New blog is GO!

I've started up a new blog over on tumblr to replace this one, please follow the link below and check it out.  There's not a whole lot up at the moment but I aim to be updating more regularly so I hope you'll keep visiting.  Thanks!  http://abihallcreate.tumblr.com/

Buchanan Street.....

....on a cold and frosty Friday morning.

Scandinavian Inspired Mug Design

Another draft design for a new mug....

We Are Family!

Draft sketch for a new mug design....

Little Red Riding Hood

In the very early stages of work on a series of illustrations for a collection of 're-imagined' fairy tales.  Today I've been developing the Red Riding Hood character.  "She had her hand on her knife at the first rustle of twigs....."

Wedding Illustration

I've been working on some sketches for a potential commission to illustrate a wedding, using for reference some lovely photos from Lillian and Leonard (http://lillianandleonard.blogspot.com/).  I'm very excited, this would be such a great project.  More to come over the next few days! 

Around the world

I thought I'd post the next step of the textile design.  There are still some tweaks to be made to the drawing - the Chrysler building is looking a bit odd and I'm not sure about using the continuous base line for example.  I'm looking forward to getting more colour on there too.

Textile Design

Today I've been working on drafts of a new textile design for Pip & Squeak.  More on this tomorrow.

What happened next?

I've been playing around with this idea some more today.  I'm not completely convinced that I've captured the action that I was hoping to but I am enjoying the look of the pencil drawing coloured up in photoshop.

Further development

I've been working on this drawing further, adding some details and playing around with different colours, fills and textures in photoshop.  Not quite there yet.

Character Development

I've been working through some ideas for a personal project today, this is the result.  More to follow soon!

On Safari

A little snippet of the latest iteration of my animal themed textile design for Pip & Squeak....

It's a water buffalo, not a pig.

Just a quick post of some animals that I've been working on today.  I was feeling particularly pleased with my water buffalo until my husband asked me why the pig had horns.  Whatever, he's still my favourite.  The water buffalo that is.

Skillz

Usually when using illustrator I import a hand drawn image and then trace and colour it.  It's become apparent that for the textile and wallpaper design project that I'm working on I'm going to need to be able to actually draw in illustrator, both to achieve the style that the client is looking for and to enable me to get the project finished on deadline.  So, yesterday I could not draw in illustrator,  today I can, and I'm pretty chuffed that I managed to figure it out all by myself so quickly!  

Interior Design

My musicians are destined to remain legless for the foreseeable future as I have been asked to work on some designs for wallpaper and textiles to be used in children's bedrooms.  It's a great project and I need to get busy.  Watch this space!

Musica!

I'm working on a series of designs around musicians.  I think the sketches are coming on nicely, even if nobody has any legs yet!

Lazy hazy days

I have been extremely lazy recently and haven't completed any personal illustration work or updated the blog in ages.  My excuse is that I have been busy with commercial work (and the full time job), which is all true, but I have also been slacking!  Added to that it is what passes for summertime here in Glasgow so the temptation to go out and meet friends and drink cider and generally enjoy the long evenings is great.  But I need to get back on message and back on the blog.  Today's post is a couple of illustrations I've been working on for an American client. 

Getting some 'me' time

It feels like ages since I've posted.  It is ages I suppose, 3 weeks!  How time flies.  I'm up the walls at the moment with work for other people so I'm not getting any time to work on personal projects.  I managed to squeeze in a rough start on my 'D' yesterday and am hoping to have some more time this week to get it finished and to start work on my 'E'.  I think you can probably guess where I'm going with this.....

C is for......

.....clown!  This idea is progressing quite well I think.  The colours still need some work but I'm pretty happy with the composition.  I'm pretty chuffed I actually got it this far today, I didn't think I was going to.  Now I'm going to settle down with the new Mike Leigh movie and try not to think about circusy things that start with D!

Can you guess what it is yet?

Preliminary sketches for the C in my alphabet.

Purple Acrobats

The story so far

I've been working on ideas for a picture book.  I've got a good idea of the bones of the story so am now going through the process of planning the layout.  This is a really useful exercise.  The layout below is the third iteration and there are a number of improvements that I can see I need to make.  Next step character development.

B is for.....

....bear!  I originally posted here that I didn't think adding the B to the bear drawing had really worked.  The more I look at this image though the more I actually do like the B and I think the whole thing works.  For the final piece I need to put a bit more work into the colours and give the bear some claws.

 

A little bit of colour added.....

To my acrobats.  With watercolour. 

Out and About

It was a beautiful day here in Glasgow last Wednesday and I spent a happy lunch hour sitting in George Square making quick pencil sketches of my fellow sunseekers.  I really like the shapes this young lady made, something in her posture reminded me of Paddington Bear.

A is for.....

....acrobats!

Nick Dewar

I have become slightly obsessed with the work of Nick Dewar.  His illustrations are made using acrylics and are inspiring me to pick up a paintbrush this weekend.  You can see more of his work here http://www.nickdewar.com/, and also read his excellent guide to being an illustrator here http://www.nickdewar.com/nick_dewar_illustration_buthow.php.

Molllasas

I'm looking a lot at the work of Margaret Kilgallen at the moment.  I'm particularly inspired by her folk art inspired lettering and her beautiful figurative line drawings.

New pen, fresh inspiration!

My brother was kind enough to purchase me a dip pen (and nibs) and some indian ink for my birthday.  I always thought that pen and ink would be a good medium for my style of illustration but had never done anything about it.  Well, I love it!  I'm not highly skilled with the pen yet but I think my wobbles add more charm to the work (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).  The quality of line and the sense of movement that can be acheived is super. So, I have been inspired to embark on a new series of drawings.  First sketch below.  I dropped  a coloured background on with photoshop just to make it stand out a bit but I think I will start colouring them with gouache.  This is another medium that I have never used but am convinced that it will suit me perfectly!  Watch this space.

On The Train

I haven't posted for a while as I've been away in London so I thought I'd pop up some sketches I did on the train.  I had planned to spend the whole weekend scribbling away in coffee shops and the like but spent the time nattering in pubs and eating in lovely restaurants instead.

Aaaaahhhh, Sunday Morning.

At the Pool

Quick sketch for illustration idea.

HQ

A picture of my studio corner!  Of particular note the very cute red table picked up from the Sally Anne for a tenner.  I love it.

Hello Mum!

Specially for you x

Little People

I finally got my shiny new printer up and running and made some test prints last night.  Looking good!  Unfortunately it doesn't like the card stock that I bought and keeps jamming.  At least I only bought the pack of 10 card blanks and envelopes rather than the pack of 100 that I was going to go for.