March 6, 2013

back when i didn't have a blog - part II: black cats are good news!

this is old news, but i never shared it on this blog, since, as i mentioned the other day, it didn't exist at the time. so back in october 2012, i woke up one morning and found out my kitten design was a runner up in the Tigerprint black and white print competition. it might not sound like big news, but it was the first small success i had as a surface pattern designer, and it did mean a lot to me.

a day in the life of a kitten, black and white

you can view the winning entry by Louise Harrison and other runners up (Rachel Amy, Emily Ann Studio and Dunia Nalu Designs )on the Tigerprint website here.

later i added color to the design, and it was featured in The Art and Business of Surface Pattern Design graduate showcase a couple of months ago. 

a day in the life of a kitten,  color

i don't use many characters in my surface pattern designs, but i do like the simplicity of these cats. so i am trying to develop more characters in the same style. below is my attempt at a black bird. instead of using "live trace" in illustrator, i actually prefer to scan my sketches and then draw them all over with a brush, i think it gives the edges a kind of roughness that makes them look more handmade. 

bird motif development

a day in the life of a black bird pattern in repeat

i have been working on creating mock-ups for my website, so here's the bird pattern as gift wrap.

black bird gift wrap

i am not sure if black birds have any meaning in the world of superstitions, but i think they look just fine on gift wrap. now, what creature should i do next? how about snakes on a duvet cover?

3 comments:

  1. I love both the birds and the cats and would buy either as gift wrap or fabric! I love the simplicity but also the fact that they have so much character! Great job!

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  2. You have some lovely work Alik! I really like the cats in colour they look fab and thanks for the link :)

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