The Pumpkin Gutter - Scott Cummins

Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate I thought I would show you these incredible pumpkins by Scott Cummins. There are absolutely loads of these amazing creations over on his site so pop over and have a look.

Advertising From Days Gone By

Whilst I was waiting for my boyfriend this morning I had a little rummage around his book shelf and I found this little beauty. He's never looked at any of these since he inherited them from his uncle so he was just as surprised as I was to see what I'd found. Inside this lovely photo album were cuttings of pieces of advertising from days gone by and they were absolutely wonderful! It really is a shame that the same care and attention doesn't go into our advertising these days.

The advert above for Pears soap actually had the butterfly as a 3D image. The butterfly had been cut out separately and affixed on top. If it hadn't been squashed in the book I assume it would have fluttered slightly with any movements made to whoever was viewing it.

The image above isn't very clear but actually the ends of the cigarettes have some form of gold ink on them giving them a lovely metallic sheen.

I assume the above image for Lotus Shoes is screen printed? It has a gorgeous finish on what appears to be sugar paper. The sort school children create their work displays on.

We also found numerous adverts which encouraged interaction. This is a good example. It shows an image of a lady scrubbing her clothes with another brand of soap and when you pull the tab the image changes into a lady enjoying her free time with her washing outside on the line. You are then left with the message on the tab which you had to pull.

This was another great example that encouraged you to interact with the advert. This time you move a small tab to the left so that the hand lifts off the lid to the soap dish.

I actually really enjoyed taking my time looking through every single page of that album and looking at the detail and care taken over each advert. Especially knowing that many of them may have been created by hand. Next time I visit I am definitely raiding the rest of the families book collection! :)

My Christmas Cards Are Here!

My Christmas cards turned up today! As soon as I saw the box I was like 'Yessssssssss!!!" Needless to say I was really quite excited... If anyone wants to buy any please let me know. Hopefully they will go on my etsy shop sometime soon. Have a good weekend everyone! :)

Design Juices Interview with PPS

Today the lovely Design Juices Blog featured the collective I am involved with; Pencils, Paper, Scissors. It is quite a lengthy interview but a good read none the less and there are a few little sneak peeks at the colouring book that we have been working on! Why don't you pop over and have a little read? :)

'Today we showcase the work and introduce to you all the work of Illustrative collective;Pencils, Paper, Scissors Collective. This group comprises the talents of; Madi, Joanne, Kerri, Avril & Gemma. It was great for us to interview these five great minds who are clearly turned on and working hard to make a name for themselves in the tough illustrative industry.'

'Here we discuss all things design, illustration and social media. We ask the girls how would they survice on a desert island? Who were their biggest design influences? Is university the best route to be an illustrator and more. Thankyou to the girls who helped to make this interview possible and be sure to check out their work where you can.'

IBRA Christmas Illustration

I was asked by the International Bee Research Association to design them a Christmas image for their email Christmas card! There will also be a select few cards printed in house. They asked for it to be in the style of a previous illustration I did called Foxly. And this is what I did! A beehive covered in snow with a little stocking. They really liked it! I hope you do too :)

Jack Hudson

This is the gorgeous work of Bristol based illustrator Jack Hudson. I fell in love with this piece of work because of the little hidden characters within the birds. Beautiful and inspiring! Go take a little look at the rest of his work :)

Moodoo Boy

This is the work of Moodoo Boy. I know very little about him so maybe you should pop over to his web site and see what you think of him for yourself? :)

Dear Photograph

Dear Photograph is a wonderful web site where people can take a photo of a photograph in the exact same spot as the original was taken and post a little message beneath it. See what I mean above. Its simply wonderful. Theres no other way to describe it. I could quite happily sit here for hours and browse through the whole lot!

David Thorne - Ten F26-A formal complaint notices in six months.

You know David Thorne from the Missing Missy posters that viral? This is another one of his works! Although this time he has been winding up a colleague at work. There are more of these over on his site and I couldn't stop laughing at some of them! Every office needs a David Thorne :) Click here to see the rest!

