Buzz Buzz

Hello dearhearts, back again. It seems like I might be able to churn out a post every fortnight, so for now i'll try and stick to that. As per usual not much has happened over the past few weeks, I really don't do much or go anywhere anymore.

So instead it's another post debuting my latest illustration. And yes you guessed it, it's another Candy Doll, so without any further ado, here she is...

Oh honey honey! She sure was fun to work on, i've spent the past few evenings (and some of the days) finalising the colours and I think i'm about as content with it all as i'll ever be. I'm also fairly sure that her hair turned out this way because it's how i secretly want my hair to look! Pink fading into Blue = BEST!

And only one tattoo! Initially the plan was to cover her arms in inked sleeves but by the time all the colours and patterns were down it was looking a bit busy so I thought this girl didn't need the tattoos creeping up and down her wrists, so she just has the one, a quote by Victor Hugo - "Life is the flower for which love is the honey.”

She's also a lot brighter than most of the recent girls, the first colour draft had her in pastel rainbow shades with frosted pink lipstick. But once I altered the hair colour I knew she was going to have to be decked out in bolder hues than candy pastels.

recently people have asked me why my Candy Doll girls always have the same or really similar expression on their faces and the answer is kind of simple, A) artist laziness, it's easier to duplicate the same face over and over again than to keep coming up with new ones, B) it keeps them looking similar and part of a series, which is the whole point really.

The idea is that they're this bunch of anonymous girls, different but with similar intimidating stares regardless of their hair, skin or outfit colours. They stare out at whoever is looking at them, so sometimes the easiest way to get that across is to keep the face the same (or barely different) for each girl. 

It's also because my method of working has changed a lot since I first started drawing the Candy Dolls (in 2012) back then I would draw the entire lineart on paper then scan it in and alter it in Photoshop and Illustrator, now I still start with a pencil sketch but it's usually just spaced out bits and pieces on a sheet of A4 and I often don't know what i'll use it for until I actually start working on it. At which point i'll add in all the necessary elements until I have a finished piece.

For example, (sorry if you're not interested because I'm going to explain it anyway!) the latest illustration was almost entirely drawn in photoshop using the trackpad on my macbook, the only part I drew on paper was the hands and wrists, the scan of which sat on my desktop for over a month before I randomly starting adding to it last Friday evening.

Here is the image I spotted on pinterest that originally inspired the piece + the lineart I drew and scanned in next to it on the left.

So as you can see I didn't really have much to work with to begin with, I just knew that I wanted to draw a girl holding up a frame, peering through the gap. So when I finally started adding in a body shape, a face and a cascade of hair, I didn't know what the theme would be. It wasn't until I drew in stripes for the skirt (to make a rainbow) that I thought about bumblebees. Ironic for someone who has a massive fear of bees and wasps and doesn't like the taste of honey!

Regardless, I added in some flowers to mask the frame and it seemed to work so I tried out the honeycomb pattern and this is how she ended up. I also spend an inordinate amount of my time in the early hours of the morning reading stuff on Buzzfeed so who knows, maybe it subliminally left the word 'buzz' flying around my mind.

As you can see the end lineart is dramatically different to the original sketch/scan. I like seeing what i can accomplish on a computer though, it makes me feel slightly less troubled by my crappy real-life drawing skills! I mean i'm still drawing the illustration, just not with an actual physical pen or pencil.

But that's just how I work now, i've always been a clumsy drawer and I find it easier to get a neater line on my macbook than on paper with pencil and pen. I've tried using drawing tablets but I can't get as good an effect with those as I can with my trackpad. It's probably just my stubbornness to change, hopefully one day i'll find it easier to draw looser and messier, i'd love to have a go at a comic but it would take me even longer in my usual drawing style.

Anyway she's now available in my Society6 shop on tees and bags and cases and stuff + there's currently Free Worldwide Shipping on all the cool stuff in my Society6 shop for the rest of the day!

So what else has been happening, well like I said at the start, not much. Oh but I was nominated for the Ice Bucket Challenge by Mama Boylan, which I dutifully did, here's proof of my drenching! i can confirm that there was half a bag of ice in the water which came from the garden hose, brrrrr!

