Semi Final of GTS - I need your vote !

So, I was really thrilled that my piece 'Forever summer' got me through to the semifinal of Lilla Roger's Global Talent Search. Now there are just 50 artists in this next round, and there will be just 6 going through to the next. Nerve-wracking stuff ! The judges will choose 5 finalists and one place will go to the 'people's choice' , which is determined by a public vote on the online gallery. So... I am asking that if you like my piece, then please please vote for me! I would be so thrilled to make it through to the next round. Here is a link to the gallery:

This is my piece:

The brief was to create a t-shirt with an animal character for a young child. I swung back and forth for a few days between dogs, elephants, birds etc, before deciding on the rabbit. My thinking behind it is the idea that magic is everywhere - hence the butterflies and flora bursting out of the hat along with the rabbit. And the stars add a bit of magic too.

I literally drew and redrew the rabbit about 50 times. I wanted to get that expression just right: friendly, sweet, not sickly-sweet, slightly old fashioned and engaging. I hope I succeeded ! The ears make him look almost hare-like but I really do like them like that . I also swung back and forth on the colour palette, literally driving myself crazy. But I got there eventually !

Here is a closeup of the rabbit in the hat and some sketches:

I have bought a lot of children's clothes over the last few years, as I have a 7 year old daughter and 5 year old boy. So what I tried to create was something I would buy. I love Boden and Joules and it would be such a dream to produce a design that might one day end up on one of their pieces ! I created some patterns for the sleeves, and also a nice satchel. There is also a  rectangle of stickers or badges that could be used to decorate accessories. All in all I had a great time making this piece. As to what happens next it is out of my hands. I am so happy to have made it this far and it all depends what the judges are looking for. The best of luck to everyone taking part !

Forever summer

This is my entry for the Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search, a competition run by a great agency. Over the past year I have taken several courses run by Lilla Rogers and I have learned so much about developing my work and how to make it sell. I have some great projects in the works now.

The brief for this competiton was very interesting - mini terrariums for the wall art market. There are so many different types of terrarium - with plants, succulents, flowers and even little models of people and houses. So there was a lot of room for interpretation,  it should make for a very varied gallery. The top 50 will go through to the next round. So I have my fingers crossed !  I sketched a lot of ideas to get to my final piece. The idea of 'Forever summer' is that the terrarium can be a little piece of summer even if it is cold and wintry outside. So I had a lot of fun with summer and winter foliage and contrasting colour palettes. The lettering was inspired by vintage seed packets. I have a whole pinterest board full of them !

So - wishing everyone who entered the best of luck. Can't wait to see all the entries !

Flying things and summer projects

The last couple of weeks have been really busy completing my entry for the 2014 Global Talent Search, run by Lilla Rogers. I can't post my final submission here until all the entries are in but here is a little sketch of some of the elements which either did not make it or are too small to see ! However hard I try not to sometimes, I always end up including so much detail - but in the end I was really happy with my piece. Keep your fingers crossed for me ! The gallery will go live next week and I will post the link and my piece then. But for now here is the little sketch - hope we get some more summer weather soon !