erica sharp

I recently came across the absolutely brilliant artwork of Erica Sharp and was eager to share it. I love her distinct style and her use of a variety of mediums. The piece above might be one of my favourites as I love how she sometimes incorporates photography into her work, but I really can't resist her drawings either. I love them because they are fashion forward and the colours she chooses are sublime. Be sure to check out her work on her website, ericasharp.co.uk/, because thats where you'll find ooodles of goodies, like these:

You can also follow Erica on Twitter and purchase her lovely artwork at her Etsy Shop. Now to gawk at her artwork some more...

vocal

As I mentioned a couple posts ago, I'm determined to get back into the Illustration Friday groove and I'm continuing that today with the word from last week, vocal. As soon as I thought of vocal, I thought of words (naturally) - and with my #yolo mindset in full effect, I immediately thought to create something involving quotes. And for this challenge, I was not short of inspiration. Check out these inspiring images, they are excellent examples of how typography can be the focus of the artwork - or how it can be the artwork itself:

Images 1, 2 & 4 via &soweramble
Image 3 Herb Lubalin via Flickr

Here's where I went a little outside the box. I initially wanted to create some hand drawn typography pieces, but then I had a 'brilliant beyond brillant' idea. I have been collecting magnetic letters (yes, those tacky fridge magnets) for years and I have a ton of them. I thought, why not create images with those and photograph them? Well.. I couldn't think of a reason why not... so I did it!

Here are the original images I used:

And after some photoshop magic and my new favourite, some digital drawing - they're done!

Do they get the message across? I think so. And in my opinion, that makes them quite vocal.

If you are wondering why some pink & purple letters look a little (or alot) wonky, it's because they are homemade/makeshift letters I made myself with oven-bake clay. To my defence, they look pretty cute when you use them exclusively with each other - but with the store bought letters, they look ridiculous. Oh well, better that than boring...

white elephant

A few weeks ago I visited James St. North in downtown Hamilton (my stomping grounds, represent) and found a few great spots I never knew about. James St. is a vibrant, creative neighbourhood that plays host to the Hamilton Art Crawl and occasionally the Super Crawl. I highly recommend visiting the area if you appreciate small businesses, seek unique treasures or just want to enjoy some Hamilton culture while sipping on a hot beverage.. or cold, salt-rimmed margarita! If those reasons aren't appealing enough, here's another: White Elephant. White Elephant is a fantastic, "delicately curated handmade and vintage" shop right on James St. The shop, owned and run by friends Hollie and Jane, has lots of fantastic treasures to check out. Below are photos of just some of the interesting, not to mention adorable, items White Elephant carries.

Find out more about White Elephant by checking out their website, blog and online vintage shop. Oh and follow Hollie and Jane on twitter to get up to date info on the happenings over at White Elephant.

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Oh! And I wasn't kidding about the margaritas! Get yourself over to Mex-I-Can for a delicious margarita and some of the best mexican food around.

return

I haven't been as up to date on my Illustration Friday participation as I would like, but there have been so many good ones in the past that I've missed that I'm determined to catch up and do a few for myself! This is one I just completed was for the word from a couple weeks ago, return. I have been spending alot (probably too much) time on Flickr and the sources of inspiration found there are absolutely endless! I came across artwork by Eugenie Groh and thought it was the perfect piece of inspiration. I love the linework in these pieces and wanted to attempt to emulate it in my own 'return-influenced' work.

Along with the inspiration from Groh's work, I often find music that inspires me - especially with these Illustration Fridays that begin with a single word. There's a line in Such Great Heights by Iron & Wine that made me think of returning home;

"When you are out there on the road
for several weeks of shows
and when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home".

And from that, I became inspired by different lyrics in the same song and began working on my long overdue Illustration Friday piece.
I actually had intended on creating a few different images experimenting with linework, but I had a stroke of luck and really liked my first drawing and decided to complete it as my final.
Here she is:

I created this image in black ink, scanned it into photoshop for a couple minor touch-ups and voila! I like the end result and thought it would make a great shirt - maybe even a band tee for Iron & Wine fans? I decided to run with this idea and make a mock-up of what that might look like:

Ah, and enjoy a little music while you're here:

new mindsets

For a recent project, I've designed both an animated and static logo for the company New Mindsets and integrated it into my redesigns of their company website, letterhead and business card. New Mindsets is an interactive learning experience that allows you to mix and match your lessons to create a learning agenda that suits your needs. This was a fun project because I was able to dream up an animated logo - something the company could use on their website, perhaps as an intro before entering their interactive page. Because I was creating an animated logo (something I was not all too familiar with), I began with a story board and then used the final logo as a static character that could be placed throughout their business stationary and swag.


STORYBOARD
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LETTERHEAD & BUSINESS CARD
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WEBSITE
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The whole concept is difficult to picture without the actual animation, but I think the remodel of the stationary and website is a big improvement! If you want to see what the original site looks like, check it out here at www.NewMindsets.com.

what makes the pie shops tick?

I found this absolutely unreal archive of vintage photographs, postcards, ads.. you name it! All courtesy of What Makes The Pie Shops Tick?'s fantastic Flickr account, which I initially discovered thanks to this wonderful post via HonestlyWTF (those girls always find the best treasures). Well, I love these images so much, I simply couldn't keep this gem to myself. Travel back in time and check it out too!

girl's got style

I could give this girl new looks for days! I definitely was having way too much fun with this - hope you all enjoy as well! Which look is your favourite?

You can find this girl sporting these looks and more via my 'my girl' Flickr set.

that's so ravin'

A little Photoshop and digital drawing magic and I've recreated a moment from Decadence 2012. Nothing better than a night out where glowsticks are practically mandatory.

Sidenote: Yellow lipstick that bright is a major dream of mine; the second I can justify spending $16 plus tax/shipping on yellow lipstick, you can bet I will. #socheap