NEW WORK: Flyer Design for Jelli Fest

Recently I was commissioned by Bristol record label Jelli Records to design a flyer and poster for their upcoming festival, Jelli Fest. The organisers wanted to use the label logo's colours (red and green) and had chosen a font for the festival name. My task was to take this font ('Mexcellent 3D') and turn it into a logo that could be used across all festival publicity (posters, flyers, website) and merchandise. I then had to produce the flyer featuring the information supplied by the organisers.

Bright red and green are quite difficult colours to work with, as they fight for attention on the page. To add a bit of extra interest to the logo I added a third colour, an amber shade, which I think gives it a bit of warmth, a fun touch, and makes the logo stand out a bit more from the rest of the flyer. I tried a variety of background colours but no shade seemed to have a harmonising effect with both the red and green, so in the end I kept it simple and opted for a white background, allowing the logo to capture attention and the blocks of text and colour to draw the viewer's eye down the page. White space is a designer's best friend, after all!

The other challenge was fitting all the information on the flyer without it becoming overrun with text. I also had to think about whether the text would be legible if scaled up or down, depending on the flyer size. Allocating blocks on the page for text helped with that, and preserving the white space around them ensured the design didn't feel too cramped.

I'm looking forward to working with Jelli Records in designing the festival programme during the summer.

Drawn in Bristol: Beat the Blues exhibition photos

Drawn in Bristol's second exhibition at St George's Bristol, a world-class concert venue, launched in January and has attracted much admiration from visitors. After sadly having to cancel the original preview date due to the snow, the show eventually opened with a low-key but well-attended preview night on Fri 25 Jan. The quirky space, with its stone walls and low ceilings, lends itself well to the vibrant pieces submitted by the illustrators. The only restriction on the theme or content was that all pieces had to include the colour blue, and the illustrators featured in this exhibition responded in various imaginative ways. As the venue is a concert hall many illustrators adopted musical themes, from portraits of inspiring musicians to playful interpretations of the process of performing music. Art works were not restricted to music, however - you will find dreamy landscapes, local landmarks, and all manner or crazy creatures and fantastical creations amongst the archways of the former Crypt. Featured illustrators include: Dave Bain, Michelle Barker, Alex Bertram-Powell, Hannah Broadway, Katy Christianson, Emily Daly, Martha Ford, Natalie Hughes, Judith MacGregor, Paul Roberts, Slumber, Laurie Stansfield, Carys Tait and Laura Wady.

There is still time to catch the exhibition, which runs until mid-March. Unfortunately a rubbish camera + low light conditions has prevented including photos of many of the artists' pieces so I thoroughly recommend visiting in person! 

The Crypt gallery is open 90 minutes before all concerts at St George's Bristol. For more information visit www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk.

Laurie Stansfield / Natalie Hughes

Slumber

Dave Bain / Judith MacGregor

Katie Christianson

Hannah Broadway

Michelle Barker

Martha Ford

Emily Daly

Judith MacGregor

Martha Ford

Dave Bain

Drawn in Bristol presents: Beat the Blues

The Crypt @ St George’s Bristol, Fri 18 Jan – March 2013

Following on from 2012’s highly successful High Notes / Low Notes exhibition at St George’s Bristol, the Drawn in Bristol illustrators’ collective returns to the space with a brand new exhibition, even bigger and better than before. Beat the Blues unites talented illustrators working across a variety of themes and media, linked by use of the colour blue, and is an uplifting exhibition designed to banish gloomy thoughts on those cold winter nights! This is an exciting opportunity to view works by established and emerging illustrators within the unique setting of one of the country’s finest concert halls.

Featured illustrators include: Dave Bain, Michelle Barker, Alex Bertram-Powell, Hannah Broadway, Katy Christianson, Emily Daly, Martha Ford, Natalie Hughes, Jess of the Lions, Judith MacGregor, Simon Mills, Slumber, Laurie Stansfield, Carys Tait and Laura Wady.

The exhibition launches alongside the Jelli Records 10^th Bristol Acoustic Music Festival with a special preview night on Fri 18 Jan from 6pm.

The Crypt gallery space and bar is open 90 minutes before concerts at St George’s Bristol, Great George Street, Bristol, BS1 5RR. For more information visit www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk.

Get a taster of the artworks on display from Sun 13 to Thu 17 Feb at the Jelli Hub in the Parlour Showrooms, where a small selection will be available to preview.

New Year's Resolutions

The past couple of days I've been learning a few new skills in Illustrator, which should help enhance my design work. I've particularly been experimenting with different text effects as I increasingly find myself needing to use typography within my work and would like to do this as imaginatively as possible. Found some great tutorials here. One of my resolutions for 2013 is to build a new website using some of the typography and animation skills I've honed over the past year, so watch this space.

I'm also looking forward to participating in some great exhibitions in early 2013:

The Grant Bradley Gallery's show, 'Let Me Illustrate' runs Sat 12 Jan to Sat 2 Feb, with a preview on Fri 11 Jan

Drawn in Bristol's fantastic new exhibition 'Beat the Blues' launches Fri 18 Jan at St George's Bristol with an evening of live music.

I'm excited to see some imaginative and inspiring work at both of these, as well as seeing what new opportunities arise. Roll on the New Year!

My first GIF

Currently exploring the possibilities of the world of animated GIFs...hoping to inject some animation into my work and website. Should see some results soon!

New work

This week I've been creating a new cover image for St George's Bristol's children's and families' concert brochure, which will be available in the new year. It involved a different approach for me as children's illustration is not my usual area. I wanted to create something fun and eye-catching that reflected both music and springtime themes such as flowers, growth, insects and the natural world. The result is, I hope, a quirky and uplifting image in bold primary colours that I hope will appeal to both parents and children.

The brochure will appear alongside Drawn in Bristol exhibition 'Beat the Blues,' which launches at St George's in January.

Christmas cards now available

Let It Snow

A few of us illustrators from Drawn in Bristol were asked to come up with two Christmas card designs each. These are now available from the Watershed shop on Bristol's Harbourside and at Paper Scissors Stone pop-up shop in Quakers Friars.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I enjoyed the challenge of producing two cards that complemented each other but could also work individually. I settled on the idea of producing vignettes rather than full bleed illustrations quite early on as I liked the idea of playing with the white space and the impact it has on the image - I usually produce full-bleed images but more recently have been experimenting with using more white space. A muted colour palette lends the images a softness that contrasts with the crispness of the digital lines, which is the effect I was going for (I was feeling quite muted at the time!), although it would be interesting to try them out in brighter colours. What I enjoy most is the symmetry of the borders, which I feel unifies them and reflects the spirit of cosiness and "togetherness" that we're supposed to feel at Christmas!