Bigprint Little blog

Trends: Trend Bible

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000+11:00

UK trend forecasting agency Trend Bible showcased their AW 2012 trend concepts in Stationery, Kids, Wellbeing and Fashion Accessories for Top Drawer earlier this month.
I just love their Kid's trend concept 'Grow Your Own'. Think cute gnome and vegetable prints, woodland animals and garden prints, home-made, kid's nature craft and product traceability. Got to love kids planting, growing and cooking their own food –encouraging that connection with nature that seems lost in many adults.
Head over to Trend Bible's post to read more and download their Top Drawer presentation for Autumn/Winter 2012/13.

Images: Trend Bible Stationery trends for Autumn/Winter 2012/13. All images © Trend Bible 2012

On my desk: Aster

2012-01-25T06:00:00.000+11:00

Technically, on my desk a couple of weeks ago …

Image: Aster for the March issue of Australian House & Garden magazine

Trends: Peclers Paris

2012-01-23T06:00:00.000+11:00

How beautiful is this autumn/winter 2013-14 home colour story 'natura' from Peclers Paris?

When I was in my final year studying textile design at RMIT, I was fortunate enough to get some work experience at a trend forecasting studio in Melbourne. The studio happened to be the Australian agent for Peclers Paris, a styling and trend forecasting agency in Paris that produces seasonal books interpreting trend information for textiles/fashion/cosmetics/home/kids etc. I do not have the words to describe how beautiful these forecasting books were. I would spend my lunch break pouring over them. Such an inspiration for colour and motif, and a great launching pad to generate your own unique ideas and take on a particular trend.
These books are a little out of my budget, but Peclers have always had a fantastic website where you can get teeny-tiny glimpses of their current books. I stalk their site frequently.

Images; Top: I painted some colours with the mixer brush in Photoshop -I think I'm finally getting the hang of that brush. Bottom: Peclers Paris Fall/Winter 13-14 Home colours and Peclers Paris Fall/Winter 13-14 inspirations (screenshots from peclersparis.com).

Herbarium: Coral Bells

2012-01-19T06:00:00.000+11:00

The first plant out of the press for two thousand and twelve is one of my favourites, Coral Bells. Such a gorgeous plant when flowering en masse. And even when it's not, its leaves are so striking -the underside a beautiful shade of darkish purple. A gouache paint-up is called for … it's on my list.

Image: Allison Langton for Bigprint Little.

Shopping map: Balmain

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000+11:00

Image: Balmain shopping by postcode map for Australian House & Garden magazine February 2012 issue. Scalloped tags -free download courtesy PuglyPixel (gee she's ace!).

Inspired by … collage

2012-01-17T06:00:00.000+11:00

Images: 1. Fiona Dinkelbach (partial) 2. MPDClick Tsumori Chisato Fall 2011 3. Ashkan Honarvar found via sfgirlbybay 4. Fiona Dinkelbach 5. Genadii Berezkin

Making marks: bleach

2012-01-16T06:00:00.000+11:00

I love the softness of marks when working with bleach. I painted these magnolias with bleach on brown paper then scanned them into photoshop to be re-coloured.

Image: Allison Langton for Bigprint Little. Striped tape -free download courtesy Puglypixel.

Hello 2012 ...

2012-01-14T19:00:00.000+11:00

Hello 2012! How are you? I've very much enjoyed the wintery summer weather you have dished out so far —back in my winter PJ's has been very strange indeed.
What have you been up to this past week? I hope you've had/having a lovely break. I've been learning the WordPress ropes over at Lynda so I can change Bigprint Little over from RapidWeaver —which has served me well for the past few years but now it's time to change. Although I'm having to re-post EVERY post manually —thank goodness I'm not a prolific blogger and there are only about eighty or so (links and RSS feeds will have to change but more about that closer to the switch). I've also been drawing Asters and shopping maps of Subiaco, W.A, and sifting through old boxes filled with discarded pantone colour guides (my brother works in print and grabs old formula guides for me —can you believe they just throw them out!) and fabric swatches (mum works in a fabric store and has a "warehouse" of fabric stashes) and I've been putting together little colour stories for a new project or two … hello two thousand and twelve, it's good to be back.

