Fuzzy hamster redesign

Well, "redesign" might be the wrong word, it's more of an upgrade! 

I've been following a lot of design blogs and such on my facebook, one of them being www.creativebloq.com (which is my bible and god right now. I have so many pages from its website bookmarked!). It recently featured an article about what makes a good cute/kawaii character design. I read it, looked at my own design and saw what could be improved upon. 

So what's changed? 

• The shape is more "organic" as the article put it. It now matches what my original drawing looked like, rather than being a perfectly round circle.
• I experimented with different faces but in the end, I only made the original mouth smaller. All other faces looked odd to me!
• The mouth and nose have both been moved up a little bit
• Fur added to the belly
• Minor fur alterations to make it a bit more in-line with the body

I now think he looks much cuter! :) But you can judge for yourself.

Mangagirl Photography

A friend of mine asked if I would do a logo and business card for her cosplay photography, so course I said yes! She wanted a logo featuring a camera with wings (although in the end, the wings didn't make it into the final design) in a cute, chibi/kawaii style. Also requested was the colour blue.

After lots of research, 5 pages of drawings, computer editing and input from Harriett: This was the final outcome. Bright, bold and full of fun, you'll most likely find her and her camera at a convention near you!

(Business card images coming when she gets them in the post!)

Typography and me

I have a weird relationship with typography. It looks so simple, yet it's probably one of the hardest parts to get right in design!

I personally love sans-serif typefaces the best. They're a good all-rounder, jack-of-all trades font. In particular I love rounded at the ends sans serif types like "Hero" and "Quicksand" as I think they reflect how I would like to appear: friendly and non-threatening. They're easy on the eyes and very readable at small sizes, unlike serif's.

Speaking of serif's. I'm not too keen on them. Not because I don't like how they look, some of them are very sexy! It's because I find them very... smart and high-class. And you know what? I'm not a smart person, therefore I find them hard to get right. I feel that they HAVE to be used in the right situation, otherwise you end up giving the wrong impression.

But I guess that's what typefaces are all about. Finding that ONE type that encompasses the impression you want to give off, your personality, your likes and dis-likes, your target audience etc. I could go on and on! But once you find that magical type, it's one of the best feelings in the world! :D When I'm walking up into town, I've now gotten into the habit of analyzing what typefaces the shops use as their logos. What sort of impression are they giving me? What are they saying about themselves? Do I like it? Would I have used something different?

I've probably rambled on enough. I do like to find great new typefaces though, but since I'm a cheapskate, they have to be free! So here's some great sites I regularly use to get my type-fix! 

http://www.dafont.com/

http://www.fontsquirrel.com/ - Always the first place I visit if I'm looking for something new. There's always great quality stuff on there :)

http://freetypography.com/

http://www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com/

http://jovanny.ru/eng-free-fonts.html

http://fontfabric.com/

http://losttype.com/browse/

The Print Handbook

I brought a wonderful little book the other day (which arrived today) called "The Print Handbook". It's got alot of useful references about how type will look when printed in different colours and sizes, stuff about foil blocking, image resolutions, paper types and all sorts of other things! 

I really recommend it and it'll certainly help me make better decisions about printing! It's only £5 so you really can't go wrong with it :)

http://www.printhandbook.com/

Persona 4 minimalism posters

Anyone who knows me well will know that my favourite game of all time is Persona 4. I started these before the Okami ones, but they've taken longer since right now, I've based them purely on the characters (rather than a representation of the whole game). Some of these were REALLY hard to do as some characters as alot more distinctive and detailed than others in their design. So it was hard to minimalise them, yet keep them recognisable as to who they were meant to be. If you're looking at this and aren't familiar with Persona 4, here's a link to a website with great references! creativeuncut.com

Also referred to as "The Protagonist"

Okami minimalism posters

So. I had sudden burst of inspiration recently after seeing some minimalism posters! What fun they are to make! So far, I've been basing them off my favourite games. This first set is from "Okami" and it's sequel "Okamiden". Admittedly, there is already one very similar to the first Okami one already out there. However. I didn't think the red markings were accurate nor did I like the typeface they had used. So that one is kind of my version of it, as such!

I had a look around at some other posters like this and liked one that I saw with a quote attached. So I've put a quote from the game above the main title that I thought represented the heart of the game. Except for the one featuring "Shiranui", as that's just a character poster rather than being a separate game!

The Show

This has to be one of the most embarrassing things I've ever done. Having people walk around and look at my work? It was terrifying! I stood well away from my work, but so that I still had a view of it so I could see who exactly was looking at my stuff. So I was pretty much in ninja mode all evening! Although I did get some nice comments, so maybe I need not have been so shy about it all! 

Setting up the show itself took FOREVER. The whole process killed my legs by the time Saturday came and I could barely walk! All of my recent work made it in, apart from one of my Advertising posters, but that was only because it had a big black ink blotch when it came out of the printer (which was a shame really, I would have liked all four to have been there). I hope for those that came though, that you liked what you saw :) 

All photos were taken by others in my class at the show! It took place in Bristol at the CentreSpace Gallery.