Creative Cafe #31

hello lovely readers! you'll be utterly delighted to know that it's time for yet another wonderful Creative Café post...

so stop what you're doing (i.e. reading this) and scamper off to grab a drink + a yummy snack then run back and settle down to feast your eyes on some pretty pictures.

in case you haven't the slightest clue what i'm wittering on on about, it's a Creative Café post tradition that is referred to only as 'the drill'. in fact, it's all explained much better here - The Drill

 so without any further ado (or more useless rambling from me), let's get on with the post!

today it's all about very fabulous British illustrator, artist, graphic designer and doodler extraordinaire, Stina Jones

 Stina is a creative based in the West Midlands (though she's originally from Lancashire) who works freelance for organizations and companies all over the place, as well as several local businesses in Birmingham. i first discovered Stina's work via Twitter. i immediately adored her funky style of drawing, i knew i'd have to share it on here with you all

i love her the way she draws, Stina creates lots of fun little characters and scenes both digitally and traditionally. her work is always cute and quirky + often filled with sweet colours and clever little details that make you smile

i'm a sucker for any illustrators that use bold lines in their work so it'll come as no surprise that i'm a big fan of Stina's designs! her linework is gorgeous, making sure that her pictures really pop with or without colour.

Stina also runs a very groovy West Midlands based design agency called Creative Elements, where she works with a few other freelance designers and creatives. all really super duper stuff!

right i'll shut up now and let you have a nice scroll through some more of Stina's sublime artwork and illustration, enjoy...

gorgeous stuff right?! of course it is, i told you it would be :D

right, tis time for some lovely links...

to see more of Stina's work + to find out more about her or to commission her you can visit her website here - Stina Jones

she also has some prints and doodles for sale online - Shop

you can also see many of her projects on her Behance Portfolio - Stina Jones Behance

if you're a tweeter you can keep up to date with her via Twitter - @Stina_Jones

or you could even 'Like' her work via Facebook - Stina Jones Design

All images featured in this post belong to Stina Jones © do not claim, use, distribute, reproduce or copy ANY of her work without her express written consent. All Rights Reserved.


i just want to say THANKS again to Stina for letting me run the feature :) x

* * *

so there you go! a new Creative Café post at long last! i hope you enjoyed it (i bet you did!!!)

right well i have to dash off now because my little cousin Sienna has come to stay and we have A LOT of colouring in to do + A LOT of Hello Kitty stickers to stick to stuff!

so until next time, that's all folks... xX

ESC pocket zine

a couple of months ago, through Twitter and Facebook and the like, i started networking with a really groovy independent zine based in Dublin called ESC

anyway, earlier last month i was chatting with one of their super members online when they mentioned that they were looking for submissions for a new project they were working on for the 'Independents Day' independent zine fair in Dublin.

regular readers of the blog will be well aware of my total love and adoration of Ireland + all things Irish (seriously if you don't believe me click on my 'Ireland' tag and see for yourself!) so i was more than happy to get involved.

they wanted drawings and poems, that sort of thing, to put into a set of mini 'pocket zines' folded in a particular way to create little mini works of art.

well, i didn't think i'd have enough time to submit anything but then i ended up not being able to sleep for a few days so i had a go in the very small hours of a day and voila... i came up with a very messy, literally scribbled mini zine at around 3am in the morning.

i'm always quite contrary so instead of submitting some stuff to go in a zine, i just made my own and scanned it in to be printed out instead. here's one i printed out for my logbook but i thought i'd snap some pics of it before it gets hidden away. 

enjoy...

there were three 'themes' to pick from 'maps and legends, how soon is now + transfiguration'. they're all song titles, so i went for 'Maps and Legends' purely because it sounded the most fun...

when you open the zine you see this delightful doodle, then when you open it again...

 it's a map! well, sort of...

i used some more lyrics from the R.E.M. 'maps and legends' song as well, just because... you know

accurate representation of where i live + Ireland.

warning: sea monsters may appear larger in real life.

anyway when you open it again you get the final page(s)

a big ol' mash up of mythical creatures and a few books because, well i just love books so...

