Green Gold #colour_collective

I reverted back to what I know best for this week's colour collective and doodled up a couple of sloths just taking life in their stride. I've said it before but I'm REALLY enjoying colour collective now I'm well and truly stuck in with it! I feel like I've finally fallen into a work/work balance and am really making the most of my days off to try and broaden my portfolio and push my illustrative skills, which feels fantastic. Let's hope I can keep this ball of productivity rolling!

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Her Royal Highness, Buttercup the Sloth

Another painting process post? Yeah, because why the hell not! This time starring the only queen that I'll ever bow down to (well, except for maybe Marina,) – Buttercup the Sloth!

happy mother's day!

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saturday scribbles

yeah, i know, i've got some explaining to do seeing as i haven't posted a saturday scribbles post (or sunday synopsis post, for that matter) for the last two weeks. last weekend i kind of had a legitimate excuse because i was away for the weekend visiting a friend for her 21st birthday, but i'd be lying to you if i said i hadn't just generally been feeling uninspired with my work and blog as of late.

since handing my dissertation in i've been focussing on my self promotion work and starting to think about my final project, and for the most part i've been feeling a bit uninspired and bummed out, by my self promotion work in particular. i'm still a bit unsure of where i want the content or aesthetics of my self promotion work to go, but i do know that i don't want to waste the opportunity to create another good piece of work for my portfolio, so it's something i really need to try and figure out, and pretty quickly, really. 

on the flip side, i've been writing another picture book for my final project to enter into the macmillan prize again, and above you can see some of the rough page spreads that make up my dummy book that i'll be taking in for feedback on monday. i've no idea how the session will go, but i do know that it's the happiest, most motivated and most inspired i've felt with a piece of work throughout the entirety of third year, so that has to count for something. i love the freedom of working on my own texts because i have complete control over everything and the permission to add or take things away where i see necessary, which i felt held me back a little throughout my alice in wonderland work because it never felt quite as natural and effortless as i'd have liked it to, but i suppose i'm learning that i thrive creatively when i can completely become the author of my own work. 

for now i hope you enjoy the little snippets into a story that was inspired almost a year ago now when i visited new york, and i hope to get the ball rolling again properly from now on and have lots to share every week regarding my progress while illustrating the book. 

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sloth totes are go!

it's official, my sloth enthusiast tote bags have now been printed, ironed and popped into my etsy shop for sale! they're for sale at £5 a piece and can be viewed here. also, if you're new to etsy, you can bag yourself a tote bag for just the postage cost using the code below for £5 towards your first purchase:

http://etsy.me/1v8dcUd

i'd like to thank mini mallory for being such a fantastic model, and wish all you sloth enthusiasts (i know you're out there!) happy viewing!

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saturday scribbles

i thought for a change that i'd get my saturday scribbles and uploaded early on in the day to avoid the fumbling around minutes before midnight that usually occurs when i realise that i've neglected to upload this post. 

this week i've been working on my puffin book cover (still, i know, it's taking much longer than i anticipated!) and designing and printing some tote bags to sell in an attempt to raise some more money for our d&ad new blood fund. we carried over my a-z doggies design, and in addition to this i created a cat, pug and a typographic offering so there was perhaps a little something for everybody because i know there are crazy folk out there who aren't dog people, tsk. as well as designing for these tote bags, i've also doodled up a sloth enthusiast design that i plan to screenprint onto bags in the next couple of weeks to sell through my etsy (and of course because i wanted one for myself!) so if you're at all interested, keep your eyes peeled! if you happen to be interested in one of our other tote bag designs, do feel free to drop me an email at robynmakesthings@gmail.com and i'll see what we can do for you! we're selling the bags at £4 each, and then with postage on top it'd probably cost you around the £6 mark to get your hands on one of these!

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saturday scribbles

a bit of a different saturday scribbles this week, however i've ended the week with a new creation nonetheless! one of the illustrators at hallmark was a bit of a felting fanatic and had made some fabulous felted characters that were dotted around the studio, and from there i was feeling massively inspired to have a go at creating my very own sloth plush using the fabric i have laying under my bed doing nothing. it took me quite a while to complete, and once i'd finished i realised that i'd perhaps done it all a little bit backwards as i left his head open to stitch up by hand at the end, resulting in a bumpy head rather than the smooth, rounded one i was aiming for; all valuable lessons to consider in the future! it was something a little different to have a go at and fill an afternoon with, and i think throughout the summer i may have a go at making a couple more using some different patterned fabrics so i can slowly build up a collection of colourful, handmade sloths to sit on my bed alongside big and little mallory. i named this little fella cecil, by the way!

