Illustrations in the new issue of Mollie Makes magazine

Mollie Makes Illustration commission

I was delighted to be commissioned to illustrate the pull out papers for the new issue of Mollie Makes magazine this month. Issue 132 is full of inspiring summery craft projects, interviews with makers and artists & new ideas and products from indie businesses and designer makers. There’s even a DIY project on how to crochet your own shell basket, the dream… pass me the crochet needles! Anyway I wanted to share a bit more about this illustration commission and how the collection of patterns, hand lettering and prints came together….

Colour palette & pattern inspiration…

I always begin with a colour palette, it sets the tone of the illustration and when it comes to designing a range or collection of prints and patterns it’s important to get it right before you get started. I’m not going to lie I actually struggled with this one to begin with, my go to colours of pink and green looked too obviously tropical and weren’t matching up with the beach brief I’d been given to work with. After lots of trial and error, looking through sketchbooks and journals I found an old pattern I’d illustrated with the pink, red, terracotta & electric blue. Using this illustration (below) as inspiration I got started on illustrating key shapes and motifs using this as the anchor point for the collection and adding in the extra tones of lilac and olive green.

Hand lettered illustrations

When illustrating the typography I stepped away from my brush style and played around with mono line calligraphy, creating more of a typography piece with type sizing and structure that gave the fun relaxed feel of beach, seaside and summer. I also created a textured to work with the typography that softened the bold coloured backgrounds.