How do you Start with your Designs?

So – how do I get the ideas and drawings for all these animal designs?

Well first of all I always do research - I love to look at lots of the work of designers and illustrators in books and on the web.  Two of my fave destinations are Print & Pattern and Pikaland

Then I just start to doodle and draw – in sketchbooks, on the bus, on spare paper... and these are quite rough – and I do draw over them.  I tend to draw straight in with pen

As I don’t have a lightbox, I tack paper to the window – works a treat! I trace over – making little changes to develop just the right emphasis or simplicity or style required...Like the elephant above

When the colour and background is applied the design comes to life!

You can see how I changed the badger’s stripes – softened them from black and showed the ears more

I got the ideas for the deer and hares and whippets theme because we have a handsome whippet, Alfie

Initially I went for a ‘tattoo’ type style of drawing but I ended up removing the outlines altogether for the final camouflage designs

Then there were the woodland creatures – I wanted to give them a bit more of a ‘cute’ less sophisticated style, but keep the colours ‘grown-up’.

Even little things like where I put the eyes make all the difference in terms of expression

I do hope you enjoy seeing a little bit of the background to the way I work, do let me know what else you would like to hear and see about how I work and what interests me...
Maybe you’d like to see how I created some of those backgrounds soon?