Communication Arts | Award of Excellence.

You may remember that earlier this year, i announced that my Monster Alphabet hand-created typography had been chosen as one of the winning entries for Communication Arts' Typography Annual 3. The annual was published in January, and my collage typography was featured inside. I was also informed that, in addition to receiving a copy of the annual, each winning entrant would receive an Award of Excellence; an actual trophy! I was pretty excited to receive this beauty in the post this morning;

Eeeeee! An actual shiny trophy engraved with my name! Now i just have to find somewhere to put it...

GETINCASED | Illustrated phone cases.

My illustrated iPhone cases have been available from my Society6 shop for a while, and during that time i've recieved various queries as to whether my phone case designs were available for other makes of phones too. Unfortunately they weren't at the time and, as I hated to disappoint people, i've always been looking into away to make this possible.

I'm now very excited to announce that my illustrated phone cases are available from GETINCASED! Yay! There are lots of different designs available for a range of phones - iPhones, Samsungs and Blackberrys!

I actually ordered a couple of my own designs; my favourites - the squirrel and the hedgehog; for my own phone; a Samsung Galaxy S2. It probably makes me a littttle bit of loser parading about with my own illustrated case adorning my phone, but this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try the cases out for myself so I could review the quality, plus I reallyyy wanted a cute woodland creature case for my phone! :)

I was very excited as my phone cases were delivered super quickly, and i'm very pleased with them. The quality of the cases are lovely - they seem fairly flexible but also feel very durable and strong. The cases themselves fit my phone perfectly and were very easy to fit, and the image quality is very high, which means the illustrations are beautifully clear, even all the tiny details! I'd definitely recommend them. :)

You can have a peek at my full range of phone case designs here! There's free shipping on all orders for all you lovelies who live in the UK, plus there's currently 10% off ALL your orders for my illustrated phone cases - yippee! Just use the code madiillustration at the checkout.

My phone is now encased in a super cute illustrated squirrel phone case! Love it!

#SBS Winner!

If you have a Twitter account, you may be aware of Theo Paphitis' Small Business Sunday. Basically, each Sunday evening, small businesses are invited to send a tweet to Theo, including the hashtag #SBS, with a little description of their business. The following evening, Theo then retweets six of these businesses, and they are the weeks' winners. Due to the amount of followers that Theo has, it can provide a massive increase in followers, and therefore help promote your business. 

I've been participating in this for a number of months, watching other small businesses win each week, and never really expecting anything to come of it. Last night, I noticed I suddenly had loads of new followers. It took me a few moments to realise that my tweet had been retweeted by Theo, and that Madi Illustration was one of this weeks' #SBS winners! Eeeeee! Super exciting!

I think I was a little bit in shock for a while; it was really hard to believe that I'd been chosen, and it took quite a while to sink in! It's pretty incredible to think that my little illustration business was chosen out of all those tweets, and I feel very proud to receive this recognition. I gained about 100 followers overnight, and the amount of congratulatory tweets, and welcomes from previous #SBS winners, has been totally crazy; I spent most of last night and this morning reading through, and replying to, all the lovely messages!  

My profile has also been added to Theo's SBS website; you can have a little peek here. 

Valentine's cards 2013 ♥

If you follow me on Twitter, or have had a peek at my shop lately, you may have noticed that I now have a new little collection of illustrated cards for sale! I've spent the past few weeks working away designing them, squealing with delight when they arrived, and then photographing them alongside pretty pink roses and loveheart sweets with super cute messages. Caught in a swirl of hearts and petals, I only just realised I haven't shared any of my new designs on my blog, and with Valentine's day only a few days away, it seems like the ideal time to give you a little peek! Even better is that there's still time to order one, and avoid a last-minute panic in Tesco, fighting over the last card left on the shelf! 

These are the three new designs;

P.s I Love You Typewriter Illustrated Card.

Flamingo Love Illustrated Valentine's Card.

You're My Favourite Illustrated Card.

You may recognise my Flamingo Love design - it is an illustration I created a few years ago, but given the imagery, it seemed perfect to adapt into a Valentine's card. The design is also currently available to purchase as a signed print, or as a pretty illustrated pocket mirror - both of which would make lovely Valentine's gifts, if you're looking to earn yourself some extra brownie points this year! The You're My Favourite design is actually one I've been meaning to create for a while, so I'm pleased that I finally got round to it. The composition of this card proved to be a bit of a nightmare though, with two different layouts for the text, and almost equally split preferences between everyone I asked! It was a difficult, and last-minute, decision to decide which version to have printed - I was even a little nervous opening the parcel from the printers - but I'm very happy with the final result!

Of course, my other existing cards are still available too, and my Happily Ever After card is proving to be incredibly popular as a Valentine's card - romance clearly isn't dead! It's the perfect way to let that special someone know that they are the prince or princess at the end of your fairytale. Aww. 

Happily Every After Illustrated Valentine's Card.

If You Were A Crayon... Illustrated Card.

The collection of cards available are pretty broad, ranging from super romantic and meaningful designs, to ones which take a more cute, quirky and playful approach; so whether you're selecting a card for the love of your life or your secret crush, you're sure to find one suitable! I'm sure your partner deserves to be treated to a pretty illustrated card, plus you can help support independent designers in the process. Yay! :]

So, where can you buy one? All five cards can be purchased in both my Etsy shop and my NOTHS shop, and are all now available to purchase with a 'send direct to recipient' option. This means that if you'd prefer, I can post your card of choice straight to your Valentine, complete with a handwritten message of your choice! It's the perfect option if you're buying a card last-minute, live overseas, or would like your identity as an admirer to remain a secret...

