Surface & Pattern Design - City Maps

Here is a few surface patterns that I've been working on for the last week or so. The first one was done for Pin Hop and I had so much fun doing it so I decided to start a series. These are all cities I've visited and adored: Paris, Florence and London. Perhaps I'll continue the series when I've a little more free time.





And a last mention, I won't be posting or online over the next week because I'm exhibiting at New Designers in London with my University. I'll be at Stand T76 so if you're exhibiting or attending say hello :)

For Inspiration - Dribbble

Some illustration inspiration via Dribbble. With more recent illustrations I've been working with maps and icons. The second shot reminded me a bit of myself as of late ;) If you're a designer with deadlines possibly you can relate too!



(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

I had my final degree show a few nights ago, hopefully if my camera decides to be friendly I'll post some pictures from that.

For Inspiration - Dribbble

It's been a while since I've sourced some inspiration from Dribbble but post University I'm looking to expand my portfolio, stepping away from patterns and slightly more towards illustration.


(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)

I'll be back later today with a new illustration I've worked on for the past few days!

Surface & Pattern Design - Swans

Good Morning and greetings to new visitors from #TALKT! Here's something I'd like to share with you :) This was one of my favourite designs (of my favourite animal) that was intended for my University project but because it was far too time consuming there was no way I could follow up a collection of 9, still working in this style, and so, up to this point, I haven't yet shared it. But last week I was approached by Samuel of Mister Dress Up (a t-shirt printing company based in Montreal, Canada which places focus on artist promotion) who asked me to submit a design for production. The swans are now available to buy as a t-shirt, for one week only so please check it out and have a look at all the other artists exhibiting there this week!

For Inspiration - Anna Emilia Laitinen

Doing all of this project work and requiring a little break, I must confess my feet are getting a little itchy and my heart a little sore. The paintings of Anna Emilia Laitinen are sending me crazy for my dreamland, Finland.



In a visual sense, Anna Emilia's paintings embody everything I love about Finland: the forests, lakes, the architecture of houses and how everything is so close to nature. Anna cites that "the weather gives colour to my paintings" and you can see that each piece has a theme that draws on the icy, blustery winds of autumn, blankets of snow from winter and the brighter hues from springs and summer. Her works with florals are nothing short of exquisite and combine technical composition with an immense amount of detail and a well composed colour palette to create wonderful representations of Nordic nature.

Be sure to take a look at Anna Emilia's Weather Diary where she writes beautifully poetic posts of her thoughts, ideas, works in progress, and of course, so many wonderful photographs of her beautiful homeland.

Project Process - Shelves

I'm really very nearly almost there with my final project with this being design 9 out of 10. Lately I've been inspired by a lot of interior blogs, specifically Finnish ones like Weekday Carnival, Varpunen and Neovia House so I've tried to incorporate that somehow into this design! For the most part, the items on the shelves were inspired by suggestions from my Twitter friends. I've placed the design in stages just so you can see how the shelves fill up!








As you can see it's intended for placement print but I think it works just as well as a pattern!

Project Process - Nordlys & Tekstil Inspirert

So it turns out I've had to make some "slight" alterations to my project! Being that so far the most successful design I'd completed was the previous Dala Horse. Whilst I've tried to retain my illustrative style to fit with traditional fok art, I've found that to be applicable to a current market it has to be modernised. This, in addition with a lot of contemporary artists I've researched matching the minimal style, means that a lot of my work is going to have to be simplified.

I've wanted to draw the Northern Lights in some way for so long and I'd never found a way to go about it. This was a sketch on paper that took two minutes and I think it works so well. It's minimal, aesthetical and functional which is my aim for at least one of the two collections I have to complete. As this is for gift wrap, perhaps I can afford to be a little more decorative when it comes to creating a collection for greetings cards.
Edit: I made alterations to the Nordlys pattern and added an additional one. Tekstil Inspirert means Textile Inspired (such an original title!). I adore the folk art influence but now I am wondering if the colours combined with the deer and winter trees are a bit too Christmasy? Thoughts appreciated

Project Process - Drawings & Illustrations

And as promised here are some of my more recent drawings. These all embody the style I'd like to stick with (within this project at least) being very bold and illustrative but also with the ability to add a little colour. The inspirations have come from all sorts of sources with the horse and the heart sourced directly from the traditional Scandinavian folk style and the squirrel and the birch trees and butterflies being a bit more contemporary. The seal and the crows in the trees are inspired by particular stories of folklore and the houses are taken from typical Norwegian home architecture. I hope you enjoy these.

Drawings & Illustrations - Sóley Stefánsdóttir

I decided to do something different and this is what happened! This is a portrait of Sóley. If you haven't heard of her you should really make the effort to check her out on last.fm where you can get a free download. She is sort of mix up between Soap&Skin and Regina Spektor combining innovative performance electronics with silly stories about clowns, leaves, islands, birds & dreams. Because Sóley is Icelandic I tried to reinforce the Nordic design theme with shape and bright colours and combining those with bold tones and textures. I hope you enjoy and I hope I've inspired you to listen to her music.

Drawings & Illustrations - An Owl From Sweden

And here is what I have been working on in my spare time for what seems like forever now. I'm not sure if the owl really did come from Sweden but he is accompanied by bold colours and design from textiles so yes, he has to be! The second brighter print you see was inspired by a book that became my bible last semester at University. It was a beautifully bound box filled with individual sheets and a reference guide to traditional Swedish textiles, predominantly woven designs and tapestries. Of course, the colours weren't this bright but I've tried to create an even mix, using modern and traditional elements of Scandinavian design. The owl was drawn on a surface that measures 45x45cm which is around 5000x5000 pixels, so you can understand that when drawn with a brush that measures 3 pixels it is a bit time consuming. I am still not satisfied with this but I must love and leave it at this.





If you are in love with the Swedish owl, John's birds, carousels, whales or anything else I've drawn then you can buy them from my store on Society 6. It's a wonderful community and I've already had many beautiful messages and sales (yay!). Now I am heading back to University there couldn't be a better time for shameless self promotion.