Debenhams and Gather.ly illustration

Well hello! It's been such a lovely springy day, fresh, bright and complete with some april showers! I've been working on a slightly secretive project. Organised by the amazing gather.ly I, along with a group of artists were given a line to interpret by Debenhams, and to create a piece from the quote. We were allowed to be so lose with the brief and really do what we wanted with it, i loved that aspect and decided to do a feminine flowery illustration.
Gather.ly works within the creative industries making sure no-one misses out on amazing opportunities to work with great brands, they're a new company but it's obvious they're going to make a big impact in the art world, and for great reason, i'm so glad they approached me and gave me this opportunity, so if you et a chance, check them out.

I'm not a fine artist, I played around a little with concept in college, but it's not something that is the driving force for my work, it sounds little vain to say but visuals are obviously very important for me. Chris Turner, a film-maker from London came to film and interview me about the piece and I explained the techniques and processes I go through to get to the final illustration, Now, I'm absolutely terrified to hear what I've said, i'm not the most eloquent of speakers and i'm not used to interviews/camera in my face, so I'll apologise now for the nonsense i've most likely have spoken. Having said that Chris's work is really great and i'm looking forward to seeing the film he's made about all of the artists. There will be an exhibition in London (Shoreditch) on the 14th May  at The Allpress Espresso  Roastery 58 Redchurch St, Shoreditch, Greater London showing everyone's final pieces, it's going to be relaxed and really informal,  I haven't exhibited a piece in so long, So that's exciting. It's open to everyone, so pop along and check out The Art Of Interpretation 
 

I get distracted easily......

You may know I use a lot of pink, I adore the colour, however I really wanted to get away from it and use some different tones, Black and white adds such class to an image which I really like within this, The model has more of a mature look so I didn't want to undermine it with pinks and pastel colours. The ink splashes were created traditionally, i then scanned them in and edited them in photoshop, along with the illustration. I really hope you like the final piece and seeing around my workspace. 

Want to know who else is exhibiting, well. We have Jean Jullien, Charlotte Posner,  Edward Carvalho Monaghan and Eleanor Rose

Kate Moss for Topshop. Vogue Cover

Hello! An Illustration update, if you're a new follower, you may have only seen some of my outfit updates which I really enjoy doing, but my day job is freelance Illustration. I've currently been working on Illustrating the gorgeous Kate Moss on the cover of Vogue wearing her Topshop collection. I've incorporated a few traditional techniques as real textures can make a big difference. There are also a few watercolour splashes as well as making the "Vogue" from glitter (i'm a bit obsessed) I love how it's not entirely neat and sparkles spill over into the illustration, As you can see it was originally gold, I started by drawing the logo out on an A3 sheet and filling the glitter in the spaces, some of it was super tricky, I refined areas in photoshop and changed around the colours until I was happy with a silvery blue tint to compliment the salmon backdrop.

It's been an absolute joy to draw this, it's really been a learning curve and my skills have definitely improved, I always aim to make my newest piece the best it can be, it doesn't always work that way but taking the time to be patient really has paid off. I've attached some early screen caps and ideas I went through to get to the final image.  I'm glad it's all done now and I can move on to current commissions, I'm hoping this illustration will show the glossy magazines what I can produce for them and hopefully complete some drawings to be featured in the future.

 I hope you like this illustration and let me know your thoughts and if you're also in love with the new collection!

 Nat x 

Clothes I like, and clothes I want to sell/swap

I'm sorry if you hate recycled photos, but i've been looking through ASOS and H&M this weekend and I love the simple garments they've both got going on. I'm looking to get those stunning flared trousers which are for petites.... and wear them with the wrap around black blouse (top left) hopefully it won't look too flowy and drown me. 

I also love the little asos look to the right. Simple dresses are lovely and footwear can really enhance a simple little dress, unfortunately the patent shoes in that photo are sold out but the H&M strappy sandals look like they could do the job well. I've always loved the look of delicate little socks with shoes but it can be hit and miss, but i suppose you learn from your mistakes. 

 I've also been looking at Vinder, it's an online platform to sell or swap your garments. I've reluctantly uploaded a few of my items which i really love, but just don't suit me, anyone else guilty of having things you hate but can't find the courage to get rid of? maybe it's just me.... Have a look at what I have to offer, i'll be uploading more soon. If you have any of the items i've listed above (or similar) then email me and we can talk about a swap?!

Link to my VINDER or EMAIL

Kraft Wedding Matchbooks

Happy Monday! 

 I'm proud to show off my new Matchbooks, I've been doing these for a while now and they're really picked up in popularity, especially for Weddings, They make excellent favours for guests, and they're not too expensive either. They come staples with little envelopes to put a gift in for your friends. A popular choice is flower seeds, such as forget me nots, or poppy seeds. As you can see form the picture one client has gone for the flowers seeds and another has chosen a little mint to go inside. They're both chosen their own wording to make it personal and used one of my designs to make it stand out a bit more. I've just introduced the Kraft range! They're so  lovely and vintage, It's best to stick with darker hues on these as when printed things colours will appear darker due to the colour of the kraft. I really is endless what you can use these for and the wording you can have to change it up, if you have any questions or want something a bit different then you can email me. 

You can purchase them on my website here! 
from £30 for 50 Matchbooks

New Skirts and New Items

It's an exciting day! My new fabric arrived and i've been making my new cushions, glasses cases and pouches. I've also got a lovely new skirt from Zara, it's off white and pleated.  It's a little long, so i'm going to take it up to just above the knee.

