Experiments with Colour

Just trying out some different colour combo's on past illustrations :)

Illustration Friday - Influence

My submission for this week's Illustration Friday topic of 'influence'. :)

The Tube Reinterpreted & Celebrated

Visiting London this year was amazing! One thing I found particularly amazing was the Tube. It was amazing to see that trains would stop at the station every 5 minutes! That and the different character of each station – I really enjoyed Baker Street’s etched posters!

To celebrate my love for the Tube, I thought I’d share some awesomeness I stumbled upon on the interwebs, some of which you may have seen, nonetheless, still cool :).


Ø Line Colours by Leon Wilkinson

A few weeks ago I stumbled upon Leon Wilkinson’s series of “Line Colours” posters. Each station is represented by the colours of the lines that connect at that station, resulting in a beautifully simple and clever print! Definitely something I wish I had thought to do!


From left: Waterloo, Euston, Knightsbridge and Baker Street.


You can buy the posters at http://print-process.com/product/?product-id=542.


Ø Vintage posters discovered at Notting Hill Gate Station

Some pictures taken by Mikey Ashworth,  ‘Design and Heritage Manager’ for London Underground, after vintage posters were found dating back to the 50’s in the old non-public passageways of Notting Hill Gate Station after an upgrade of the station in 2010.

Aren’t they just stunning?! A beautiful time capsule of time long past. Click and zoom to view larger.

You can find the full set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36844288@N00/sets/72157624079183751/with/4669837848/.

Ø Michael Landy’s Acts of Kindness Project

Michael Landy’s Acts of Kindness calls for tube travelers to send in stories in which they encountered some kindness on the tube.

Here’s one of my favourite stories submitted:

“I was in the pit of a severe depression, sitting on the tube, staring at my knees, trying not to cry. I could just see the man opposite me, folding a piece of paper. The train stopped and in my lap the man placed the piece of paper, which he had folded into a beautiful little white horse. He smiled and left the train. A light appeared in the pit.”


Read more touching stories at http://art.tfl.gov.uk/actsofkindness.


Ø Tube or False?

Background texture - seat cover design, Piccadilly line, 1940s.

Background texture - seat cover design, Metropolitan line, 1990s


Also in 2010, Transport for London celebrated the tubes’ existence for over 150 years with a series of engaging posters entitled ‘Tube or False?”. Each poster headlined an unusual or interesting ‘fact’ set against a backdrop of seat cover design from a certain period and the reader was challenged to guess if it was true or false. A bit like Balderdash I guess?  Very nice idea.


Find out all the answers at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/modesoftransport/tube/history/.


Ø Johnny Cupcakes' Tube Tee

One of the tees in Johnny Cupcakes' exclusive London range only available at their London Carnaby location. Sadly seems like this tee is not longer available :( Clever idea. See the full London range here: http://www.johnnycupcakes.com/blog/2011/04/jc-london-exclusives/

And speaking of cupcakes..

Ø Tube Cupcakes

Awesome cupcakes Jessica Wilson made for a farewell party. Read more about it here: http://fushmush.net/n/1005.

Illustration Friday - Perennial

This is Sylvester on his day off. He likes to fly kites. And talk to birds.

Quick illustration for this week's topic 'perennial'. The word 'perennial' led me to think of fynbos - very strong and resilient shrubs and plants indigenous to my hometown, Cape Town :) So you can spot some proteas and ericas dotted around.

Some process work..

Doodles

Just a few doodles dotted around my notebook :)

London: Land of Pints, Pubs & Pounds

It's been a while since I last blogged but I promise I have a good excuse! I've been furiously busy making this map for They Draw and Travel :) I have such a new-found respect for map illustrators - it really is quite an art! It was a lot of fun to do and really made me dream of walking the streets of London again!! (Click to see the map infinitely bigger!)

Here are some process pics..

A lot of the typography I hand drew and designed, 

like this 'London' and 'Buckingham Palace'

I also had a typeface I made a while ago, knocking around that I hadn't quite found a good place to use yet. That was, until this map :) I'm still trying to find a good name for it; in the meantime I've entitled it "Primrose" as it has really come to remind me a lot of London - the modern, minimalist lines versus the old fashioned, almost Victorian ligatures - London being very modern while at the same time having a lot of really old, beautiful buildings. :) You can see it dotted around on the map.

