One down...

 

 



Well here is one collage finished. I still need to scan it into Photoshop and have a play around with the background and text, but I'll do that when all 5 collages are finished.
 I'm making the most of having a free Saturday-I've got my ipod on the go (I can't work in silence!) and everything spread out across my 'studio' (cough...bedroom). I'm aiming to finish another 2 collages today and the last 2 by tomorrow afternoon.

It's that time of year...

OK, so it's that time of year again...well, almost...Christmas time! I know it seems a little early, but Greeting card companies have been designing and making their Christmas cards, wrapping paper etc from probably the beginning of the year, so in fact, I'm a little late!
I made Christmas cards last year and sold them at a vintage market in Cardiff town centre. It was a good experience, however the market was upstairs in a local bar and wasn't very well advertised, so unfortunately not many people knew about it. I've decided to go for a different approach this time, and see if local businesses will buy packs to sell on. I'm hoping this means that more people will see my designs...I can only try anyway.
So here I am, using my only free time after work, to try and get atleast 5 designs done by the end of the week. As you can see, I'm not lucky enough to have my own studio (yet...one day!) so have resorted to spreading out across my bedroom floor as usual...gosh it's a mess!

 

 

Here's a really rough sketch of an idea so far...

 

 

...and here it is in process!

 





A Little Story...

I always love getting new projects or new ideas for illustrations, so when my friend Emma told me about this children's book she'd written, I jumped at the chance to do some designs for her! The book is really cute and tells the story of a little girl called Sophie-May trying to discover why her toys and the animals won't answer her when she talks to them.
 So far I've only done 4 REALLY rough sketches of what Sophie-May could look like, but need to have Emma's input as to what she imagined her main character to look like (just imagine them painted and collaged like my previous post!) This is such an exciting new project, and I can't wait to get started on it properly :)

Work in progress...

Hello! So here are a few pieces I've been working on, none are finished yet, but just wanted to have a play around. The one is a mix of my old style, paint, pencil and fine liner, mixed with some collage. With the other two, I wanted to try something different from what I have done before, so they are purely collage. I collect a LOT of patterned paper, so thought I should make use of it. Some of the patterns are so pretty, they seemed a waste just sat in my drawer. I actually really liked creating the collage ones and think I will be using this style more often when creating my little characters :)

A productive day off...

Today is my day off, so I feel I should do something productive with it! And seems we have had a non-existent Summer at the moment, going outside doesn't seem that appealing...so I've got my sketchbook, pencils, pens, scissors and patterned papers at the ready instead!

Greetings Cards and Gift Wrap

Christmas Cards

These are designs I came up with for Christmas cards last year. I sold these cards at a local vintage market a few weeks before Christmas. I later went on to sell a bulk of them to my local John Lewis in Cardiff, for them to give as a thank you to adjoining business' with the company for the year.

Personal Freelance Projects

Here are two personal creations I made for friends to give as gifts for two seperate occassions. The first was to mark the christening of a friends lovely little boy, while the second was as a Wedding gift to mark the special day.

Beauty and the Beast

This is my own adaptationof the classic tale, 'Beauty and the Beast'. It was for a competition created by Watermark Publishing.

Happy Families

These are my own version of the popular card game, 'Happy Families'. The game has special packs of 44 picture cards, grouped into 11 sets of 4. The cards usually feature pictures of family members or job types, for example: Bun the Baker.
The idea of the game is to collect whole families.This was for a competition set by Tiger Print, in which I came first runner up. They wanted to update the game and bring it into more modern times, making it more appealing for young children today.

Random characters

These are random characters that I have created just because I love to draw. =)

Bologne Children's Book Fair

Whilst at Uni, I entered the Bologne Children's Book Fair in Italy. I had to create five linking images telling a brief story. Mine were based on a girl who befriends a caterpillar, who then turns into a butterfly.

Double page spreads for my Children's Book, 'Lettuce the Lamb'.

These are two double page spreads I created whilst at Uni for a Children's book I created called 'Lettuce the Lamb'.

My first post is going to be quite lengthy, but as I am clearly behind on the whole blogging scene, I'm going to have to get you up to date with what work I have created so far in my very short freelance Illustrator career. So here it goes, hope you enjoy. =)

I probably should firstly introduce myself. My name's Jen, or as this blog is called, Mucky Pup. Not because  I am one, but because that is the name of my Illustration Designs and Website (please check it out...shameless plugging here). I'm a freelance illustrator trying to make it out there in the big, bad world of design. I graduated from Swansea Metropolitan University in 2010, having studied Illustration. But like most young ex-students, I wanted to delay going into the real world, so went travelling instead! Although, I have dreamed about going travelling since I was at school, so it wasn't really an excuse of not wanting to get a proper job, but something I REAAAALLY wanted to do, and after graduating was probably the best time.

I did the usual places, Australia and Thailand, as well as San Fransisco, Hawaii, Fiji, Bali and Singapore. Every country was amazing, but I especially loved Fiji and Australia...and Thailand...and San Fran was awesome...so everywhere basically!

 I'm not going to write you my life story, (before you start falling asleep) but basically, I've been home for a year and a half now, and I'm STILL trying to get that perfect design job...or something pretty close. So this blog will be me...rattling on...mainly about my illustrations, what I've been doing, and the probably the odd random one for absolutely no reason! So that's me. Oh, and I love music, live gigs, festivals, tea, vintage stuff, antique furniture, dogs and Midsomer Murders (not even slightly ashamed).