I like looking through peoples sketches and drawings and understanding different ideas, concepts and mindsets so this was the perfect book to have a look at. It is mostly all pictures from various artists sketchbooks, there is a short bio on each artist or designer and then just an insight into their work.
When I first enrolled onto this course I was apprehensive about what my sketchbooks should look like and include; that is why I took a look at this book. This book is purely illustrative and raw ideas at their initial idea stages. This is the kind of style I am interested in; raw artwork which can then be taken and developed further into a final outcome.
I am pretty old school in regards to that I much prefer hand drawing to digital work; as much as I do love digital work, my strongest area is definitely hand drawn. I have always liked hand lettering and when I listened to a design podcast with Jessica Hische I knew I had to take a look at her book.
Although a lot of what she mentions in the book in regards to Illustrator I am already familiar with, I like looking at the different lettering styles and the projects which she has worked on. It is a great source for inspiration and ideas.
Last night I finished the mock up drawings of 3 of my postcards.
I have chosen to use Black and Pink as the final colours as it is simplistic, modern and the colours really work together. The illustration is based of very simplistic lines and a basic form. I have used Pink to highlight the important areas of the drawing. Having it all coloured in would draw the attention away from the key parts of the artwork. The “Lost Angelino” heart features on 2 of the postcards; I want this to be the logo for the series of postcards.
Postcard 1: She didn’t choose the pink life.. the pink life chose HER.
This postcard is the one that relates to “me” the most. It reflects self branding more than the other 2 because it has the pink lipstick which is what I am known for, it has the use of my Graphically Pink logo running down her arm from the lipstick. This reflects the blog name and also explains what I am all about. The illustration itself (although not of me! – she has a far better side profile and nose than what I ever will! :p) is in the style of me; I love to draw illustrations and drawings like this one. The woman in my drawing comes across as strong, independent and full of confidence! (She can conquer the world with that lipstick!) Hopefully when people view this postcard they will instantly recognise and link it back to me.
Postcard 2: ooh LA LA
This postcard has a cross between LA and everything Girl empowered, feminism and Girl Power! Don’t get me wrong…. I mean, I’ve dated or entertained in my time a few nasty egotistic, narcissistic men who have been intimidated by the fact I live my life by MY RULES… but by no means am I am full blown “man hate” feminist…YET! I like a good guy more than the next gal! 😉 but this postcard is representing the fact that I am all for girl code; standing by each other and lifting each other up rather than tearing each other down. Women don’t cut themselves a lot of slack and in todays day and age there is so much pressure on women to conform to standards; whether that be for our men, how we look, what we wear or in our careers… I am all for women being strong, independent and owning their own voice and rights to be whoever they want to be. This is the message I want to convey in this postcard indirectly.
The woman shows a softer feminine *vulnerable side (vulnerable in no way meaning to be walked over or taken advantage of; more like an innocent sweetness) with the fact she is bare skinned (exposed for who she actually is) and in her underwear making a strong statement.. but then she is also covered in sailor style tattoos which show an edgier, unique side to her. A side that is not scared to express who she is. Tattoos interest me; they are an expression of who you are, they can be beautiful, unique art pieces! The fact she is posing in her underwear also shows that she is not scared to reveal her true self to people or scared of what people might portray her as or dictated to what she should look like or wear. It shows a strong side. It also links back to how I have been stereotyped so much over the past few years in my appearance; I am trying to convey that it is ok to be who you are, to be who you want to be.
Postcard 3: Take my heart and fly with it (to LA)
This postcard represents my absolute love of LA.
I tried to link “The city of Angels” in with the illustration. The woman is an Angel or an “Angeleno” from LA. In my first drawings I drew the basic outlines of wings and had the idea to put a map inside one of the wings of California. The idea then developed into making the bottom wing the shape of the state of California. On a map this is what the outline of California would look like. The heart at the bottom is located where LA lies. This postcard uses Pink in one place; to outline the state of California.
