Animal Love Day – Unicorn!
On 01, Jun 2013 | 2 Comments | In Animal Love Day, animals, designer, fairytale, illustration, inspiration, my work | By Tina
Hi everyone. Apologies that there was no Animal Love Day last week. I was swamped with work for my upcoming shop. Anyway welcome back to another fabulous Animal Love Day, showcasing lovely animal pattern and illustration.
As you know I will firstly show you a new illustration/sketch/pattern from me and then a lovely showcase of fabulous designers.
The animals covered will include birds, fish, insects, extinct creatures and mythical creatures, and this week marks the first mythical creature – The Unicorn!
DREAM
I actually had a dream about a Unicorn last week! I dreamt a friend visited me and we went outside to my back garden. Of course, in dreams things aren’t as they seem, and my back garden was different. There was a low wall and behind that was a woodland.
Well what happened only a Unicorn jumped over the wall just as I was about to look over it! Apparently it was my pet, because I told my friend just that!
The Unicorn wasn’t tall, like you see in films, but a tiny creature, smaller than a shetland pony. It was chestnut brown and scuttled about my garden, so I couldn’t catch up with it!
So I would like to say a magical welcome to this beautiful, mystical creature – The Unicorn!
MY DESIGN
I associate unicorns with rainbows and clouds probably because they’re mythical creatures. I am also influenced by My Little Pony from my youth. Read more…
National Vegetarian Week – The Silkworm
On 23, May 2013 | No Comments | In animals, textiles | By Tina
Hi everyone. This week is National Vegetarian Week (20 – 26 May) and I’d like to highlight the plight of the humble silkworm.
Silk is such a beautiful, natural material but did you know that it is made with much cruelty?
Silkworm image Shutterstock
Silk comes from the mulberry silkworm (bombyx mori caterpillar). These creatures are reared in captivity and cannot exist in the wild because they are so dependent on humans. Read more…
My Entries for the Hallmark New Baby Contest
On 21, May 2013 | No Comments | In animals, competition, Hallmark, inspiration, my work | By Tina
Hi everyone. I would like to share with you my entries for the Hallmark New Baby Competition. I love children’s design and it is one area that I would love to design for. So the brief really appealed to me.
So here are my entries:
Hallmark New Baby Competition – Sweet Baby Giraffes
You may recognise these from the Animal Love Day dedicated to Giraffes? Well I had designed this initially for the Hallmark competition. I just changed the wording to say New Baby. It’s a placement print and a pattern.
I wanted to design a cute patchwork quilt design for a new baby! Read more…
Animal Love Day – Butterfly
On 15, May 2013 | 4 Comments | In Animal Love Day, animals, designer, illustration, inspiration, my work | By Tina
Hi everyone. Welcome to the 5th Animal Love Day. (Wow the weeks are flying!) As you probably know by now it’s a weekly feature where I showcase some lovely animal pattern and illustration.
I pick a different animal each week and firstly do my own illustration and then I showcase some fantastic animal patterns and illustrations by other designers
The animals covered will include birds, fish, insects, extinct creatures and mythical creatures.
Today’s guest star is such a pretty little thing. An inspiration for centuries, there are 175,000 species (including moths) and the only continent they can’t be found is in Antarctica.
So I would like to welcome the beautiful butterfly!
MY DESIGN
Copyright Dreaming on a Star by Tina Devins
I created this design for Dawn Clarkson’s Butterfly Showcase for World Lupus Day on May 10th. You can see a sneak preview of the other designs further down this post.
Comparing Yourself to Others
On 14, May 2013 | 12 Comments | In career, inspiration, lilla rogers, my work, typography | By Tina
Hi everyone. I’ve been comparing myself to other designers lately. Not even my work, but at the reaction their work is getting from others. I’ve been questioning whether I have what it takes to make it as a commercial designer.