I also took the opportunity to donate to ALS and the MND Association (for the UK). I know it's a gimmicky thing to do the challenge but it's for a really good cause that's increasing awareness of the disease and it's amazing how much money has been raised so far to help with research and people living with the disease.

the only other thing of any note was that I got 8 new books last week, and new books are always cause for excitement in my world! I've already read 4 of them so I should probably save the other 4 for my trip to Coventry this week. I can't wait to see my family over there. It will be nice to get away for a bit, if only for a few days.

Here's a snap of the bookstack on my desk.

Speaking of my desk, it's getting a bit out of hand! I keep rearranging it but the 'things' are beginning to stack up into dizzying towers of clutter, I think i'll have to invest in a new (and much bigger) desk soon!

Although I still managed to find room for this little fella, Norman the novelty Cactus, such a dapper chap!Seriously i cannot begin to convey how excited i was when i spotted this freaking cactus while shopping in town. It's a cactus wearing sunglasses. it has a moustache and a party parasol. it is BRILLIANT!

Ok well y'all can probably expect a post during my stay in Coventry or one once I get back to the island, either way I will hopefully find something to post about over the next couple of weeks. I'll no doubt be posting a heap of pictures to my Instagram feed while i'm away, it's probably where I post stuff the most, so if you want to keep up with me on my trip then I suggest you go click 'Follow'.


Alrighty then, time for me to shut up.

So until next time, thanks for stopping by!

Paper People

Hello chums! Back again. As per usual I can't think of anything terribly clever or witty to start off today's post with, so i'm just going prattle on for a few lines then crack on with posting some photos instead.

So I haven't done much art lately. That sounds like the best way to sum up my total lack of creativity since the tail end of last year. I barely draw, I barely edit stuff on my macbook, other than the occasional bit of graphic design, I don't really do anything remotely creative.

But over the past few weeks i've been trying to shuffle-clamber out of my creativity-less malaise so i've been working on something new. It's been a bit of an agonisingly slow process but bit by minsucle bit the designs have begun to grow and develop into something actually printable.

So I thought, why don't I actually get some printed?!

And well, I did, and this is the result.

So without any further ado please allow me to introduce you to my newest creations, Aalish and Illiam...

In case you haven't figured it out yet, Aalish and Illiam are 'paper dolls' or to be more neutral 'paper people' (since Illiam has nothing against playing with dolls, he just isn't sure that he wants to be one. Aalish doesn't really mind either way, as long as there's chocolate cake available afterwards. There is cake isn't there?).

Those of you that have kept up with my work for a while might remember the Pinup Paper Doll I designed 2 years ago for local craft heaven and haberdashery treasure trove Sweet Ginger Emporium.

Well in many ways Aalish and Illiam are a small continuation of where 'Sweet Ginger' left off (who knows, maybe they're her children?!) and unsurprisingly they've been designed and created with the Sweet Ginger shop in mind.

They're a nice size for little hands, each 'doll' (sorry Illiam!) comes printed on a neat A4 sheet with a teeny tiny little matching button badge with their face on!

And they already have lots of nice clothes to choose from + some fun dressing up costumes! At the moment there are 2 sheets available for each doll (but I have so many more outfit sheets planned and in development!)

First up there's a Dressing Up sheet for Aalish + a Fancy Dress sheet for Illiam

And also a more casual Summer sheet for Aalish and a general Everyday sheet for Illiam, with LOTS of nice outfits to pick from each sheet.

I've wanted to design a paper doll aimed at both girls and boys, and although all of Aalish's clothes might be a tad too girly for Illiam (he doesn't much like it when I make him try on a dress, but Aalish thinks it's hilarious) ALL of Illiam's clothes will fit Aalish perfectly, they're completely swappable, so that she can have a go at being an astronaut or a dinosaur as well, should she want to (which she definitely does) but sometimes Aalish just borrows some of Illiam's normal clothes.

