Icon Design for TreatNOW App: Update

About 2 years ago I was approached by Sara Hill to design some icons for a new app she was launching, called TreatNOW (you can read more about it in my previous blog post here). 

She had seen my contemporary stained glass designs on Pinterest and thought the simple, graphic style translated well to the icons she needed for her app, which enables users to find and book appointments at health and beauty salons.  

Fast forward to the present day and the app is now up and running and already gaining press interest.

I'm so proud of Sara for pursuing her vision and dream, and for making it happen.  

I was also quite excited to see my little icons appear on my phone as proper, tappable buttons.  I nearly accidentally booked a full body wax, botox and a chemical peel in my enthusiasm...

If you're interested, you can get the TreatNOW app by visiting treatnow.co from your phone and using the "add to home screen" option. 

Bear & Rabbit Woodland Stained Glass Panel - Wedding Gift Commission

I loved making this panel, which shipped off to New York just before Christmas.

The client commissioned the panel as a belated wedding gift to friends, whose summer wedding was in a beautiful woodland setting.

I wanted the panel to look like it had perhaps come from a children's picture book, but at the same time capture the romantic nature of the wedding.

For the foliage in the foreground, I looked to William Morris for inspiration, which is always a good place to look.

Logo Design, Soulshine Cafe Bridport, Dorset

I've been itching to post about this for ages, but wanted to wait until the café was open so I could get some shots of the interior as well.

My friend Lisa approached me a while ago to ask if I'd design a logo for the new café (including shop, deli, juice bar, coffee house) that she was opening.  I sketched a few initial designs involving coffee cups, juice drips, that kind of thing, but nothing really encompassed the whole of the venture.

So Lisa suggested the idea of a character that summed up the ethos of the café: creative, wholesome, curious, adventurous, playful, fresh...

She had kept a party invitation I had drawn for Isla's birthday about 5 years ago, and said she had always loved it.  So that little sketch of mischievous, bold 2 year old Isla became the basis for The Soulshine Kid.

The café is stunning.  Lisa and Chris have done a fine job of creating a place that people are already flocking to, because it is just such a great space.

Selling independent magazines, children's books, Moomin mugs and other delights, alongside artisan bread and deli-produce, this is way more than just a café.

Their attention to detail is awe-inspiring, and the fact that they have used pretty much all local tradespeople and craftsmen in the build, as well as suppliers of the food and produce is commendable.

I'm thrilled to have played a small part in this endeavour, and lucky for me it's just down the road from my house.  My flat-white consumption just increased ten-fold.

Even more thrilling is seeing random people out and about sipping from their takeaway cups, with the kid on.

Custom Pet Portrait Illustration in a Stained Glass Roundel

It's strange, and rather nice, when something you have been mulling over for a while, gets the opportunity to become real.

I had been thinking about doing either pet portraits, or coats of arms, or family crests or some such, in an illustrative style as a stained glass piece for a while.

But life gets in the way, and it seemed that the ideas would stay in my sketch book for a while longer.

Then out of the blue, an email requesting a custom piece - a portrait of a loved but long-lost cat.  When I saw the accompanying photo of a handsome black cat, with sharp green eyes, stiff white whiskers and a perfect white moustache, I couldn't help but feel a bit excited at the prospect of painting this dapper character.

And below is one of my coat of arms sketches.  Maybe the opportunity to make one of these will arise in the not too distant future as well.  I like the idea of the family pets holding up the shield (although it could prove tricky if the family pets are stick insects).

Contemporary Japanese Illustration

 

Looking back through my recent Pinnage, I seem to be gorging myself on contemporary Japanese illustration.  I've just found this site which has a great selection of children's picture books available.
Good old Google Translate - and isn't that an amazing facility?

Illustrators, top-bottom: Hirotaka Nakagawa, Hirotaka Nakagawa, Kikuchi Ki Chi, Mayuko Takeuchi, Oikawa Kenji / Mayuko Mr. Takeuchi

Side Project - The Pocket Money Shop

Nelly has been requesting to open an Etsy shop for some time, and I've always thought it would be a nice thing to do, but kept procrastinating.

Then recently she's also been asking to adopt a snow leopard, and it occurred to me that if she opened a shop, she might sell a couple of things to make her dreams of snow-leopard-ownership come true.

So there we are, a little side project we are doing together.  She's doing the painting and drawing, I'm doing the shopkeeping.  And the snow leopards are quids in.  Hopefully.

Come and have a look,  she'd be thrilled with a few "admirers", as I believe they call them on Etsy these days.