I am not keen on the layout of the postcard however the image needed to be positioned more on the left because it needed to join onto the other 2 postcards. It is definitely the most simple out of the 3 designs but I think from looking at it that it is quite self explanatory.
Instagrammable
Doing the flat lay photography for these mock ups was fun. I wanted to upload these to my Instagram to see what the reaction would be. I wanted to do it in a more grand way though so I decided to use the App called “Giant square” to spread the image out over several squares. Overall it worked well. It makes my Instagram page jump out and I would use it again… however each image as an individual came out real low res which disappointed me! I had cleaned the image up in Photoshop and saved it as a high quality Jpg so I was surprised; I have put it down maybe to the app.
All that’s left now is to design the back of the postcards and to redraw these out in Illustrator and downsize them to A6 (postcard size) I am going to use the captions (next to each postcard on here) to be captions on the back of the postcard designs.
Over the last few days I have been looking into ideas for 3 of my postcards. I know the brief is to create a minimum of 3, however I want to create 6.
I want to look into Aesthetics v Ergonomics. I tried to look into design terminology that best described appearances and how the mind and body work and the two that stood out to me and best described what I am trying to achieve were Aesthetics and Ergonomics.
What I mean by this idea is that the expected final outcome would be for me to create 3 postcards based purely around who I am and what I like etc… These could be images relating to what I look like, what my favourite colours are, images potentially of my interests and hobbies. From looking at these postcards you would get a look into the aesthetics of who I am. Aesthetics are superficial in this case. I want to get across who I am beyond what you see in appearance.
This is where I thought of a second batch of postcards relating to the mind and body and am calling them the “ergonomics”. Ergonomics is how the body and mind react or work with something. You can mould designs to react to a human body; i.e you can design a pen with a spongy finger grip to make it more comfortable to hold and for the hand to write with. I want to create 3 postcards based purely around the mind and body of me. How my mind and body react.
I have already stated that the first 3 postcards are going to be very visual, a lot of pink and a lot of my influence. Hopefully they will be attractive to look at and be appealing to a female target audience. I want them to represent Graphically Pink, my love of LA and Girl empowerment.
From my research into postcards I then started to look at how I could make them into a series.. Looking at the Cosy Club examples they all link and use the same imagery and typography. I wanted to be able to put all mine side by side and be able to link them all together. Branding is very important; particularly self branding which is what this is to a certain degree. It is showcasing who I am and what I can achieve. I looked into different layouts and ways in which I could tie them all in together.
The idea I initially have is a side profile illustration I have drawn of a girl applying lipstick. I thought that this could be an idea for postcard 1 and tie in with the Graphically Pink and the fact that I am renowned for my bright pink lip colours… however, I then got to think about how it might look too repetitive repeating the same illustration over the series of 3 postcards each with a different theme (1 with Graphically Pink, 2 with LA etc) I then had the idea of what if I used the same illustration but cut it into 3 parts over the series of 3 postcards… In theory when the postcards are laid out on a table for example and placed together they will form one main big image but each one as individuals would still tell their own story…
What I have so far is a rough idea of how this could work. I have my drawn illustration all put together as one image but cut in places to form the 3 postcards. The illustration in general (although it is not of me!) represents pieces of me. It is very girly and feminine. Pink is the main theme. It has an almost innocent vulnerability to it showing a softer personality but also has a strong underlying message in certain parts of it.