That's why there's a Pirate costume on each dress-up sheet. Most of Aalish's costumes are on the girly side, (because who wouldn't want to dress up as a mermaid or a princess?!) but that certainly doesn't mean that she doesn't like to dress up as a swashbuckling Pirate captain and run around with a sword every once in a while. Or all the time. Sometimes they both dress up as Pirates and go off in search of buried treasure! But so far all they've succeeded in doing is making a mess of my desk...

Sometimes when Illiam puts on the Dino costume, he pretends he's a fire-breathing dragon instead, but Aalish doesn't mind, she just acts like a fearsome Princess ready to defend her kingdom from any and all perils!

Other times they just put on their Superhero costumes and fly off to save the world, you know, just a typical day really. But they're always home in time for tea, especially if there are fizzy sweets for pudding (those are Illiam's favourites!)

 Ahem. You can probably tell that I had a LOT of fun designing the clothes and costumes! Aalish's were kind of a doddle but Illiam's were particularly challenging since I never ever really seem to draw anything for boys, so coming up with nifty little outfits for him was tonnes of fun.

Probably one of the most fun parts of the entire process was coming up with all the colours and fiddly little details for each outfit, like the pirate medallion on Illiam's costume + the treasure map. I got a bit carried away sometimes but it was worth it when I opened the box of prints and saw how fun they looked!

Although they're maybe a bit fiddly for very little hands to snip out (looks like mummy and daddy are the lucky ones to get to wield the scissors) once they've been freed from their paper confines, Aalish and Illiam are a perfect treat for little kids and big kids alike. (I for one am most definitely a big kid and i've had heaps of fun dressing them up on my desk!)

And at the end of the day they can peg up their lovely clothes and pick something new to wear on their next big adventure! 

So there you have it, Aalish and Illiam, two brilliant little people, i've no doubt that you'll be seeing an awful lot of them in the future (keep an eye out around Halloween and Christmas in particular!) since they're definitely the coolest kids around!

Hopefully the Doll and Clothing sheets will soon be available from Sweet Ginger in Ramsey here in the Isle of Man. I don't have any immediate plans to try and sell the sheets via my Etsy shop (although it's full of lots of other nice things you CAN buy) but if anyone was particularly interested in getting their hands on a set I could probably be persuaded.

And on that note i'll draw this post to a close. I'll no doubt be back at some point next week to tell you about the other little creative things i've been working on (spoiler alert: I may or may not have attempted a small painting) and whatever else, if anything, happens between now and then.


So it's goodbye from me, and goodbye from Aalish and Illiam!

Until next time, cheerio folks!

Brilliant or Crafty?

Hello there dearhearts, it's taken me a bit longer to wrangle a post together this time but here I am, better later than never right?! It's been a bit of a funny old week, a few ups and downs, good times and bad.

Anyway enough nonsensical allusions to the current state of my life, let's go ahead and crack on with the post shall we!

Once again my online shopping addiction has struck with, I have to admit, frankly astounding force this week actually! I seem to have been ordering piles of things lately: stacks of printed things (more about those soon hopefully) lots of nice new books to read + various other bits and bobs.

Including these rather wonderful little brooches...

I know what you're thinking, Jade you don't need them, and it's (probably) true, but look at how lovely they are! How could I not get them! I simply had to have them.

They're from an absolutely marvellously talented duo known collectively as 'Vivid Please', also known as Vicky and David. Based in Edinburgh, the super duper pair produce all manner of lovely things, lots of pretty cards, pocket mirrors, phone cases, tote bags, notebooks, prints, brooches and various bunches of other nice things that you definitely need in your life!

Everything in their online shop is cute and sweet, things that will make you smile, really ideal as gifts for friends and family, fresh designs infused with twinkles of light humour and fun.

I've followed Vivid Please on Pinterest for quite a while now and I always enjoy seeing the colourful and quirky stuff they post.

 I actually ordered one of their adorable Pug pocket mirrors for my niece last Christmas (she's Pug mad!) and was delighted by the quality and design of it, plus my niece definitely liked it. So I think maybe i've been hankering for a little something for myself from their treasure trove of tantalising treats.

So when I found out they were having a little Summer Sale, selling some of their brooch designs with almost 50% off, I couldn't resist treating myself! Not that I really tried to resist come to think of it, not that I ever seem to. Oh well.