Occupy George

'Money talks, but not loud enough for the 99%. By circulating dollar bills stamped with fact-based infographics, Occupy George informs the public of America's daunting economic disparity one bill at a time. Because money knowledge is power.'

Pop over to Occupy George now. It really is quite an interesting way to get their point across! If you want to be a part of it you can even download their templates and print your own!

Twinings

At the moment this is one of my favourite adverts on television. It is for Twinings Tea and is beautifully animated and the song (Where ever you will go) a cover of The Calling by 22 year old Charlene Soraia is simply beautiful. Best of all its for tea! The campaign had a price tag of £5m! And was created by the super talented AMV BBDO who also created campaigns for the likes of Birdseye, Doritos and Walkers to name but a few. Have a watch of the video above and I'm sure you'll love it just as much as I do :)

Pencils, Paper, Scissors - About Me

Just so you know the Joanne page is up on Pencils, Paper, Scissors :) Check out the other girls as and when they update their pages. The colouring book project we have been working on is coming along nicely and hopefully we might have a few sneak peeks in coming months. Stay tuned!

Thanks! - My Christmas Cards 2011

I knew the online creative community wouldn't let me down! Thank you to all the lovely people who used twitter to contact me on @joannehawker and offer their advice and kind words. I have taken on board what people had to say and jigged a few things around. Now all I have to do is get them printed :)

THANK YOU x

My Christmas Card Ideas 2011

For the last couple of days I have been working on my Christmas Cards for 2011 and this is what I have come to. I'd reallllly appreciate your thoughts and views on these as I'm still not quite so sure weather to run with them or go with some other ideas I have. Time is running out as I have other things that need doing! Thoughts please, on here or on my twitter @joannehawker . Much love x

Little Doodles - Kate Wilson

I cannot get enough of the work of Little Doodles a.k.a Kate Wilson. Anyone who knows me will know that I am a little obsessed with creatures of the feathered variety. These are just so sweet and funny! There are actually 22 in this set so it was really difficult to decide what to put here. She doesn't only draw birds though, if you want to see more you'll have to pop over to her web site and have a little look for yourself.

She has an amazing client list and has worked with the likes of Topman, Miss Selfridge, The Guardian and Liberty of London to name but a few.

Kern Me

A fun little Kerning game! Its as simple as it sounds :) Pop over to Kern Type to see how you do!

'Your mission is simple: achieve pleasant and readable text by distributing the space between letters. Typographers call this activity kerning. Your solution will be compared to typographer's solution, and you will be given a score depending on how close you nailed it.'

World Mental Health Day - 1 in 4 Project

For those who do not know, yesterday was actually World Mental Health Day. After reading several posts by people who I follow on twitter I have become inspired once more. In my second year of university I created a campaign called 1 in 4 which was aimed at children in schools to target the stigma of mental illness at an early stage.

This is the description taken from my website:

1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lifetime.
This campaign titled '1 in 4' was created to raise awareness and understanding of mental health.

This campaign is aimed at children from age 12+. Targetting children this young will hopefully help to reduce the stigma attached to the label of 'mental illness'. A lot of the stigma stems from poor understanding of the subject and the stories shown on tv, in papers, and movies. The media has painted a bad image of these people and its not fair. Its time for change.

This campaign consists of:
* Booklets for the children to fill in
* Pens
* An A2 poster
* A teachers pack containing the above plus a powerpoint presentation, slides to write notes next to and teachers help sheets to aid with filling in the booklets.
* Within the books there is also a 'design your own poster' scheme where the children can use a template to design their own poster. This way they are more engaged with the subject and have to think about what they have learnt and how they can show this to other people.

This project almost got off the ground but unfortunately didn't go any further than my second year exhibition. I think a huge re-design is in order and I learn't a huge amount from making this project it would be a shame to let it go to waste. So once all of my other tasks are out of the way I want to breathe new life into this project and try and do something with it. Fingers crossed that one day it might actually help someone.

Haldon Park Forest

If you follow me on twitter then you will know that I spent the weekend at Haldon Park Forest near Exeter. It was wonderful! We had a go on Go Ape! A high wire assault course up in the trees, went for a lovely walk around the forest and even hired mountain bikes to see more of the area.

