Wednesday Words - Emily McDowell

I spotted this gorgeous illustration on Pinterest and loved the inspiring words so chose it share with you all today. It's so easy to compare yourself to others on the internet, who you don't even know, but we must remember not to! So without further ado, I will let the beautiful illustration by Emily McDowell speak for itself!

Image source: emilymcdowell.com

Feature Friday - Joanne Hawker

Today's Featured Friday Designer is.. Joanne Hawker

I just adore Joanne's use of colour and fantastic illustrations so am honoured to share her work on the blog today! I'll let Joanne do the talking..

Hello!

My name is Joanne Hawker and I live in a little corner of Somerset where I doodle, day dream about adventures in new countries and generally just make pretty things. I graduated from the University of Wales Institute Cardiff in 2010 with a first class honours degree in Graphic Communication.

I have a huge passion for design, illustration and surface pattern. A lot of my work features elements from the natural world as I find it hugely inspiring! Most of my work starts life as a doodle before it is inked up, scanned and then redrawn digitally.

 I have an etsy shop where you can buy various prints of some my illustrations or typographic, some of which can be personalised. In the near future you may see some of my patterns above on a few new things! Fingers crossed!

You can find me all across the web in various nooks and crannies.

Portfolio: www.joannehawker.co.uk

Blog: www.origamichicken.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/joannehawkerdesignandillustration

Twitter: @joannehawker

Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/joannehawker

Images copyright Joanne Hawker 2013

Feature Friday: Jane Farnham

Happy Friday everyone! I have some gorgeous designs to share with you today..

Our Feature Friday designer today is.. Jane Farnham

Jane tells us about herself and her work.. "Last year I graduated from the Art & business of surface pattern design e-course, which was brilliant for pushing me in the right direction of my dream job."

"I tend to use a mixture of line drawings and doodles along with computer illustration to create my work.  I take a lot of my inspiration from nature, old china and vintage fabrics and am often looking around charity shops, antique markets or our local park, taking photographs of any & everything that interest me."

"I have a Society6 shop where my designs are on prints, cushions, stationery, iPhone cases & iPad skins. I am currently looking for representation and am available for commissions and licensing.  I can be contacted via my website."

To find out more about Jane visit her website, Society6 store or Twitter.

Images copyright Jane Farnham 2013

Mother's Day at M&S

In Marks & Spencer's the other day I noticed the gorgeous range of small gifts they have in store for Mother's Day.

One particular range caught my eye with it's gorgeous colour scheme and pretty hand-drawn pattern and illustrations. You can browse the Mother's Day gifts online at M&S here, or go direct to the 'Send-sationally fabulous writing set', 'Electronic Book Case', 'A is for Amazing handbag organiser' or 'Gadget Carry Case'.

Feature Friday - Rachel Gresham

Today our featured designer is Rachel Gresham.

I discovered Rachel's work a few weeks back and love her use of colour and fun shapes. Her patterns and illustrations always put a smile on my face! Rachel was recently featured on Surface Pattern blog Print & Pattern, and is exhibiting at Surtex for the first time this May.

To find out more about Rachel visit her website, Etsy store, Society6 store or follow her on Twitter or Facebook.

Images copyright Rachel Gresham 2013

Off for some adventures

Tomorrow I am off to Germany for a long weekend of family, friends, exploring, Christmas markets and yummy food. On my return I am then heading off to New York City (squeal!) so my blog posts may not be as frequent as normal for a few weeks. I have scheduled a few posts but also hope to bring you design and inspiration posts live from the Big Apple!

Below is a photo of the lovely Hamburg Christmas Markets and a fantastic illustration of Hamburg by Anna Härlin

Source: sharingtravelexperiences.com

Hamburg Illustration by Anna Härlin

Do What You Love

If you've been following the blog for a while you'll probably know that I took 'The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design' e-course from Do What You Love and Rachael Taylor back in September..

I've been meaning to do a follow up piece about the course since it ended in October, but the opportunities and briefs the course gave me were so incredible that it doesn't really feel like it has ended!

The course was fantastic, 6 weeks jam-packed full of behind the scenes information, all the business and technical sides to design world that they don't teach you at uni, amazing live briefs and much much more!

My favourite thing (besides all the amazing information we were given) is the community created by the course. I have met some really fantastic people, and it's great to be able to share ideas, get feedback and bounce ideas off other likeminded people, who all have different experiences in and around the design industry.

Another thing that I loved about the course was that it really encouraged you to be yourself, to do what feels right to you, whatever that may be and people will love you for who you really are.

The course encourages you that if you believe in yourself you can free yourself and live the life you have always dreamed of. It also encouraged me to get back to my creative roots and that was how the inspirational illustrative prints in this post came about. They show my passion for design and determination to live the life I have always dreamed, which without ABSPD I thought could never happen, and I want to share this inspirational feeling with others. So a MASSIVE thank you to Rachael and Beth, for giving me this opportunity and for creating such an amazing ongoing community of designers and creatives.

If you are thinking about taking the course, do not hesitate, it really will change your life!

The prints featured in this post are now available to purchase from my Etsy store! A great print for your wall to keep you inspired or a great gift for inspiring others!

All images copyright Rosie Simons 2012

Pinterest

I've been meaning to post about Pinterest for ages but have been so busy with work! It's just 6 weeks until final hand in for my degree today.. EEEK. Too much to do is an understatement! But having joined Pinterest a few months ago I have found it has been great inspiration for my projects, I have created a board for each of my projects, in fact sometimes two, and used them as research and inspiration boards throughout the projects. It's great to find likeminded people and share things! So I thought I would share a snippet of those boards!

I have a lot of boards, but will just post a few screenshots of some of my design based boards. You can follow me by clicking on the link below! Really will post some design work soon, PROMISE!