Monday 27 May 2013

Off on an adventure!

Just a teeny tiny post to let you know I am off on an adventure this week and won't be blogging, sad I know!  I'm off to the Lake District to climb mountains and go kayaking, wish me luck, it is my first time in a kayak...
I'll be back next week with more inspiration, some of my new sketches, possibly a photo of me falling into the lake out of my kayak, a super new short course that is happening in June and much more.  For now I leave you with some pretty Forget-Me-Nots I snapped last weekend, so don't forget me!


Wednesday 22 May 2013

Want to learn another skill? How about designing patterns!


Today I am going to be telling you about a wonderful opportunity you could take part in.  My good friend Majo Bautista V, a fellow designer, and a very talented one at that, is running a fantastic course via Skillshare.  Now Majo never does anything half heartedly so I know for a fact this course will be jampacked with information, tips and tricks and will have you creating beautiful patterns before you know it.  Oh and it is only $30 (£20) but if you sign up via this link you get $10 off!, so for a mere $20 (£13.25).

I always believe you should pick up as many different skills as you can in life, so if you fancy learning an new little skill then why not try this.  I present to you, Reign Repeats – Create perfect repeat patterns in Adobe Illustrator.


Now before you shoot this opportunity down by saying you don’t have Adobe Illustrator, fear not!  Adobe do free trials of their software over on their website here, these trials are for 30 days so make sure you get it just before the course if you decide to do it.  Just find Adobe Illustrator in the list and click 'Try' to download the software.

Anyway where was I, new skills!  With this course you could make your own patterns for anything from fabrics to make crafts or curtains, to getting your own tea towels, your own stationary or even your own wallpaper printed.  The end uses for patterns are literally endless! 

Pattern designing is perfect for those who think they can’t draw at all aswell as those who are fantastic at drawing.  You do not need to be an artist to be good at this, everyone finds their own style when they start pattern designing and I can speak from my own experience that when you complete a pattern you truly love it is such a wonderful feeling.

Here is a little sneak peek of what is included and what you will learn in this course:

  • Basic Illustrator tools which will bring your ideas to life
  • How to create technical repeating patterns
  • How to use the new Pattern Tool in Illustrator CS6
  • How to take your hand drawn sketches and vectorise them
  • How to apply colour and easily recolour your designs
  • The numerous types of repeating patterns and how to make them
  • How to solve common problems that may arise when using Illustrator
  • How to prepare your files to sell your designs via Spoonflower
  • Inspirational interviews from great designers


Majo has really gone above and beyond with this course, she will even be showcasing some of the best designs via her blog and Facebook page at the end of the course.  This will be a fantastic opportunity to get your designs out there and have them seen by the general public and other designers.  There will then be a vote for the top 3 designs who will receive some fantastic prizes that have been donated by Spoonflower!

So what are you waiting for!  Sign up here to find out how to make gorgeous patterns :)



Monday 20 May 2013

New picture envelope swap

My lovely illustrated envelope has made it to America to the lovely Alik Arzoumanian.  I love sending pretty envelopes and it is always nice to see the post office ladies faces when they see the colourful designs they need to ship off to different countries.  I'd love to swap more patterened snail mail, if anyone is interested please email me! Emma.Hawman@hotmail.co.uk =)



I used a white crayon to draw the outlines of the butterflies then used watercolours over the top so the white stood out bright against the blue background.  The details were drawn in with fineliners and coloured markers.  I loved the motifs so much I've drawn them out fully ready to put them into a pattern or placement print for greetings cards and other products.



Sunday 19 May 2013

Beautifully illustrated cards by The Art Rooms!

I found a couple of these cards by The Art Rooms in my local shop and when I had a look at the website there were lots more! I absolutely love the illustrations and colour palettes used to had to share with you.










Monday 13 May 2013

Beautiful cards in the market

Some market research to see what beautiful greetings cards that are being sold in the shops!















Here are a couple of extras that caught my eye too!






Wednesday 8 May 2013

A mini side money making adventure

I was recently introduced to the wonderful world of scrapbooking papers and how you can sell them digitally via Etsy.  What a wonderful idea! So I have set to making some pretty patterned papers that I can put on sale and see how it goes.  Today I had my second Etsy sale so wanted to share it with you! =) have a look at them here.

There is much more to selling digital files than just pretty patterned papers, you can also design clip art images too, which seem fairly popular judging by how well some of the sellers are doing.

For my first pack I used a simple motif I had drawn and arranged them into varying patterns with a couple of colourways and a few polka dot patterns to add some coordinating patterns that weren't as busy.  I'm so please with this first pack and envision many more to come.  Here are some of the papers from this pack, I also made up some polka dot packs with plenty of different colours that are perfect for printing off do decorate, scrapbook, use for school projects and many other crafty goodness!

Pretty illustrations based on Cornflowers






The simple but effective Candy and Vibrant coloured Polka Dots!