One of the things I liked best about this forest was the wonderful things hidden within it! There were many hide outs made of old branches but next to one of them we found a giant crocodile carved out of a tree! We also found HUGE xylophones dotted around the area made out of old logs and many secret trails only signposted by hidden signs in the bushes/trees. It was a wonderful weekend and even gave me ideas for new work :)

Cassandra Smith

This is the work of Cassandra Smith. She is an artist and freelance curator working in Milwaukee, WI. In 2006, she graduated from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design with a degree in sculpture. Above is a small, naturally shed* White-tailed Deer antler, hand-painted with acrylic paint.

*Shed antlers are cruelty free. Every year deer shed their antlers and re-grow new ones. The shed antlers are found lying in the woods. This antler is weathered from time spent in the woods, it has small cracks but is structurally sound.

You can purchase Cassandra's work over on her etsy shop by clicking here.

'Ula-'ai-hawane

This is the other bird that I have been working on. It is a pretty little bird called the 'Ula-'ai-hawane.

Wiki:
'The ʻUla-ʻai-Hawane (Ciridops anna) was a small Hawaiian honeycreeper, now extinct. The term ʻUla-ʻai-Hawane is a Hawaiʻian phrase translating to "red [bird] that eats hawane". It was only ever reported from the forested mountains of the Kohala, Hilo and Kona districts on the island of Hawaiʻi. Fossil remains reveal that it (and at least one closely related species, Ciridops tenax) also existed at one time on other Hawaiʻian islands.'

If you'd like to help me to promote him pop over to my society6 page and press the heart :) There you can also purchase him as a print, iPhone/iPod skin or case, laptop skin or even a tshirt or hoody!

The Laughing Owl

This is my latest illustration and is of an Owl that is now extinct. I originally did this for a competition but decided not to enter him at the last minute. If you like him why not pop over to my Society6 page and click the little heart to help me promote him? You can also get him as a print or iPhone/iPod skin or case :)

Wiki:
The Laughing Owl (Sceloglaux albifacies), also known as Whēkau or the White-faced Owl, was an endemic owl found in New Zealand, but is now extinct. It was plentiful when European settlers arrived in New Zealand in 1840. Specimens were sent to the British Museum, where a scientific description was published in 1845. The species belongs to the monotypic genus Sceloglaux ("scoundrel owl", probably because of the mischievous-sounding calls).

Steve Jobs

This post could only be about one thing today. The sad loss of Steve Jobs. The image above is the front page of Apple today and has shocked people across the globe. Steve changed technology as we know it and perhaps the biggest tribute to him was that most people found out about his death through the technology that he had invented. All day people have been turning up at Apple stores across the globe and leaving flowers and tributes. Social networking sites have almost collapsed under the traffic leaving tributes to this innovator and this is just one more. Rest in peace Steve 

“The digital age has lost its leading light, but Steve’s innovation and creativity will inspire dreamers and thinkers for generations,” Howard Stringer, president and chief executive of Apple rival Sony, said.

Dear Blank, Please Blank

I've only just discovered the wonderful Dear Blank, Please Blank after someone shared one of the posts over twitter. Its a fantastic website where users can create their own little posts and a majority of them are really funny. For an example see the image above. If you have a lot of time to spare make sure you pop over there you can guarantee something WILL make you smile or even laugh. Trust me.

Annarack: Giveaway

This beautiful little object could be yours! Its created by the lovely Anna Jane Searle and she is currently doing a giveaway over on her blog! Heres a little more:

'I said if I was to reach 600 followers on Twitter and 100 on Blogger I would do my next giveaway. Up for grabs is a hand-made miniature drawer unit containing a collection of illustrated minerals and gemstones.'
If you would like to enter to win you must follow my blog, comment and tweet my giveaway. When tweeting use this http://annarack.blogspot.com/2011/10/giveaway-time.html GIVEAWAY @annajanesearle
I will choose a winner using Random.org on the 09/10/11. Please leave contact details in your comments.
Good Luck!

So if you want to take part please click HERE to view her blog, this competition and for more photos of this lovely little miniature drawer unit :)