The first postcard would purely be the image of the girl applying the pink lipstick with the “Graphically Pink” running down her arm. The second image is her lower half of her body. I have tried to make this very feminine and delicate with the use of her naked top half body and pink, lacy, girly underwear. The nakedness of her top half and the use of underwear I am still debating.. It has to reflect me and what I stand for and the last impression I want is for the image to be taken out of context! (flashback to 2005 when I drew a business card with one of my fashion illustrations on it and the lecturer asked me if it was my intention to become a stripper when I got older with my “long legs”.. hmmm!) This is where I would definitely have to think about the cultural diversity of a design and who it might offend. The girls lower body though is covered in sailor style tattoos; each one represents either Pink, LA or girl empowerment. (Tattoo design; another interest of mine!) Although the girl shows a slight vulnerability in being half naked and in underwear she does portray a tough, sassy, rebellious streak with her feminist tattoos. There is a side to this that I am trying to get across that girls can be girls, women can be women and still have a voice, Have their own opinions and be who or dress how they want and still be strong individuals. The underwear also is meant to relate back to the Barbie logo or the Moschino Barbie logo which I showed in my learning log pages and also possibly to the meaning behind the Barbie branding “Girls can be whoever they want to be”.
Be who you are basically.
It still has a lot of improvement… There are still things I need to rethink and alter and the third postcard which is the wings relating to the city of Angels is still very much at the initial ideas stage.
one Initial Ideas sketches pageA rough layout of my illustration – trying to piece together how I want it to look.
All that Is gold does not glitter; not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither; deep roots are not reached by the frost.
J.R.R. Tolkien
So, last night at ridiculous 0’clock laying in bed scrolling through my phone on Facebook I came across a quiz on Adobe Clouds facebook page; the quiz was to tell you which one out of 16 creative personalities I am. It is one of these curious things that you just have to do… like these ridiculous quizzes on Facebook to find out which Disney princess you are!.. (*cue the eye roll!) It is like when I pay to go and see a fortune teller because I am intrigued to see what they have to say about me! – I like to see how accurate someone actually thinks they know me! :p It’s like I am more or less testing you or myself to see how transparent I am to the outside world! So, here I am.. 2am at least it must be… answering the questions in this quiz to be pleasantly surprised actually!
The results came back that I am a “Dreamer”. Apparently I make up 4% of the population. I am now wondering whether this might be the reason I feel like I never fit on or belong anywhere! LOL! This is probably why I meet inappropriate men! – sorry hun, you can’t ever understand me you’re not in my 4% league! :p I can now also hear my mum in my ear telling me (like she does when I’m being irrational and OTT!) that I live in an “escapism world” where unicorns and fairytales actually exist 😀 but anyway I then decide to research further…
I do a little google search, (its probably getting on for 02:15am now) and type in “dreamer personality” it then comes up with INFP – Introverted (I) Intuitive (N) Feeling (F) and Perceiving (P) or “Mediator” on this particular page. This is basically the basis of who I am. Reading through the next few pages describing my personality type I realised that it was actually pretty accurate! I could have been describing myself to myself.. scrolling through the pages where it described my work ethics, friendships, relationships, parenthood (yet to be; if ever) I realised it was accurately correct. At approx. 02:30am I must have decided to get my sketchbook and scribble random ideas from this. Assignment one Is based around “who am I ” what if I used some of this background information in a postcard to describe me. Even if I was really lazy and designed a simplistic design purely around INFP the person could further research and read up from this “who I am”
For assignment one as part of the first stage I have decided to research into different postcards just to see what is out there, what techniques are being used and the different approaches.
Without travelling the world far and wide to bring back all kinds of postcards I decided to instead travel to Paperchase and raid their quirky selection instead (worked out quite well also as I got a cheeky 15% discount!) Absolutely love Paperchase! 🙂
I bought 12 in total – I bought ones that immediately drew my attention, ones that are very simplistic but get a message instantly across, 2 that cleverly portray a message and a few that are very female empowered!
Here they are!….
I like how most of them use pink as their main colour, this is what I want to achieve for most of my designs. I like how most of them are based around type and hand lettering; this again is something which interests me. The top “you go girl” postcard reminds me a lot of my Graphically Pink logo which I have done.
