New Work: Birdcage pattern

New Birdcage pattern Lime + blue colourway

A peek behind the process

I first do lots of sketches by hand
The first few are always too stiff + perfect
It takes a while (+ music + coffee) to loosen up



Loosening up



Bird sketches which I had on file.

Then I scan my fave sketches into the computer and put the drawing together in Photoshop

Next step is to choose colour

For inspiration I go into my ongoing colour file that I keep on my desktop.
In this case I chose a fabric that I had photographed while at Anthropologie last week.
(Yes secret revealed!)
I thought the combo of lime, blue + taupe was just gorgeous plus it had a real retro look which I was after.



I make up a swatch of the colours

And then used them to colour my illustrations.
* Note: I slighty altered my technique today by opaquely colouring in over the linework of the birds and some of the cage. This gives the illustration a more vintage look as this technique was often used in the 1950s.

After completing 5 birds this way I used the cut + paste keys in Photshop to create a repeat pattern. I then added a light tan colour underneath.


Here are 2 more colourways.


Girly pink and red.


Retro orange + blue.