This is a recurring theme with creative people. The dichotomy is we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to others, but we need to in order to know what is marketable. If our stuff isn’t marketable, we won’t be able to pay the bills.
So I’ve been feeling a bit lost. I believe in my work but if others don’t, then I can’t really make a career out of it?
I’m not going to give up – I’m too stubborn for that. =) But lately I’ve found some inspiration that has let me see things in a different way.
Lilla Rogers, probably the most famous art agent in the world replied to someone on Facebook about exactly the same dilemma. She said, ‘It’s not a competition.’
Copyright Dreaming on a Star by Tina Devins
Designer Showcase – Gill Eggleston of Pattern Addict
On 10, May 2013 | 5 Comments | In animals, designer, illustration, inspiration | By Tina
Hi everyone. Today I would like to introduce Gill Eggleston, the talented designer behind Pattern Addict.
Gill is an illustrator and surface pattern designer originally from Bolton. She studied Textile Design and Design Management at UMIST and lived in Manchester, UK for 20 years after university. This led to a fairly respectable career in industry until she moved to France in 2008.
Living in France brought about a change in direction and led her into working on a freelance basis. Read more…
Animal Love Day – Giraffe!
On 08, May 2013 | 4 Comments | In Animal Love Day, animals, design, designer, illustration, inspiration, my work | By Tina
Hi everyone. Welcome to another Animal Love Day in this weekly feature of lovely animal patterns and illustrations. Today is a long post because our special guest is very tall!
I hope you look forward to these posts each week.
The animals covered will include birds, fish, insects, extinct creatures and mythical creatures.
First I will show you a new pattern I’ve been working on and then a designer showcase of beautiful patterns and illustrations.
So a big, tall welcome to our guest this week – the giraffe! Such a beautiful, elegant creature – have you ever seen a giraffe in real life? They walk with the grace and poise of a catwalk model – amazing to watch!
MY DESIGN
Sweet Baby Giraffes by Dreaming on a Star
I made a patchwork design with baby giraffes in sweet colours. Read more…
Dreaming on a Star’s New Logo!
On 04, May 2013 | 6 Comments | In colour, design, inspiration, my work, pantone | By Tina
Hi everyone. I thought it was time to update Dreaming on a Star‘s logo. I wanted to inject some life into my old logo and my inspiration was ice cream! I imagined a palette of raspberry, banana and mint ice cream!
Animal Love Day – Monkey!
On 01, May 2013 | 2 Comments | In Animal Love Day, animals, designer, illustration, inspiration, my work | By Tina
Hi everyone. Welcome to the third Animal Love Day! I hope you’re enjoying all the wonderful animal illustration and pattern.
As usual I will showcase one of my own designs first and then a designer showcase.
The animals covered will include birds, fish, insects, extinct creatures and mythical creatures.
So this week, we have a mischievous guest – that playful little creature that swings through the jungles!
MY DESIGN
Magic Monkey by Tina Devins
I liked the idea of repetitive shapes and wanted to do a purely geometric design. Everything is designed around circles and ovals. I am also a massive Kawaii fan and love their cute, simple designs and bright, happy colours. Read more…
Animal Love Day – Dinosaur!
On 24, Apr 2013 | 4 Comments | In Animal Love Day, animals, design, designer, illustration, inspiration, my work | By Tina
Hi everyone. Welcome to another Animal Love Day – where I celebrate the fabulous world of animal illustration and pattern! This feature combines two loves of mine – animals and cute design.
The showcase comes in two parts. First I will show you my own animal design (a brand new illustration/pattern/sketch or an old one). Then I will host a designer showcase.
The animals covered will include birds, fish, insects, extinct creatures and mythical creatures.
This week it’s all about those fantastic beasts that roamed the earth millions of years ago!
MY DESIGN
Copyright Tina Devins
I liked the idea of dinosaurs playing football. I was given a brief recently for a young boy interested in football and decided to do the coolest of animals – dinosaurs! I hope you like it.
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