♥

Communication Arts | Typography Annual 3.

Having entered the AOI Images competition in the past, and never had any success, I have become a little wary of entering competitions which have an expensive entry fee. Last autumn, I debated whether to enter Communication Arts' Typography Competition - I think my hand-created typography tends to be pretty distinctive, so I thought it might catch the judges' eyes, but I didn't want to waste money. In the end I decided to take the chance, and ended up entering right at the last minute. I entered my collaged Monster Alphabet typography into the unpublished category. 

In October, I was pretty surprised to receive an email telling me that my entry had been picked as one of 154 projects out of 1934 entries to appear in Communication Arts' Typography Annual 2013! Eeee! I only ordered my copy of the annual a few days ago, and was actually super surprised that it arrived so fast! Inside, amongst a whole range of inspirational typographic work, I found my Monster Alphabet!

Communication Arts' third Typography Annual features work from 21 different countries, and there's some really beautiful work included. I think it's possible to view the winning projects on Communication Arts' website, or you can buy yourself a copy of the annual here (it's super thick, so definitely worth it, plus it has that lovely freshly-printed-magazine smell. Yum). It's a must-have for anyone interested in typography or hand-lettering - my favourites include projects in the typeface design category, and also some of the calligraphy. In particular, I love this screen-print which was created by Office;

I was also pretty excited to find out that in addition to having my work printed in the Typography Annual, I will also receive an Award of Excellence - an actual trophy! Aces.

2012 | A round up of the year.

Happy New Year! It seems like only months ago that I was writing my round-up post for 2011 - this year seems to have zoomed past! I've been meaning to write this post for the last few days, so apologies that I didn't manage to do so before the arrival of 2013. So today, at the very beginning of a new year, it seems like the perfect opportunity to reflect on the past year, look back at the creative goals that I made at the end of last year, and see whether I have achieved what I had hoped to this year.

During 2012, I have;

• after much deliberation, I opened my NOTHS shop in January, and have made just over 130 sales during 2012.
• seen my Etsy shop celebrate its first birthday in February, and have made another 30 sales during the year. I also added a range of new products to my shop over the course of the year - above all, my illustrated tote bags seem to have proved popular!
• reached over 150 sales in my Society6 shop.
• secured myself a part-time job in a bookshop, which I adore (and although it's not a creative job as I had hoped for, it does mean I can look through beautifully illustrated picture books whenever I please, and this makes me happy!)
• had my first illustration properly published in Lionheart Magazine - a real-life magazine that people can buy!
• completed proper paid commissions (which I guess, based on last year's round-up post, means I can now actually call myself an illustrator!)
• taken part in the May Draw A Day challenge, which pushed me to keep myself motivated to create a small illustration every single day for a month, and to post images on my blog which were not perfectly finished to my usual high standards - this was a massive challenge for me.
• had my work for sale in two online shops (Crafty Little Herberts and The Green Door Bookshop), plus my book for sale in a real brick-and-mortar shop in my hometown.
• taken part in my first craft fair which, although not quite as successful as I had hoped, has made me determined to take part in more.
• re-designed my business cards so they include my current logo, and are more in keeping with the design of my website.
• taken a copy of my picture book to my local library - it will soon be available for children to borrow.

Also, although not a creative achievement, my boyfriend and I bought our first house together in the autumn of 2012 - definitely the biggest step in my life so far. We even went sofa shopping on boxing day, which I think means we are actual proper grown-ups. We are currently still working on our new house, but will hopefully be moving in during the spring - I will keep you updated on my new studio, with lots of photos once we've moved in!

Looking back at my list of creative goals for 2012, a handful remain uncompleted - yet at the same time, I have achieved many things that I didn't plan to. I have certainly learnt a few valuable lessons this year - a recent one being that I must stop being so trusting of people. I will certainly not be making the same mistake of completing work for someone who then refuses to pay me for it. In terms of making a list of goals for 2013, I don't think I'll be quite as specific as last year. Similar to making a list of new years' resolutions, it just opens you up for failure, and I really don't need to provide myself with more opportunities to feel that way. Unfortunately, my mood and stupid eating-disordered-head still influence my life on a daily basis, and prevent me from creating work as often as I wish I could, but that's the way things are at the moment, and I don't want to start another year beating myself up about it.

During 2013, I would most like to work on projects which will mean my illustrations will be interacted with by children. From the very start of my aspirations to become an illustrator, it was always children I wanted to illustrate for and, despite creating illustrations for a whole range of different audiences over the past few years, it is still the work I create for children which makes me happiest. My recent children's colouring competition is definitely the big highlight of my year - it is one of the best things I have ever done, as it allowed me to see children interacting with my illustrated colouring sheet; putting their own stamp on it and expressing themselves creatively. I loved every single entry I received; seeing the colours and materials each child had chosen to use, and the messages I recieved from their parents saying their little ones had enjoyed themselves whilst creating their artwork were incredible. Children's books and colouring pages and encouraging children to be creative are definitely the direction I'd like to go.

Also, as I expressed in a recent post, I hope to update this blog more regularly; not only with my own illustrations, but with the work of others' who inspire me - I hope this will make you all want to keep reading! I'd love to hear any feedback about anything you'd like to see or read about on my blog - any ideas would be very welcome! :]

Finally, a massive thank you to all of you who have supported me during 2012; every single one of you who reads and comments on my blog, those of you who have liked my facebook page or followed me on Twitter, and all of you who have bought items from any of my shops. All of you, I hope you have a very happy 2013.  ♥