Friday 23 December 2011

Home made bilberry gin labels


Back in the summer I spent an afternoon picking billberries. I ate a lot of them and made cakes with some but the most exciting thing I did with them was to make some billberry gin! I just filled empty bottles with the berries, poured over caster sugar then topped up with gin. You have to give it a shake now and then but it turns a nice purpley-red almost straight away.

It makes an excellent cocktail when mixed with Champagne. This is how I intend to drink it!

I wanted to make the bottle look nice, so I created these labels. The "Festive Cheer/Dear, Oh Dear" idea came from Merrydown Cider (and others). One of my favourite illustrations for Merrydown is by Jonny Hannah.

Hopefully it will go down a treat.

Saturday 22 October 2011

lines


I have been busy creating patterns to use in an illustration but I like the way these lines look on their own. A man in the park was enjoying watching me draw them, he said it was like meditation.

Friday 19 August 2011

Stork Illustration


Illustration of a stork delivering a baby. Created using illustrator.

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Introducing the Bogrollers










The Bogrollers are a three piece band from Sheffield... made from toilet rolls!

Sunday 31 July 2011

Finished Clogs!









I have finally finished and photographed my clogs. Here are the pictures.

Tuesday 12 July 2011

Stay!


Illustration for Illustration Friday for the word, 'stay'.

Inspired by the men and dogs of Sheffield!

Click to enlarge.

Friday 8 July 2011

Self Portrait


I have been experimenting with the pattern tool in Illustrator and decided to use them to add a bit of interest to this self portrait.

Thursday 7 July 2011

Paper Magician











Popset Paper Co. launched a competition to create 3D paper characters based on a pattern by Shin Tanaka. By the time I heard about it the deadline for entries had already passed but I decided to make one anyway.

I then got rather carried away and made a rabbit and a stage for the magician!

It is all just hand drawn in black ink.

Wednesday 6 July 2011

Strange Pigeon: Tribute to Amsterdam

Strange Pigeon: Tribute to Amsterdam: "Visiting Amsterdam last year, I got really excited about all the clogs hanging in the shops and markets. I bought a pair to paint myse..."

Tribute to Amsterdam







Visiting Amsterdam last year, I got really excited about all the clogs hanging in the shops and markets. I bought a pair to paint myself but when I got them home I couldn't decide what to put on them so they have been painted and repainted a couple of times.

After finishing my PGCE I finally have some spare time so I pulled out the clogs! I decided to draw the houses and canals but I wanted another link to Holland. So, the design is inspired by dutch lace. It is so beautiful and intricate, I want the drawings to have the same quality.

I sanded and painted the clogs with white acrylic to give a smooth, blank surface. I am using a .25 Rotring Isograph pen filled with black ink to draw the design onto the clogs. It's slow but cathartic work!

I have been listening to the audio book of 'The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet' by David Mitchell whilst drawing on the clogs too - it's very fitting! My partner's Mum lent it to me and I didn't know that it was about the Dutch in Japan. Really enjoying the story and the drawing.