Folksy Friday - Kawaii magic

Everybody loves a bit of kawaii and when the weather is this bad I need all the cheering up I can get and kawaii stuff always makes me smile. In case you don't know what 'Kawaii' it means cute in Japanese and encompasses everything with that distinctive Japanese, cartoon, cutesy style. Here are some perfect examples:

Right i better dash got a ton to do today in prep for the upcoming exhibition.
Byeee and stay cute .^__^.

Babes In The Woods

A couple of months ago I was delighted to be invited by the ladies of the Set of Drawers collective to be a guest illustrator at their Babes In The Woods exhibition.

This group exhibition will explore the Woodland, a centrepiece of many of our most well known and much loved stories such as Snow White, Little Red Riding Hood and Hansel and Gretal. When I learned the theme was woodland that was me sold. My first thought as always was woo hoo I get to draw more trees!!
It will take place from 19th October - 17th November at the Newcastle Arts Centre Gallery.

As part of this exhibition i'll also be helping out with a Big Draw (National Campaign for drawing) related event for which the Set of Drawers folks are calling on doodlers, kids and anyone who loves to create, to help them transformthe Newcastle Art Centre gallery into a magical woodland, full of colourful creatures and make-believe characters.
This fun & free doodle fest will be on Sat 20th October and people can drop by anytime between 10am - 4pm.

For the exhibition I am hoping to be able to create 2 new pieces for it. Although unfortunately at the moment the tendonitis in my wrist has re-occurred so this is making things a little tricky and may mean I can only produce 1 new illustration *sadface*. Anyway i've made a start on the first so i thought I would give you a sneaky look at the sketch, but of course i won't be revealing the finished thing until the exhibition.

Help me & get free stuff

Hello. A few months ago I launched my online graphics shop Graphics Takeaway for which i produce digital art for people to use in their projects whatever they may be.
I've produced various images and aim to continue adding to the collection. To help me get an idea of what graphics to produce in the future i need to find out what people want. Therefore i'm using good 'ol market research to assist me.

I have created a survey with 10 questions which should take no more than 10 mins to complete. As this survey is related to digital graphics it should really only be completed by those who have either used graphics of this nature in the past or would consider using them in the future. Once I have 80 forms back the survey will be closed.

Information gathered from this will be extremely useful to me and i'm very grateful to all those who fill it in. To prove how grateful I am i'll give a free Tea and Cake clip art set and a Junk Food 1 inch circles collage sheet for use on personal projects to all those who complete it. These will be emailed to you within 72 hours.


Click here to take survey

If you know of other people who would be interested in doing this please spread the word :)

The Animals Have Landed

Yay i've just finished a brand spanking new set of clip art for Graphics Takeaway.
I'm also hoping to make some 1 inch circle graphics from these illustrations too, but they may have to wait as times a ticking on and i have to start working on a new illustration for an upcoming exhibition.
Anyway here are my Happy Animals come to say 'hello':

Although these aren't available in the Graphics Takeaway shop yet, they will be tomorrow so keep your eyes peeled.
Also tomorrow I plan on launching a survey giveaway and everyone who completes it will be given some lovely GT graphics for free as a thank you so more on that later.

Folksy Friday - You've got mail

Bills aside I love getting post, especially when its something out of the blue that i'm not expecting. In this internet age writing a letter is becoming a lost art, although there are the hard core few who still take the time to write a letter to a friend rather than just making a beeline straight for Facebook or the Gmail account.
I've been mailing out sample books to children's book publishers over the last few weeks in an attempt to find a publisher who'll add me to that most coveted list of their 'go to' illustrators.
Thought you might like to see photo of it:

Although its more time consuming to make up the booklet & package it up as oppose to a PDF document in an email, there is something really satisfying about putting together the physical product  and popping the finished item in the post box. It is this act that inspired me choose the theme of mail for the FF post today and heres my picks:

Dear Sir/Madam,

hope you have a happy Friday

Best wishes
Lucy xx

P. S. Don't forget the humble letter :)

Pleased to meet you. Interview #10 Sam Osborne

Its been a while since my last artist interview but finally here is installment number 10.

