Taking Billie's Cat to the next level.

I am not a cat person, but I can not deny I love Billie's Kitty Cat illustration! So much so, I made it into a regular repeat! 

Billie's  Kitty Cat on Spoonfower 

I am playing with this really simple but beautiful motif and taking it even further!  I want to use it to make a collection of simple fun quirky designs. Can't wait to show off the results of a little bit of free form experiment.

Friday Finds

This Weeks Friday Finds are some great vintage reference books found in a funky fun local used book shop.  At $2 each I could not resist this classic illustrations and funky quirky motifs. They Both deal with the same subject but use it in a completely different manner

Fun Vintage Reference books for the Artist  

Beautiful Classic Illustrations 

Fun Motif Ideas 

Motif Ideas in Use.

  Decorative Plant and Flower Studies for the Artist and the Craftsmen, is a beautifully illustrated book by  J.Food of many different types of plants, flowers, and trees. It was originally published in 1906 but this republication was printed in 1982. The original had beautiful colour plates and that was sadly omitted in the current publication (Second photo from the top). 

Flowers and Designs to Copy is a fun retro book full of charming paining and images to copy! Yes Copy! As a graphic artist I think this gives me free reign to go wild appropriating motifs and ideas. Some of Lola Ader's  suggestions for use are cupboard panels, decoupage and TV Trays... 

I can't wait to start playing around with them... and though I will not copy them directly- you may see some elements from both books pop into my work!

Simple motif goes through a transformation. Work in process

I Didn't post yesterday, one thing led to another, led to another and my day was done... 

I did sneak in some drawing here and there and came up with this simple little tulip motif.

I have been working on it in illustrator today, playing with live trace,

building it with shapes and with the pattern maker.

Process.

original Motif

Adapted from a mid century modern design motif.

live trace

As you can see not very nice.

re-worked with the pen tool and shapes.

But What about a pattern?

Can you imagine? Originally I was thinking about using it a border for an illustration I am working on but as I play and yes by playing I also mean learning I can see how to take it beyond just a simple motif.

Love the 70's garish colours!

I love repeating patterns that start with a simple motif, that gets expanded  and turned into an evolving complex idea.

I keep seeing whale tales, fish scales and  scalloped edges!

Can you see it evolving?