Christmas Themed Hipster

A hipster Christmas fella in honour of Queen Street West - hipster central - in Toronto where I lived for the last year. I'm finally back home in Ireland after multiple flight cancellations, a bus journey, overnight stay in Swansea and ferry home. Hoorah! Merry Christmas everyone!

Pulled Apart

An illustration that is a bit darker (both in colour and style!), done in ballpoint pen. It's open to interpretation!

Medical Kids

Here's a sneak peek at an illustration and design project I'm currently working on. This unused illustration is of Victor Vampy using his cape to protect himself from the sunlight.

Stay Grounded.

This illustration is about a little fella who spends too much time in nightmare land and needs ton weights and lead boots to keep him in the real world.

Illustration

I'm still working on illustrations for an ebook. I'm enjoying it but really underestimated how time consuming it was going to be! In the meantime here are some illustrations I did for a college project last year on the pitfalls of modeling. They are a complete contrast to what I'm currently working on which is far more lighthearted and fun!
The first one is a model tearing out her organs in an effort to weigh less, the second is based around the idea of modeling being a business where you are essentially selling your image and the last focuses on the superficiality of the modeling business.

Where does the time go?

Quick update...

So, I've now been working as an art director for the last six months with L.A. Inc and have been pretty busy with that which is why I haven't posted anything recently. L.A. mainly deal with real estate - branding and marketing condo developments and so on - which most people thinks must equal BORING design. A quick look at the companies website (which has not been updated in quite a while and so does not even include a lot of their best work) will quickly dispel that notion! Condo branding and development is big business in North America and with the clients more than willing to invest in this area it gives a wide berth to the designer with regards to innovative design, unusual finishes, interesting folding etc. Hoorah! I'm getting great experience and working on a variety of projects and different branding applications.

Aside from that, I'm working on a freelance illustration and design project which is a nice challenge as I rarely put my illustration skills to the test. More on that soon. Also planned is a screen-printing workshop, a trip to the Knit Cafe and generally more make and do stuff, (it's always nice to get away from the computer screen and produce something handmade)- saving for a proper camera, getting more familiar with Dreamweaver and html and giving my portfolio site a major overhaul.

Toronto

Website Design

A site I designed for Irish marketing company 2 Plus 4 Marketing is now online! I'm pretty happy with the general design and feel of the site, as is the client. However, the typography REALLY needs to be readdressed, along with another few tweaks. Still though, it's always fairly exciting to see your work on the world wide web!

Proposal Design

This is an advertising proposal I designed for a marketing magazine a while back. They wanted something quite fresh with an urban feel to it.

Clay Creatures

I got a Crayola model making kit a while back and have been saving it for a rainy day. Myself and my boyfriend sat down and made these one evening, it was a bit of fun although none of the creatures turned out as the instructions suggested they should be! It also turns out that my boyfriend is much more artistically inclined when it comes to model making. I made the large owl which was originally supposed to be a sheep and turned out weird, as did the French mouse (note the moustache) while he made Madagascar worthy penguins and sausage dogs.

Toronto Land

Fun fun fun!

Inspired by Jared Andrew Schorr who does some AMAZING stuff, I decided I'd try my hand at creating cards using coloured card. Even though I'm very far off achieving anything close to what Jared can do, I'm pretty happy with the results and really enjoyed making them.
One was sent to my sister and featured our family's mental fox-dog in Ireland on a surfboard getting a bit of sun, one was to my friend who has just finished her exams and another was to my boyfriend's Dad who just celebrated his 60th birthday.

Banksy Comes to Toronto!

Banksy made an appearance in Toronto and left seven pieces after him scattered around the city. A few weeks later and there are only three left due to people painting and spraying over them. The ones left have also been altered - a bird added to the policeman and text added to all of them. One of them is even protected now by a sheet of plastic to stop it being vandalised (ironic really). We went on a cycle trip around the city to see the remaining ones before they were gone.

YIPPOOOOOOOO!

Sooooo.... after months of hard work, moving countries, foraging for furniture, meeting people, working on my portfolio, blogging, getting to know Toronto and scraping money together to pay rent I FINALLY have a junior design job! And not just any job either, my absolute dream job where I have my own office, have a seven minute commute, work with lovely lovely people, get to do loads of branding work and be involved with castings, wardrobe and photo shoots. Not too shabby for a first job! I'm absolutely thrilled!

Wishlist #1

One item out of many ticked off my wishlist!

 

Wishlist continued

One of my wishlist illustrations worked up a bit. I think the lopsidedness of the camera gives it character!

 

Wishlist

Experimenting with some of my wishlist items. Sadly, I have yet to purchase any of them due to an insane lack of money and getting our first bill.

Toronto and Beyond