3rd time lucky!

Hey!

This is my third design for the lovely people at Magi! More frogs!

The finished card will have the frog and the gift on a raised attachment.

Laura x

A card for anybody who loves somebody

Squirrel love!:

Please double click if you would like to see the image larger.

Laura x

2nd commission for Magi Design!

Hi!,

Once I have completed my first design for a new client or company I always feel a bit unsure whether it was successful or not and I am never totally reassured until they contact me again to do some more work for them.

Therefore, I am pleased to say that I have just done my second greeting card design for Magi Design!, The final card will have foil finishing and gems attached but here is the design:

Laura x

New Babies!

Hello!

I currently know 5 couples all due you to have bouncing babies over the next two months so I thought it time to get my 'new baby card' thinking cap on.

I wanted to do something simple, bold and bright to make a change from all the usual pastel shades associated with babies.  Bring on the elephants!:

Laurax

Another meow

I really should give other animals a bit more air time,  but in the meantime.........................here's another cat!

 Laura x

My first commercial greeting card commission!!!

Hi,

I am hugely pleased to announce that a couple of weeks ago I was commissioned by the lovely Magi Design Ltd to do my first commercial greeting card.  I really enjoyed the process and I hope it is the first of many!, here it is!:

Hope you like it!

Laura x

Greedy Green Cat Card

Hi again,

The green cat has made another appearance, this time on a birthday card.  I think he's quite excited about his cake:

 Laura x

Wrappy Wrappy

Hi again,

Thought I would just post some of the froggy wrapping paper designs I have been working on, you can double click on them to view them larger:

Aaaaggghhhh!, using grids in Illustrator to make these has made my eyes go all squiffy!

Laura x

any other Business Card

Hello,

I have to admit, I thought business cards were a bit obsolete, but then, the other night down the pub (always a good place to do business) I was asked by somebody for my details.  I had nothing on me with my details on and ended up scribbling them on the back of my coffee shop loyality card- not overly professional looking! 

Now, I know everybody has a mobile phone these days but believe me, tapping in a blog address, phone number and email address whilst standing (balancing handbag and wine glass) squished up in a crowded London pub on a Friday night leaves plenty of room for error!

My opinion of business cards I realised, has been tarnished by having really boring corporate ones in the past  They were forced upon me by the company I worked for and looked as dull and uninspiring as the job title inscribed on them.

So, I thought I would design a suitably daft business card for myself for the kind of work that I do now!  This is still a work in progress but here it is so far:

Laura x

Love letters straight from my ...............computer

Hi again!

I'm sure everyone who reads this blog will have noticed the increasingly popular trend of having letters adorn your house. Not 'DearXXX' letters but large individual characters in a variety of materials spelling out words like 'love' and 'home' or just the initials of the people who live there.

So I thought I would have a bash at making some of my own designs to print and frame.  My initial intention was to make some reasonably large decorative drop cap style letters using (but embellishing) some existing type faces.  However... I realised that although perfect when small and in the context of a paragraph, many fonts didn't bear the enlargement and solitude of being a stand alone character.  Also, although lovely, I am really bored of seeing the same decorative type faces such as JF Ringmaster and Rosewood Std currently adorning everything from pencil cases to t-shirts.

So..........., inspired by the brilliant Jessica Hische http://jessicahische.is/awesome/ I thought I would try making some letters from scratch.  I found this a surprisingly difficult process being a discipline in which I have not worked before.  I am hoping they will improve as I do more.

So far I have a 'T', an 'L' and an 'N:

I will post more as my alphabet continues!

Laura x

Daisy

Hello,

After a few reasonably complicated Illustrator designs I fancied making a very pared down image, for some reason, a cow seemed the natural choice of subject!

Laura x

Tony and the Magic Watering-Can

Hello,

Yes, I have been scouring my local charity shops again and as usual the second hand shops of South London have come up trumps!

I found this little gem from 1978 written by Harold Shampan and illustrated by Clayton Hoyle and Peter Edwards:

This book is obviously pre the wonderful Adobe packages and therefore no text wrapping or writing on a path.  However despite (or perhaps because of this) it has been really creatively designed and the words and images play happily together on the same page instead of following the 'text on left, image on the right' format that lots of books of this period followed.

I have scanned in a couple of examples for your perusal, apologies for the cropping- my scanner isn't very large!.  Also check out all that lovely psychedelic artwork and crazy colour palette, I think kids books could do with an injection of madness again!

