MAY 8, 2024
DESERT-INSPIRED COLOUR PALETTES
For the past two years, all my spare time was spent doing school work. I was determined to excel in my classes (and I did!) which led me to feel pretty burnt out by the end of the day. Dedicating myself to school meant I was not earning a decent income thus all non-school hours were designated to design that paid.
Now that school has wrapped up and my energy is starting to return. I’ve begun playing with one of my favourite aspects of branding – curating colour palettes!
Just before the world came to a halt (COVID), my partner and I travelled to Chile. I am a bit of a landscape photography enthusiast and I was absolutely captivated by the colours and textures of the Chilean desert. The colour palettes below are inspired from that beautiful and unearthly place.
All photographs were taken by me during that trip as well!
APRIL 28, 2024
PATTERNS, AGAIN?
It’s a funny thing, when you allow yourself to explore creatively without any specific starting or end point. I found myself making patterns, again. Doodling repeated shapes or dotted patterns was a meditative habit I got into during times of boredom or when I was stuck, artistically. A wise therapist told me that sometimes you have to do the thing before the motivation or the ideas come.
Historically, I’ve shied away from bold and bright colours, but lately i’ve been drawn to them. I used the generative recolor tool in Illustrator to find the right vibe (I’m really stuck on 70s/groovy vintage right now!).
APRIL 15, 2024
MAKING TIME TO DRAW
Since I was a kid, i’ve always loved to draw. I never considered myself to be a particularly gifted illustrator, but while I was attending University at Central Saint Martins, a professor said something revolutionary: “There is no such thing as ‘bad’ drawing.” Those words set me free.
During periods where I don’t express myself through drawing, carving or other various personal projects, this inescapable urge to MAKE accumulates. My go-to move is grabbing my sketchbook and doodling the dogs. I’ve been trying to capture Saba for quite some time, which is difficult to do with a wiggly dog.
I finally had the opportunity to draw her properly over the weekend. I usually use a monoline pen and dot work to create dimension, but it was fun to experiment with a 6B pencil and line work.
JANUARY 8, 2024
PATTERN MAKING
This year, I also want to refresh my knowledge of the tools in Illustrator. There are some great new ones that speed up the making process and I’m excited to integrate them into my design practice.
Today I explored the Repeat Grid tool. I love patterns and found a couple of flower shapes I drew at some point, which were perfect for the vintage floral vibe I was going for.
JANUARY 7, 2024
MORE ANIMATION
Now that i’ve started in After Effects, I keep getting ideas for what I want to learn next. I’d like to add some of my own illustrations into the mix soon, once I have a bit of time to dedicate to a more in-depth project.
JANUARY 5, 2024
BRUSHING UP ON AFTER EFFECTS
It’s been a minute since I used After Effects. In 2021, I taught myself how to use it when a client asked for motion in their social ads. What I learned at the time was super basic.
Motion wasn’t really a thing back when I was in design school, so most of my professional work has been static.
I love learning new software and teaching myself new skills, so I’ve delved into After Effects tutorials (mostly on gradients!).
I set two goals for myself:
LEARN HOW TO MANIPULATE SHAPES IN MOTION
LEARN HOW TO ANIMATE THE POINTS OF A GRADIENT
I didn’t realize you could make a repeater in AE, so I have experimented with that as well.
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