I wanted in involve some of the things I make into my posts, and especially the fashion side of things to show how they can be used and styled. My glasses cases have been made with my kitty print on them as a prototype, i'm selling them for £10 on my website here. My phone fits in it too, so i'm popping that in there when I don't need the glasses. 

I'm working so hard to get lots of products together, i'm pleased to see some of them getting stocked in shops and i'm trying to expand my hand made items so I can try and be more self sufficient. Illustration wise I've been making lots of new prints and working with new companies which i'm really excited to talk about! until then, thanks for reading!

Primark top £2.50 Blazer (Given to me) Zara Skirt £39.99 Primark Slingbacks £7

Mom Jeans

Hello all! I must say i'm a little nervous to do my first fashion post! As an illustrator i've put my work out there to be criticised/praised and in a way i can hide behind that, but a fashion post is letting someone really jude your sense of style (obviously) which is a little scary as it's so personal. But I wanted to blog about different things so i'm going to give it all a go!  I've been pinning mom jeans like mad lately, and i've definitely been wanting to give them a go, I love how comfy they are and they're definitely a great piece to style up or dress down. I decided to pair them with some black heels and a basic blazer. The Heels are lovely to wear for half an hour, they they rub terribly, I love to wear stilettos but these are not kind on your feet, If I were going out in this outfit I would definitely grab my pair of kitten heels (below) which I bought for £5 from ebay, They're second hand Very shoes and are super comfy. The one thing I will say about mom jeans it that they can accentuate you in the wrong places, personally I don't think i've got very large hips but they do emphasise them so i've made sure to wear a tight t-shirt and tailored blazer to slim me out a little. I'd love to try styling these jeans in a few different ways to see how versatile they can be! unintentionally 90% of this outfit is Primark, Oooh LA LA

Blazer: second hand free - T-shirt: Primark Basic £2.50 - Mom Jeans: TopShop £40 -
Shoes: Primark £12 - Bag: Primark £12 - Glasses: Primark £2.50

I try to separate Gold and Silver as I don't think they work too well on me together, The only silver I have is the little frame on my sunglasses, but my watch, bag and shoe detailing are all gold.

my new shoes! super comfy, I forgot I bid on these and was very happy to find them on their way to me!
 Well, thanks for reading I hope you enjoyed my first fashion post :)

NEW YORK

So i'm sat here in the middle of the day, jet lagged and slightly dazed, Got home safely and ready to look through all of my photos of my week in new york! I filled up four memory cards so I have so much to write about :D  We landed in the evening and checked out our gorgeous Hotel the Hudson, the decor was just beautiful with ivy streaming off exposed beams, dark wood floors and just an amazing relaxed vibe, exactly what we needed after a 8.5 hour flight. I didn't want to bore everyone with millions of photos so i've only added a few of my favourites.

We could hardly sleep we were so excited to be in New York so we decided to go to the Empire State Building at night, (top photo) it's open til 2am so we knew we had plenty of time! It was really quiet and I was so surprised at how fast you get to the top.

The views are absolutely breathtaking, from every angle you can see beautiful lights bouncing off reflective buildings, sky scrapers dotted with thousands of little flickering lights, you can see planes, stars, the river, it's really hard to actually describe how gorgeous it is. We walked back through Times Square which is a crazy place, it is never dark there, enormous advertisements compete for your attention, flashing slogans, pictures and deals, there is always something going on and something interesting to see. There are so many great little novelties that a non native can appreciate, I loved the smoke coming from the subway and hailing yellow cabs (we had such beginners luck for the first few days) It's all exactly like the movies and so much more.

The next day we really wondered around, I wanted to go to Chelsea market to see all of the vintage clothes and stalls, it's a great market, if you're from Birmingham then it feels similar to the custard factory, but a tad more expensive. The fairy light walkway was really beautiful and really acted as the focal point for the market for me, if you're in the area then you need to check it out, there are lots of hidden gems in there, great food and surprisingly chatty stall holders. The second photo is from the high rise, everything is in the process of rejuvenating so it's a little bare, despite that the views are great and it's a really nice view of the city walking your own pace and out of the way of roads and hoards of people. I dragged my poor boyfriend along to perry street where sex and the city was filmed, carries apartment is actually a large house, it's a beautiful place where the architecture is different and you can tell it's an expensive part of town. It's really close to the tube station and we had breakfast across the street at a lovely cafe. Everyone seemed a lot friendlier this side of town, I also heard there are a lot of good music venues which i'd love to check out next time I go. Later we caught the Boat out to Liberty Island, it's a fast trip which offers breathtaking views of the skyline, I'm so glad we got to see the city from this angle, it's really odd to think we were walking amongst all of the enormous buildings that make us feel so tiny.  I will say you need to wrap up extra warm for this time of year, our cab driver told us "No liquor in New York city will keep you warm in this weather"

Over the next few days we saw the stunning Grand Central Station, NY Public Library, Ground Zero, Watched Lion King on Broadway (it's amaaaaaaaaazing) and so much more, Overall it was an incredible time, I really hope I get to go back again sometime soon, I'd love to experience NY in the summer, so many people told me it's like a different city,
Thanks for reading, All photo's are take by me, (if they're of me then they're taken by my lovely boyfriend)