Paperchase at the moment have a section of female empowered “sisterhood” and girl power stationery. It has possibly been motivated by the #metoo movement recently, the fact that the Spice Girls have made a comeback! (YAAAAY! :P) or the fact that people (particularly females) are becoming more aware of feminism and not afraid to voice their opinions. I like this range as this is something that I mind mapped in my learning log sketchbook; the fact that my morals and values are very much “girl code” and “girls can be whoever they want to be”
The 2 above I think are very simple but effective. The full stop obviously being the end and the comma being a break, not the end.
I then went and had lunch at the cosy club in Stamford and picked up some of their examples. As part of the brief it states “series of postcards” although obviously the Cosy Club are not posting these off to anyone they still advertise who they are as a brand and company. They still give you a sense of who they are. Their brand identity is very strong. All the postcards tie in together, they all have the same theme and use the same typography, same logo and very similar layouts. These are perfect examples of a series of postcards. You are instantly able to put them all together and know that they are related to the same company. This is what I want to achieve with mine.
I also found 2 other cards that caught my eye – one is a black and white illustration with a caption to match and the other one is a very loosely drawn illustrator image of a Fox. I like black and white illustrations, particularly hand drawn pen rendered drawings. This is something I enjoy doing and could do for my own. The fox illustration although far from perfect has its own personal style which could be seen as unique and different.
I am uploading this post a little bit late! – but 3 weeks ago I was privileged enough to visit Eaton House Studio (the Pink House!) in Tiptree, Essex.
Eaton House Studio has never been open to the public before in the whole 10 years it has been open. I have always had an interest in this house and follow it on Instagram and when I saw the dates listed for this once in a lifetime tour around the house I knew I had to sign up! The house is a pink wonderland, it is like something from a sugar coated dream! From its painted murals on the side of the house, unicorns in the garden, glitter walls, Its extravagant space themed tin foiled kitchen! (Yes! actual tinfoil lines the kitchen and the worktops!) and the grand floral opening entrance; the house is a girly girls dream!
The tin foiled kitchen!
The floral entrance
The beautiful mirror room
Eaton House studio is basically a normal house in Tiptree Essex which was completely redecorated, redesigned and themed pink. Amy G who owns and designed the house was a set designer – When she bought the house it was dilapidated and run down. It was old fashioned and very much needed a makeover! Feeling disheartened every time she spent time designing, making and taking pride in her sets for them to be ripped down weeks later and demolished she decided to put her time nd passion into something a little bit more long term… she realised that she could make a whole house her showpiece!
Naomi (my friend) Amy G and myself!
The house caught on; quite quickly and unexpectedly so she told me! It is now a pit stop for any fashionista, celebrity or supermodel.. Many photographic shoots have taken place at this house for magazine publications, advertising campaigns, fashion shoots for big name brands and many celebrity have taken to their Instagram to upload photos of themselves at this house. One of the most famous celebrities who is a resident at Eaton House every time she resides in the UK is Paris Hilton. I first stumbled across the house when she took part in a fashion shoot for Moschino, Jeremy Scott’s Barbie range in 2014. I am a massive fan of Jeremy Scott and his designs for Moschino. I also met @visionaaron on this day who is makeup artist to Madonna and is great friends with Amy and also good friends with the brilliant Jeremy Scott!
I know this visit does not directly link to my course. (Yes, it ties in well with my Pink theme) however, I have an interest in interior design and the fact that this house started as a vision and an idea and then was created and designed from scratch. The house was a brilliant concept that was seen through from beginning to end although Amy is very modest about its success, having told me she works with a lot of assholes and the celebrity side to her success she does not want to embrace! – opting purely for a down- to-earth “ordinary” lifestyle and that what she has achieved is purely for the love of her art and the house!
I didn’t manage to get a photo of the famous @visionaaron but he is in the mirror in the background! :p
The idea, drive and passion behind it is what makes the house what it is. It involved time, patience and a great deal of thinking and planning. I liked going and looking around, getting inspiration from Amy and getting inspiration, motivation and ideas for my own work.