Anyway, they arrived a few days later and were wrapped so nicely that I almost didn't want to spoil the tissue paper! Almost...

Beneath the cute stickers, paper and washi tape, the brooches were nestled in pretty little matchboxes, kept snug and safe for their trip from Scotland to the Isle of Man.

The brooches themselves are absolutely lovely, really sturdy quality with neat little brooch backs glued firmly in place, a nice handpainted finish and just the right size for pinning comfortably to a shirt or jacket.

I'm really impressed with the brooches. I Haven't had chance to wear them yet so for the time being they're perched on my desk with the solar flower + Arale

They're super lovely, in fact only problem was deciding on which one to pick when I ordered them! I mean i'm definitely crafty but i'm not sure if I'm at all brilliant?
So eventually after much umming and ahing I decided, why not be both!

Craftily Brilliant or Brilliantly Crafty?! You decide...


To order your own sweet treat from Vivid Please, or to see more snaps of the lovely stuff they create, click one of the links below!

Etsy Shop  -  NOTH Shop

Blog  -  Twitter  -  Facebook  -  Pinterest  -  Instagram

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In other news, I found my tin of Posca markers the other night so i've been considering having a go at some new little painting type things.

This Zombie Pinup piece is about 2 years old now so I touched her up with the Posca pens (that sounds wrong but you know what I mean. I hope) and thought it could be nice to do some other designs, maybe my Matryoshka or one of the Candy Dolls. I'm not really sure yet.

I think i've been a bit inspired by my other recent purchase. I know, I know, I have a problem. But look at how PRETTY it is!!!

I've been a big fan of Moschino for years, particularly their colourfully funky diffusion line Love Moschino, every year when i visit Brown Thomas in Cork and Dublin I drool over the pretty patterned bags decorated with cute illustrations, so I kind of sort of maybe couldn't resist a little spending splurge when I spotted this beauty in the Harrod's Summer Sale.

ugh there is something definitely wrong with me but it's SO PRETTY!

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Okay i'll shut up now, and hopefully won't order too many frivolous items online between now and the next time I post a blog. I mean i'm not making any promises, but you know, I can at least fool myself into thinking that I might just be able to summon up some semblance of self control one day soon.

I mean I could try to fill the post a bit more you know, sit here and start rambling on about some of the books i've read lately (the current count for 2014 stands at 48 books) but we could be here some time so it's probably best if I just draw this post to a close.


So until next time, cheerio folks!

Gingerbread Cottage ★

so i may have mentioned it already but i'm not feeling particularly festive and christmassy this year! no advent calendar, no decorations, no festive spirit whatsoever!

well to try and drag myself out of this bout of doom and gloom i had a little go at decorating a Gingerbread House (well mine is more of a cottage but it's supposed to be a house i guess!) using a nifty little kit from Ikea

the 'PEPPARKAKA HUS' kit contained a flat pack set of gingerbread panels ready to be assembled into a little house!

it was actually LOADS of fun to build and decorate! even if my decorating skills aren't exactly the neatest...

i bought in a bunch of sweets + tubes of icing to use and i'm not going to lie, i had a lot of fun icing it all and sticking on the sweeties!

next year i might just have a go at baking one from scratch myself but for now... this will have to do!

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in other news, the very uber cool Tim Easley (illustrator, graphic designer and sneaker aficionado) sent me one of his groovy little Rudolph Xmas cards 

as well as a very awesome Zombie Moustache sticker

truly coolio stuff for sure! big thanks to Tim!!! to get your hands on your very own Rudolph Card head on over HERE (+ they're on SALE at the moment!) or for a 'too cool for school' Zombie Moustache sticker, head over HERE

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in other OTHER news, last night i finally switched my Facebook over to the new Timeline, although this isn't the most exciting news in the world, i did have fun fitting together a little 'website matching' cover image for my profile page!

do you like it? or loathe it... 

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not much else to tell for now, i spent today zooming around Douglas and Onchan delivering Xmas presents to various cousins and family members! but hopefully i'll have some more stuff to share with you all tomorrow night or Xmas eve!

son until next time, that's all folks... ◕‿◕ ★ xX