Surface Pattern Design

This month I have started the Make it in Design Course – Module 2! It is super exciting, as I am now developing real collections of surface patterns for licensing. This is something that I have been wanting to expand my career into for quite a while and I am very excited to finally get a chance to explore it further!

Here I am sharing my moldboard that I based my sketches and color choices on and below is the collection that I came up with. Let me know what you all think – I would love the feedback 🙂

Coffee blend collection

March Creativity!

March has been a really busy month for me this year. I went to LA for three weeks on vacation, while taking an online design class and finishing up two client projects. March has been so busy that I haven’t had the chance to post much of my work, so I will be playing catch-up a bit in April this year.

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Starting with what is most recent. I had the privilege of attending my very first baby cousins baptism this past weekend. She is so sweet and I was very excited to make some personal gift for her  – A pink stroller greeting card and a baby elephant print with her name and birthday on for framing.

I am intending to share a lot more of my work with you in April, but for the time being, you can check out my artist profile on Instagram: @illulinn if you are curious about what I am working on.

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Make it in Design – Surface design experimentation

Last week I started a surface design class online to get some more experience and a better understanding of the market. The first week has mainly experimentation with mark making and seeking inspiration. It was been very insightful this far and I want to share some of the work that I have been doing with you guys.

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Drawing the same object again and again in everything from 10 seconds to 3 minutes. 

Exploring successful repeat patterns and deconstructing them to understand what shapes goes into the design and then exploring some sketching on my own. 

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Exploring sketching with different mediums and strong colors. 

More sketchbook / mark – making exploration 

Watercolor exploration

In the month of January I took some skillshare classes in watercolor techniques! I like using watercolors a lot, but I have never really taken the time to try out different techniques. I have previously simply used them for naive coloring of doodles, but now after taking some classes I have a better understanding of the medium. How the paints work and mixes together. These are some of my first paintings I did along watching the class. I have a lot to lean still, but I am really enjoying the progress that I am already making. Yay to trying new things! Stay tuned for hopefully much more watercolor experimentations in the future 🙂

2017 Year of the Rooster

I have been working on this tribal design for 2017 Chinese New year (coming up this weekend!) and this year is the year of the rooster, hence the rooster subject matter 😀 I am super excited about this new technique that I just learned. I have been watching tutorials on lynda.com on original tribal illustration and this is my first go at it. I love how graphic it is and how all the shapes connect with one another. If times permits I would love to turn this into a series. Perhaps not all the Chinese  horoscopes, but it is a good place to start. It is something a little bit different from my normal style, but I don’t think it diverts enough to not work with my portfolio. Feel free to reach out and let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for subject matters that would look awesome with this tribal style!

2017 – Year of the Rooster

Thank you for viewing 🙂

New January Projects and resolutions

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Alright, it is a new year and I am determined to start minding my online presence a bit more. One of my biggest downfalls running a business is that I often get so very caught up on doing artsy projects, that I forget to do all the business stuff, like using social media effectively and taxes and that kind of business – we don’t talk about the later one. It is great to work well under a strict deadline, but it makes it very hard to do the things that doesn’t really have deadlines, like for example updating a blog. I want to be better at sharing what I am working on regularly and taking in progress shots, because let’s be honest, it is so much more fun to watch as something is being created, compared to the final product. So that is one of my new year resolutions for this year! My goal is to post at least twice a month for the rest of the year. I am putting it out there in cyperspace, because somehow I think, that will make me hold myself more accountable. I am obviously already behind, but not for long, because here comes the first post of the year!

Here is a preview of the first project I am working on this year. It is a project continued from the end of last year, but I didn’t have a chance to upload anything here. I am in the process of creating a coloring book about the beautiful architecture and landscapes of Europe. I am trying to represent as many countries as possible, which has proven very educational for me as well. There are many eastern european countries that I don’t know almost anything about, and I am really enjoying doing some serious research. The book will not be ready until late spring, but I am in the process of inking out some of the initial drawings out. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions for beautiful architecture that I should include! If you read this far, thank you for being an awesome follower – next post will be shorter 😉

 

Thank you for the year of 2016!

Thank you all for following my artistic adventures in 2016! It has been a good year for me. It has been hard and full of career challenges, but I have also been very fortunate getting to work for dream companies. It has been a journey full of adventures and I have loved far the most of it. I have been lucky to spend 6 months living in Brooklyn with one of my best friends freelancing as an illustrator, I have spent three weeks traveling across the U.S. on a national park road trip with my boyfriend and then spent the last 6 months living in my home town in Denmark being close to my family. 2016 have had a little of everything and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I hope that 2017 will be as good as 2016 and I hope to approach every day with an open mind – always looking for the opportunity in every challenge and embracing happiness. Happy New Year everyone!

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Cute December drawings I

Since I do not have a lot of time to update my blog this December, I am going to group a few images together now and then to let you know what I am working on. Here are two of my early december drawings. These two are done for the children’s market. My plan is to experiment with some different styles over the month of December to get more comfortable with Adobe Illustrator. Normally I work traditionally and primarily with linework, so this is rather new to me. I would love to know what you all think 🙂

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December 3rd

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December 2nd

Happy 1st of December!

My favorite time a year is here! Happy 1st of December everyone 😀 I hope you all have a wonderful christmas month with lots of sweets, coziness and quality time with your friends and family! That is what it is really all about 🙂

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It is finally here!

I have been working on my Beautiful Garden Coloring Book for almost half a year and I am so excited to share the published version with all of you. It has been such a ride and I’m so thrilled that it is finally here. 50 illustrated pages to relax to, as you can color in flora, fauna and all of the animals that hides within the garden. I am so pleased with the result and I cannot wait to see how it does at Upcomers this weekend! Here it is – my first independent publication: Beautiful Garden

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You can get the book at Createspace Estore or on Amazon. Thank you for all the support guys!