencils or MICRON ink pens. She doodles and these drawings often, together with background textures (either photographed or painted) create the illustration. In this way her work can be thought of as a collage. Only once this process is done does she open up Photoshop. She says she works with between 200-300 layers and I cannot wait to tell all the people who always scream that I am using too many layers in my documents with a mere 30!!!
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When asked in an interview by the Art & Illustration Community what advice she would give to an aspiring illustrator she answered: “stay away from Photoshop filters”. I think, as a textile designer, I need to take this advice to heart too - filters are always such an easy option when designing for a client. But NO, I must remind myself to be true to talent and resist the temptation to take the easy road. True rewards only come after a rugged journey…and if my rewards one day look as wonderful as Linn’s, then it will be worth all the extra hours.

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