A Month of Drawing

SpoonFlower have set a 30 day drawing challenge called 'A Month Of Drawing' which I've already gotten stuck into. (Unfortunately I came across this a little late and missed the first weeks's theme which was Open Spaces). 

This week's theme is 'Type', encouraging us to incorporate hand drawn lettering into our illustrations. They send out a prompt via email every day, which makes it super exciting checking my emails!

I'd encourage any creative to take up this challenge. Its been great for me, as I always tend to turn to the same methods or sources for inspiration, so to create something from a single random word, or 'prompt' is really refreshing. Here's my week so far...

Week 2

prompt 6 - Lemon

prompt 7  - Book

Prompt 8 - Arrow

Stuck for Inspiration

I was stuck today, really stuck, so I went to the park, set down my blanket on the grass, and just lay there, cleared my my head and looked up. 

Doodle Of The Day

Mark-making with fine-liner pens to create a simple design. 

Pattern Making

As frustrating as it may be, I'm gonna need to be a ninja in Adobe Illustrator if I want to make my own fabric designs. I spent the whole of today learning how to create seamless repeat patterns from an original design, which was helped a hell of a lot by a range of free youtube tutorials (some better than others!) But I got there in the end, starting with a simple doodle design.

Here's the home-style tutorial I found most helpful by Barbara Ignatiev: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR8esZ4nn6c

 Custom font made with a fill from my pattern swatch

basic pattern made with paintbrush tool and freehand squiggles

Watermelon Slices

...or pink pizza slices?! You decide, a new recipe idea perhaps!

Sail Away

I wish!

Making Marks

Today's sketchbook page - simple mark-making with coloured fine-liners. I reckon this would look great as a stitch sampler or print repeated to create a patterned fabric!

Sketch Happy!

Just a few of my sketches over the past few weeks, making time for a scribble whenever I can!

Another year, Another Sketchbook Project!

So the Art Coop sketchbook Project is back for 2015, and I'm up for participating. It's pretty exciting to think of my work going on an exhibiting road trip around America, and nice to be a part of something so big! 

Last time I took part was in 2011, the year I lived in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, and chose the theme 'Down Your Street'. Its great to look back at my sketches, as each one is a memory in itself. I was in a paper-cutting-magazine-collaging phase at the time which was pretty cool.

The sketchbook mobile library visits cities including Seattle, LA, Austin, Toronto and Miami, as well as others, ending up in the Brooklyn Art Library, where it'll be safely archived. Go and have a gander at The sketchbook Project to get involved!