Work in progress..I quite like this crop :)

You can check out the map at They Draw and Travel:

http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/maps/london-land-of-pints-pubs-and-pounds-robyn-mitchell

And while you're there, take a looksee at the gorgeous map my wonderful sister did of Venice :) http://www.theydrawandtravel.com/maps/venezia-italy-kerri-jane-mitchell

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Map featured here:

LanaLou Style, 27 July, 2012

http://lanaloustyle.com/2012/07/london-love.html

Travel Between the Pages, 23 January 2012

http://travelbetweenthepages.com/2012/01/23/cartography-can-be-fun/

UOL Antena, 2011

http://entretenimento.uol.com.br/antena-uol/album/2012/03/08/site-reune-mapas-pessoais-feitos-por-ilustradores-ao-redor-do-mundo.htm#fotoNav=5

Dannykitty.com, 14 September 2011

http://dannykitty.com/2011/09/ilustracoes-they-draw-travel/

The Travel Eater, 1 December 2011

http://www.thetraveleater.com/2011/12/when-traveling-is-art-they-draw-and.html

We Heart It, 2011

http://weheartit.com/entry/14464725/via/beelenruiz

Illustration Friday - Remedy

Problem: No bookends. Remedy: Two identical cats with a fondness for snuggling on bookshelves :) Inspired by a true story.

Some details of the illustration.

Illustration Friday - Midsummer Night

On a beautiful midsummer's night, Lola loves to cycle around town on her squeaky penny farthing, affectionately known as "Mr. Chuckles". With one eye on the road and the other on the twinkling night sky, she dreams of the day she will make it into the space cadet program and fly to the moon!

Viva La Vida E!

Vida E Caffe's 10 year anniversary is coming up shortly and to celebrate this they called on creatives to submit ideas for their coffee sleeves. Here's my entry dedicated to Vida's roots - I illustrated a city scene with a Portuguese feel to it (Pasteis shop, Portuguese flag), as well as hinted at Vida E icons (soldier is based on Joao Estrela the Vida E mascot, the gramophone hints at the icon used for the Vida E music link where you can purchase signature Vida E music and there is an Obrigado sign, which celebrates Vida E's awesome magazine).

Illustration Friday - Launch

For this week's IF I was inspired by my childhood - when I was young, I was convinced that I could build a fully functioning helicopter out of cardboard boxes! This inspired the story of Bailey, the "flying" squirrel. 


Bailey, ambitious to fly to some exotic land far away, put his mind to it and built a plane out of his favourite chair, ironing boards and fans. Here he is signalling to one of his friends that he's ready for take-off!


Here's some of my process work :)

Here's hoping an exciting adventure finds its way to you! xoxo

Mail from Peru!

So a while back I stumbled upon Ana Menendez Fuentes' blog

(http://todoslosgarabatos.blogspot.com/) and was intrigued by her charming illustrations. It so happened that soon after I started following her blog, she held a competition, in which the lucky winner would receive one of her awesome illustrations. That lucky winner was me! :D

On 8 June I received this awesome mail in the post from her, all the way from Peru!

After opening the envelope, I was surprised to find another envelope 

- a beautifully illustrated one!

Ana's gorgeous illustration :) She also wrote a very sweet note! 

Here's a close-up of Ana's illustration, which is entitled "Duet".

Thanks so much for sending this my way Ana! I absolutely LOVE it!! Receiving your mail really made my day! I can't wait to go get it framed! :D

xoxo

Grafitti - London

Some cool grafitti we spotted while exploring the streets of London :)

Urban Outfitter's window design - nearby Oxford Station

White fox - next to the famous Beatle's zebra crossing on Abbey Road

Black and white photo of random guy on Soho/Mayfair sign - somewhere around Long Acre, Covent Garden

Face - by All Saints shop

Peg on chimney, and Monkey - nearby St James' Tavern, Great Windmill Street

Illustration Friday - Shadows

So this is my first I.F. since coming back from overseas (what an amazing, inspiring trip!) For this illustration I was really inspired by the interesting graffiti we saw on the buildings and streets of Paris (a lot found in very hard to reach places, which made them even more intriguing!). I was also inspired by those monkey's with clanging cymbals - they always seem quite freaky! Coupled with a shadow it should seem even more freakier, but it seems I'm unable to draw unfriendly characters ;) It's still very much a work in progress :) I'll post some pics of the grafitti I saw in Paris when I get a chance :)

Illustration Friday - Journey

I'm so excited!! In 10 days time, for the first time EVER, I will be flying overseas! My sister and I will be visiting London, France, Spain and Italy, with stopovers at Dubai :D So I thought it was only fitting for this week's Illustration Friday to draw some of the icons that are part of our journey! It's still a work in progress though, as I still have to get round to drawing items for Spain and Italy :) I think it will only sink in that I'm going overseas when I board the plane haha!!

Illustration Friday - Toy

So I finally got around to a quick illustration for Illustration Friday again. For this week's topic of 'toy,' I decided to draw a rocking horse - purely because they fascinate me so much! :)

Somewhere, Beyond the Sea

Some pics from a cruise I went on two weekends ago. Moments like these make me realise and fully appreciate how very blessed I am to live in Cape Town!