1. Please tell us your business name & where are you based?

My name and my business name is Sam Osborne and I am based near Oxford in the UK

2. What do you create and how would you describe your style? 

I create my own ranges of prints, cards, gifts and homewares - everything from notebooks to bags and tea towels. My style is pretty varied but I love colour, pattern and type and most of my work features a combination of these. I work from hand drawn sketches and digitally created designs, often combining them to create depth and texture.

3. How did you get into making and do you make a living out of your creations?

After studying graphic design at university I worked as a graphic designer for various agencies - I loved it, creating print and branding for a huge range of companies but I missed the more hands on way of work that I'd enjoyed some much in my art education so in January 2011 I quit my full time job to start my own business. Along with some freelance design work I make my living out of my creations - something which I find very exciting!

4. What is your favorite piece of work or a favorite project you’ve worked on?

As with most designers my favourite project is the one I am working on right now - whatever that might be! At this moment in time I am working on some new designs for wrapping paper, wallpaper and fabric and am really enjoying that. Out of the products I have in store now then my favourite would have to be my Sexy Legs design - it's a brightly coloured collection of high heeled ladies legs and it just makes me smile!

 

 

 

 

5. If you could achieve any business goal with your work no matter how fantastical what would you most like to do?

At the moment the thought of walking down the high street and seeing my designs on products in shops is the fantasy that is keeping my going. If I'm allowed to be completely crazy then as a huge motorsport fan wrapping an F1 car in my prints would be incredible!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6. Do you have any tips for others who want to set up a creative crafty business?

Just do it. Sounds so simple but just take that first step, open at Etsy shop, book a craft fair, whatever it is. I need a bit of pressure to really get moving on things which is why quitting my job was the right way to go for me but there is no reason why you can't make a start in your spare time outside of work, keep it simple and focus on 1 thing and remember to have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quick fire round. Just for fun please pick 1 answer from each of the following. If you don’t fancy either just choose the 1 you most prefer:

1. Bob Dylan or Johnny Cash 

Johnny Cash

2. Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia 

Neither!

3. For meat eaters - Lasagne or Moussaka 

Lasagne

4. Knit or sew 

Sew

5. Pen or pencil 
Pencil

6. Cut or paste 

Cut

7. Mug or Cup 

Mug

8. Half full or half empty 

Half Full

9. Mac or PC 

Mac

10. Amy Butler or Cath Kidston

Amy Butler

 

For more on Sam and her eye catching work you can visit her fabulous website:
www.sam-osborne.co.uk or check out her Folksy or Etsy shop.

Many thanks to Sam for taking part, hope you love her work as much as i do.

Stella My Star Logo

Remember on Tuesday I posted the outline sketch created for the Stella My Star logo, well its now complete! Jo is really pleased with how its turned out and i think it one of the nicest logo commissions i've had in terms of it being a very fun design to work on.

So if you want to see the 'Before' sketch you can visit this post: http://www.lucyfarfort.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/todays-project.html
And as for the 'After' here it is:

As a change from the way I normally work I mainly painted the text rather than adding colour digitally, to give it a more rustic, folky feel. As you can see its heavily Mexican folk art inspired, which i love as the bold colours are always so eye catching.
Hope you like it too.

Folksy Friday - Bear All

Why the bear theme? Well everyone loves a bear! Oh that and I have a new idea for an illustration which involves a bear or two. The illustration will be done specifically for an exhibition i'm contributing to in October and i'll share more details on that little adventure in the not too distant future. But for now check out this bear fest:

 

 

Haha you may have noticed i've been cheeky and snuck one of my own creations in there. What a BEARfaced cheek!! ;-) Sorry i couldn't resist that one.
Happy Friday x

Today's project

Really looking forward to working on this logo for the lovely Jo from Stella My Star today. Jo already had a really awesome idea for her design which was to do something highly decorative and Mexican folk art inspired. Jo even sent me a fab pinterest mood board that she'd put together for inspiration & reference. So this is the sketch outline for the logo and i'm going to be painting it today:

Once its done i will reveal all!