 

Right, I'm off to water the flowers!

Laura x

Caw Caw!

As it is Father's Day this Sunday I thought I would make a new card for my pa.  Once again I am championing one of the more unloved species of British wildlife- this time crows!

Please click on the image if you would like to view it larger!

Laura x

New baby giraffe

This is a card I have designed for friends who have a new baby but it would also be suitable to send to giraffes who have a new baby:

Please double click on the image if you would like to see a larger version of the picture.

Laura x

Foxy din dins

I can fox-watch from my balcony most evenings and witness them, frolicking around and scavenging for their dinner, they look (a little bit) like this...............................well, at least in my head they do:

Double click on the image if you would like to see it larger.

Laura x

What's the time Mr Wolf?

Afternoon,

Someone asked me this the other day so I thought I would make an image out of it!:

Laura x

Cuppa Fox

Morning,

I wanted to do some more word based work and to use the sentence 'tea for two and two for tea' so I started designing those letters and the foxes just sort of appeared!

Laura x

For the love of letters

I saw an advert for the stage production of 'The Umbrellas of Cherbourg' on the underground yesterday:

http://www.umbrellasofcherbourg.com/

and I was inspired by how visually attractive words can be.  I normally have an image in my mind when designing and if lettering applies then I fit it around that idea, so I decided to challenge myself to make an image where the words are the main focus.

I realize isn't very apt for the gorgeous weather we have been having of late but I made this:

Laura x

Dog amongst the flowers

A dog greeting card:

Laura x

Meow

I would love a cat but as I live in a small flat, sadly I can't have one, probably as a result of this longing, I find that cats frequently pop up in my designs.  Here is one appearing on a 'Thank You' card.

Laura x

The Bears who stayed Indoors

I went on one of my frequent charity shop scours yesterday and came across this charming kids book from 1972 called 'The Bears who stayed Indoors' by Susanna Gretz.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bears-Who-Stayed-Indoors-Teddybears/dp/0713652268

It looks really of it's time and the use of the bold limited colour palette and graphic use of pattern and shape means that it really straddles the line between illustration and design.  In case you are not familiar with it, I thought I would share a couple of pics:

Laura x

Pigeons

Pigeons get a bad press, especially if you live in London but I'm sure if they weren't so common we would all think they are rather pretty. Therefore, I thought I would celebrate them and give them the limelight by making this greeting card:

Laura x

Wedding Invite commision

Afternoon,

I was recently asked to design a wedding invite which, whilst lovely is always a slightly daunting task what with the wedding day being one of the 'most important days in a persons life' and all.  I also knew that I had my work cut out for me as the couple have discerning tastes and the groom-to-be teaches history of art!

When working on a commission I have to be sure that I am incorporating the requests of the client and not just going off on my own flight of fancy. It is also a good lesson being flexible with amendments and  alterations, in fact you can see my initial submission for this client on my 'Tis the Season' post below.

However I thoroughly enjoyed the process and below is the final result which I think suited them and their personalities:

Laura x

Parsley tribute

I love all things 60's looking and I was inspired to make this card after watching an episode of 1960's children's show 'The Herbs':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm64Rr_L90E&feature=related

This is my homage to Parsley the Lion:

Laura x

CV and Links

I have uploaded examples of the work I have done for Orchard Children's Books onto Flickr, here is the link if you would like a looksey:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurastoner/sets/72157625285175545/detail/

Also, I have just re-vamped my CV if you would like a look.  You can view it larger by double clicking on each page.

thanks,
Laura

Arthur and The Meanies

Morning,

I recently bought a gorgeous children's book by Jan Fearnley called 'Arthur and the Meanies' :


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arthur-Meanies-Jan-Fearnley/dp/1405253819

which is full of lovely collage, vivid colours and vibrant characters.  I took inspiration from this book and made a birthday card featuring a flamboyant peacock, here it is:

Laura x

Engagement card

This is an engagement card I made for some friends of mine.  It does actually look a bit like them :)

Laura x

Just for fun

Just fancied drawing some poodles.

Laura x

Some bunnies

Hi, 

I have made a series of 4 images of a family of bunnies doing some of the things I like to do such as yoga and eating carrot cake, thought I would share:

Laura x

Tis that season again!

It's quickly approaching the wedding time of year again.  So to kick off, here are a couple of wedding invites/save the date cards that I have worked on over the last few months.

Laura x