Uppercase / Cats / Make Art That Sells.

In my last blog post, I spoke about cats of the past which I had created and how I was going to create new ones for the latest Make Art That Sells assignment. Well since then, Make Art That Sells launched a competition with Uppercase magazine (which, alongside Chickpea, Frankie and Flow is my fave magazine of the moment)! The competition was to create a page for their Surface Pattern Design Guide. The brief was loose, the content of the cover could be up to you although you were constricted with size and the copy/Uppercase logo. So with cats on the brain and coming out of the hands, I decided to work with what I was having fun making and incorporate some of the cats I was doodling in my sketchbook to make a repeat pattern for the competition. As promised, here is a glimpse into my process: 

I spent a whole day doodling and drawing different cats in different medias, above are a few pages from my sketchbook. I tried not to think too much, just getting loose and having fun, then I started to refine my favorites and painted them using gouache paint, scanned them into photoshop and edited final touches to them:

 

 

I started to play around with the pattern the colours, what other motifs would be added to the repeat to give it an exciting rhythm and pace. I spent a while moving things around on photoshop, printing it out, using my lightbox to move things around with my hands, scanning back into the computer etc, etc, documenting it in my sketchbook: 

 

I find it useful to always print and document in my sketchbook - I'm quite a messy person - I spread my work around my studio and have many projects going on at once, so for me, it's really useful to make sure I keep my development in my book so that I can look back on the decisions I have made and also keep all my work organised and safe. I changed some cats around, took some away and re-drew others until I was happy with the composition and every single motif. Then I added the copy - which I drew myself and scanned in:

 

Ta-da! Here is the final outcome, repeated over the cover. I submitted it to the competition and I am so so pleased to say that it was selected in the top eight and live reviewed by the amazing Lilla Rogers and Janine Vangool (editor of Uppercase), which was such a treat! Lilla said that she chose it because of the individual repeat and the eccentricity of the design (!) I'm so happy to have been picked and reviewed over at MATS. It's really boosted my confidence and I've been a making machine ever since! I'll share what I've been up to once I've finished making them all :) I'd love to know what you think! Any comments would be fab, and I hope that sharing my process on this project has been useful.