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finished picture book: the sloth who almost stole christmas

today i present and hand in my final *real* piece of work for the year, and i'm so stupidly excited about it that i might just bust! the idea for 'the sloth who almost stole christmas' has been floating around in my head since around october last year, so it's so incredibly satisfying to actually have my thoughts now out in the real world, written down and documented visually ready for people to have a browse through! a few of my friends and the tutors have had a read of my story in its entirety, and i'm pretty much getting thumbs up all round - one tutor even said he'd like to get a copy printed to read to his own children, what a dream! it's fair to say that i'm incredibly proud of the final outcome and i'm just so excited to be able to have it in my portfolio as a testament to the fact that i'm interested in writing as well as illustrating - note to self, explore more story ideas over the summer - and also to prove that i am capable of producing an entire picture book, on my own, from cover to cover. ah.

i'll not babble on any longer, but i am so darn happy to end second year with this hand in. squeeee! i'll leave you with some spread images to have a nosey at, which you can also view through my online portfolio.

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the sloth who almost stole christmas

these last few weeks we've been working on our specialist graphic projects module at uni and it's literally a module that i've been looking forward to for almost a year now after viewing the second and third year work ready for submission at the end of my first year of university. from the beginning of second year i knew i wanted to write my own story, and whilst thinking up christmas card ideas in october i stumbled upon a story idea revolving around santa and a sloth and the potential demise of christmas day if the present delivery were to be put into the hands of a sloth, and from that the sloth who almost stole christmas was born! your typical story of santa's engine breaking down, however this time in the rainforest with only a sloth to help him with his duties.

i initially thought that my story idea being so cliché and perhaps boring would go against me, however while working with the text and imagery i realised that it benefited me somewhat as it required me to be much more imaginative when considering my imagery and really got me involved with potential sub-stories and character development, and at the end of it i must say i'm pretty chuffed with what i've managed to pull together!

 

i've had so much fun developing the story, characters, spreads and typography that i'll be continuing this project through into my next university module so i'll have an entire book to a) send off for macmillan, and b) have as a fantastic portfolio piece. i can't quite believe how much fun i've had working throughout this module and now definitely know that a place somewhere within children's publishing is where i would hopefully like to end up someday. watch this space over the next couple of months for the entire book!

you can view my work on my online portfolio here.

 

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a sloth's guide to valentine's day

single this valentine's day? never fear, vodka is there to help you forget! and then when you do remember, donuts are there to comfort you. now, who actually needs a valentine?

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my etsy shop / a sloth's guide to illustration

i recently added my 'a sloth's guide to illustration' zine to my etsy shop, so if you'd like a copy of your own you can do so by visiting the listing here!

as ever you can expect silly humour, hand gen type and a lot of sloths, but if you'd like to know more about the zine there's a full product description available on the etsy listing.

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sloth christmas cards & donations to the costa rica sloth sanctuary

so after exciting myself over the idea for the past couple of weeks, i finally got my hands on all the necessary materials and got to work on creating some sloth christmas cards! i worked from some of my initial sketches and adapted them in a way that was completely new to me, however i took control in making sure that the colour scheme worked and was apparent throughout every design to ensure that the three designs worked as a set.

my cards are now for sale in my etsy shop at just £2 for 6, so what are you waiting for? if the price tag didn't entice you, how about the fact that i've decided to donate 50% of my profits to the costa rica sloth sanctuary? if you're not aware, i'm very, very passionate about sloths and for a while have wondered about what i could do to raise a little bit of money to donate to the sanctuary, so i figured these christmas cards were the perfect way to do so. i'll be keeping this open and the cards up for sale  until christmas day (25th december 2013), so on boxing day (26th december 2013) i'll stop by to evidence and inform you all on my contribution to the sanctuary. so if i make £10, £5 will go to the sloths, as would £10 of £20 and so on and so forth.

i did design a pattern that i intended to be made into wrapping paper, however i couldn't find anywhere that printed it at a price that would make it worth my while - £15 to wrap a couple of presents up was just not within my budget! so to let it see the light of day, i've decided to share it with you all here.

i hope you all enjoy my designs, i've certainly had fun creating them!

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