 here we have a scowling fairy, a goblin giving a thumbs up + a messy little Irish dancer and a happy Leprechaun.

the Dr Suess quote was needed. i know it doesn't make any sense or fit in with the theme but it's MY mini zine so i'll put what i want in it. oh AND 'your argument is invalid' i got my best scientists to prove it. and they did.

oh yeah there's also a sort of Ogre/Giant type guy, a pixie and a unicorn in there as well.

and the self explanatory back cover of the zine.

did you like it? it's a bit different to what i usually do i know but my tutors are always banging on at me about stepping away from the norm so this is the best i can do to that effect what with being a mental perfectionist and all that.

to see more of the pocket zines + to find out more about ESC you can head over to their site here - ESC zine

that's it for now, keep looking out for the rest of the 'May Draw A Day' posts as the month goes on, that's all folks... xX

Owls and Stuff ★

so this afternoon i got home after a quick trip to 'Sweet Ginger' (to say hi to my 2 fave shop owners Julie and Ciara) i got home to find a little parcel waiting for me in the garden shed!

but. . . this was no ordinary parcel!

last week my friend Kyren from college suggested a sort of 'art swap' type thing

we were talking about 'Kidrobot' stuff and Kyren offered to send me 2 duplicate blindboxed Dunny art toys he had, he offered to send them as a gift since i'm such a big fan of kidrobot stuff yet i have NOTHING from their site!

but i felt bad not sending anything in return so he asked me to make him a little owl plush since he's a big fan of all things owl related (he is quite possibly a bigger fan of Owls than i am!)

so of course i said yes!

this little fella was the result . . .

his name is Kyrowl McHooterton and he's 100% unique (but you can call him hooters for short. . .)

i've never attempted an owl plush quite like this before but he was soooo much fun to make! he's crazy coloured, a little bit Bauhaus and very very awesome 

i hope Kyren likes him!!!!

anyway here's the first Dunny out of the box, an awesome little cowboy/indian Michelle Valigura dude

the next one was also epically awesome, it's a Shelterbank one and i LOVE IT!

check out the back of it too

but the piéce de resistance was this guy

Kyren's custom painted Munny!!!

i still can't believe he's just given it to me! i imagine it will be worth quite a lot one day when Kyren is terribly rich and famous so i shall hold onto it!

similarly Kyren should look after his new owl because who knows. . . one day even that might be worth a few quid!

they're such awesome figures though, they've all been immediately added to 'the shelf' along with my momji dolls, popobe bears and other various bits and bobs i've accumulated over the years

massive thanks to Kyren!!!

by way of thanks i'm not going to shamelessly plug his work on here! ah that's the fun of having your own blog folks!

his art is actually super epic by the way, i'm fortunate enough to have been in college with a whole bunch of really talented people and Kyren is one hell of a talented animator/graphic designer/doodler

his work has this crazy quirky vibe to it, he draws wacky stuff and it's always fun and usually rather ruddy funny

last year for FMP at college he made all this amazing merch type stuff for his website DMND and i was lucky enough to snag a load of it for my 'wall of stuff'

check out the awesome little badges

+ poster

super duper stuff right!

of course it is . . .

for more awesomeness check out Kyren's blog - Symkytz

check out his 'Wall' on - Wall Collective

follow him on twitter here - @ksimkiss

or keep up to date with his work via his facebook page - DMND

he's currently drawing on a load of postcards creating unique designs that he's willing to send out to people for free so if you want to get your hands on a piece of original doodle artwork get yourself over to his blog/twitter/facebook NOW!!!

* * *

in other news. . .

planning a quiet weekend in ahead of my Birthday on Tuesday

absolutely DREADING Tuesday to be honest!

 Birthdays aren't really my thing i guess, more of a 'Christmas' kind of girl!!!

ah well, it's unavoidable and inevitable so why moan!

have a great weekend wherever you are + whatever you're up to

that's all folks . . . ◕‿◕ ★ xX 

Ps - i'm not going to keep reminding you so just get your bum over to the giveaway post and enter it already! come on guys. . . i'm giving away free stuff what's not to love here! - Giveaway