The heart… It is the core of our soul… It beats, it feels, it breaks a million times over but it is RESILIENT.
Resilience… I would say it is one of my greatest traits and its made me think.. Assignment one is based upon our likes/interests and who we are from first impressions… I can’t help but feel how superficial that seems though? I have had several people over the last few weeks telling me that who they imagine me to be (my aesthetics/my “branding”) is not what they expected at all… that in fact I run quite deep. What if I could base some of my ideas then about who I am underneath?
It takes courage to open up… to be your truest, most authentic self. Most of us probably take this for granted. Self love is overlooked. I would say my most attractive feature is my heart. It beats… it keeps me alive but most importantly it “feels”. It shatters into millions of pieces time and time over but it is resilient. I am resilient.
I am a deep thinker.. I always have been.. I overthink everything, I always ask myself why to each situation I face; everything to me has a reason and a meaning. My moods come in waves -I write down emotions I feel, thoughts, ideas… Below you will see a spread from my learning blog. I have brainstormed ideas around “the heart” I have played with my emotions, toyed with my feelings and asked myself how I can convey a message of who my soul actually is without needing to over expose raw feelings or use words. I have based some of this research around previous experiences, current moods and feelings and past events that has evoked reactions.
As I write this I already feel like I am way behind on my work already! As I said in one of my earlier blog posts I have the fear very much of failing or bad things happening! Anxiety very much creeps in! I have been struggling with time lately.. I have been reading, watching tutorials, making notes, sketching, brainstorming, getting inspired! juggling 2 jobs, trying to stay visible to the outside world and maintaining a social life!.. Almost 3 weeks in I think it’s time to put myself out there and show what I have been working on so far! – I have to admit getting to grips with wordpress and how I want to lay my blog out has taken a massive chunk of the limited time I have had! What I can say though is that what I have done so far I have really enjoyed! At home I have created my own little sanctuary to escape and create and so far I have some great ideas (I think!) that I can’t wait to develop! It’s Easter holidays for me now and 2 weeks to dedicate solely on my first assignment!
Trying to take people through your mindset and thoughts can be exhausting and sometimes it is difficult to communicate a thought process to someone who is completely unfamiliar with who you are and what you are all about! .. therefore I have included sketches from my learning log sketchbook! I have to say when I started I was totally confused as to what I should put in here but now I absolutely love this book already! 🙂
The first pages of this which I shall show you first basically explore around the ideas of who I am; my core values, morals and beliefs and then explore more into who I am in appearance and who I am in relation to my likes/dislikes/favourite places etc. As I wrote and sketched these thoughts I thought to myself “How do people see you and how would you like strangers to see you?” I have played very much on my nickname and the first things people think and see when they look at me. Barbie, blonde and pink. I do not want it however to look materialistic and narcissistic and purely based on aesthetics. I have toyed around the Barbie idea, the fact that it is “girl empowered” and she can be “whoever she wants to be” . I have explored colours, the meaning behind certain colours. I have taken pink as a colour and developed into further ideas for my blog name and any potential text that I might want to appear on my postcards. I have explored around the idea of a “series” of postcards, repetition and continuation. Type is another big influence I want to put on my postcards; I have studied tutorials and already started to form ideas around what I might want to create in my designs.
LA is one of my favourite places in the world, I want to include this somewhere in one of the postcards. I have attempted to scribble down initial ideas and played with words and names.
I wanted my first pages of my learning log sketchbook to be engaging; not only to me but also to anyone who wishes to look through it and get a better understanding into my mindset. I have included things I have collected which inspire me and give me ideas. I have looked into Ideograms and certain designers who used this into their own branding.
After completing the first few pages of my first initial ideas and thoughts I now have an idea where I want to head for my designs and postcards. I now plan on starting some sketchbook pages and developing these ideas further!
pinkangeleno.com 