Sweet Christmas

Time flies by too fast. I have so much to write about, so many thoughts wanting to be presented to the world. Yet, time is not on my side. Maybe it's all about getting more organized, not wasting time on trivial things, or maybe I should stop overthinking topics and put them down on paper (or screen, to be more precise). I'll start with this post. I'll keep it simple. Here are a few christmas designs I finished today. Lettering meets illustrations. The topic was to create christmas type, but somehow along the way the story evolved and I made this series of three cards with christmas cookies, candies and cupcakes. I've chosen the word 'Noel' on purpose, for the wording to stays readable in the whole composition. 'Noel' was transformed into cookies, mistletoe and cupcakes accompanied with christmas decorations and little birdies (I couldn't resist adding some characters into the story). The idea to use cakes and cookies as a central piece came after brainstorming for new recognizable christmas icons. There are so many great takes of christmas cards on the market already, so it takes something new to create interesting sellable art.

The color scheme is kept within a limited color quantity, reinterpreting the classic red-green christmas colors. As you can see there is no 100% white in the images. That's how you can achieve a more vintage style (as well as not to use 100% black or rich black). The red gives enough freshness, poping and contrast. Little note: exporting the images into png files diminishes the intensity of the reds - in the source file it's even brighter. And of course, no use of structures makes it obvious to be digital art. I was really tempted to age it even more by adding rubber scratches and brushes in Illustrator, but decided to stay true to my style. It already had enough details with all the yellow thread making its way through the whole design.

As promissed, I'll keep it short this time. I'm already working on the next posts. I still haven't posted about my trip to London and me walking the Brand Licensing Europe show (that's going to be a lengthy one). And MATS! We already entered week 4 and I haven't written a word about it, haven't shown one single image. Well, let's get down to work! In a few months none of it will be newsworthy anymore.

Going Semi-Waco

Another hand writing exercise. This one I did with a mouse and a stylus. I've been told many times 'once your get hold of a drawing tablet you will never go back to a mouse'. For now I just can't let go of my precious mouse. Old habits do die hard. I like to construct objects/elements in a more concise way - less organic. This lettering poster is a good example of it. The characters shown are constructed, as well as the typography 'up little one'. The word 'wake' was traced with a mouse - my old way of doing things, while the caption at the end was drawn with a stylus. I didn't have a complete view of how it's going to end up, so I decided to take a stylus and go with the flow. Of course, post-tweaking included.

And a close up of the bottom caption. The idea was to write/draw the text in each line with one single continuous line. I could have done the whole sentence in one line, but a lot of readability would have been lost.

Btw. I like the message of the lettering. From time to time we all sometimes hide away from the rest of the world thinking we don't make a difference. That we haven't got anything special to offer. Well, open your eyes, open the door of you hiding place and discover that the World awaits you. That you can brighten up somebody's day just by being you. But you're the one who decides to wake up! You like dreams?! You can always daydream. Stay awake!

Going Waco : Hello

I'm starting a post series under the title 'Going Waco'. It doesn't have much to do with the state of my mind rather with my Wacom tablet I bought this summer. Somehow I never found the time to try it out, not mentioning to start working with it. So far I've done all my work, illustrations and character design included, with a mouse. Well, it is Apple's Magic Mouse, but still not a magic wand. Maybe the mouse as my tool shaped my style. I don't know. We shall see. The Intuos5 has a pressure sensitive pen and can produce some really stunning features but for now I'm staying true to myself. All those structures and brushes just aren't my Ding (germ. thing). I like to keep it simple. It's my belief that if you have a good idea/concept you have no need for adding bells and whistles to your work unless asked for by the nature of the project or the message you're transmitting. This isn't an universal thought, it's just how I see it. Let's say Hello to my new series.

I did a rough sketch of the lettering in my notebook, scanned it into the computer and traced it with a stylus pen in Illustrator. Of course it didn' come out immediately like this. That's the good thing about vector art you can easily tweak it. Here are some additional ideas that evolved from the above hand lettering.

1 ON 1

While thinking about what labels to use for the content of this blog, which actually means that I'm thinking about what to put on this blog, I decided to give myself a timeframe for posting. I made a 1ON1 commitment to myself - 1 post each week. My loyal companion through life is rolling his eyes as I'm writing down these words. He knows me too good and he's sure there's no way I'll be able to hold on to this commitment. Well, I'm going to challenge myself. I say - 1 on 1 it shall be!

A little hand-lettering exercise. 

1st Blog Post ever

Here it is! My 1st blog post ever. This has been on my to-do-list for a long time now. I've been postponing it beyond every deadline. I don't know why I've been dreading it so much. Lately I've been doing a lot of first timers, so why not do a blog? The 1st post is a good time to reveal what this blog is going to be about. Well, ... I don't know exactly. I'll think of something along the way. For now a brief hello!

P.S. I made a promisse to myself, as well as to you, to post regularly. Please remind me of this caption in case I should get lost for weeks or months. I will use this blog of mine as an exercise for staying focused and disciplined. Much needed skills!