Image: Colour swatches by Allison Langton for Bigprint Little.

thank you

2011-12-15T11:11:00.000+11:00

It's been a little quiet around here. My mind has been elsewhere -it's that time of year. I like the other side of Christmas. The week between Christmas and New Year. It's quiet and restful and untroubled. My kind of place.
This will be my last post for 2011 so I wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you. Thank you for hanging out with me this year. I have made some wonderful friends whom I feel I have known forever, who share the ups and downs of their creative life and in turn inspire me. So thank you for your comments and links and pins and mentions and/or for just hanging out here for a time -it's all appreciated.
2012 looks like it will be a big year. With lots of exciting projects and collaborations in the works, and some meet-ups too! So enjoy this coming festive season with family and friends, drive safely if you're on the roads, and I look forward to sharing some new adventures with you next year. xx
Image: Lisianthus illustration for Australian House & Garden magazine February 2012 issue.

Two illustration styles

2011-11-05T17:45:00.000+11:00

There are two distinct garden stories that I often illustrate in Australian House & Garden magazine.
The first is a 'How To' garden story that usually flows over two double page spreads. It highlights sections of a garden, and offers tips and advice from the garden designer and the team at H&G on plant selection, surfaces and finishes for paths, walls and garden features. The illustration I do for this section is quite stylised and computer generated but with a bit of texture. I work on this in Photoshop after scanning in my hand drawn line-work (see top image).

The second story is more a traditional garden story and the bigger of the two. Spread over a number of pages, it highlights a beautifully photographed Australian garden with lots of sweeping views and close-up detail shots, with the story of the history and/or development of the garden, its focal points and perhaps a bit about the owners. If House & Garden need an illustration for this section, I'll get my watercolours out and hand paint the garden on 300gsm cold pressed paper (bottom image). A more traditional style for a more 'traditional' garden story.

Do I prefer working on one style over the other? I actually enjoy both. It is easier to cut and paste and paint on the computer and I love the ease of colour correction, but there's something about hand-painting that's so much more satisfying. The smell of paint, the texture of the paper, the scratchy sound your pencil makes as it moves across the toothy grain, the trips to the tap when your water jar gets murky (or slopped about by the cat), it's all rather comforting. No matter how advanced Photoshop or Painter get with their brushes, or Wacom with their interactive tablets (I wish), I'm not sure I would ever like to work entirely on the computer.

Images; Top: A Melbourne garden designed by Eckersley Garden Architecture. Bottom: A Griffith garden, designed by Paul Bangay. Illustrations by Allison Langton for Australian House & Garden magazine. See the December issue for more on these two beautiful gardens (on sale Nov. 7th).

in the post box today ...

2011-10-21T16:30:00.000+11:00

I've been waiting patiently for weeks for this beautiful book. It was delivered today and it exceeded my expectations -it really is quite special. No doubt you have seen it on its bloggy book tour. If I were you, I would add it to your Christmas wish list pronto! I just love that there are so many beautifully illustrated books being published at the moment, don't you? Good times for illustrators!

Images: Farm Anatomy : The Curious Parts & Pieces of Country Life by Julia Rothman (Storey Publishing, 2011)

Above my desk

2011-10-15T18:17:00.000+11:00

I'm taking Blogging Your Way again this month. Not just because Holly and Leslie's content is always fabulous, or for all the clever and interesting bloggers you get to meet, but because it's time for the annual re-design of this little blog and website and I was hoping to get inspired (and motivated). One of Holly's exercises is to put together a story board of images that express the vision you have for your blog. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love putting together a storyboard. I just don't get the chance to do them for commercial work. And they really do help consolidate your ideas for particular design briefs. So here is my board for BPL blog 2012. I haven't found the time for any of my other homework, but I made time for this.
I bought a cork board from Bunnings, painted it with some creamy milk paint, then pinned up all these lovely images. Some of them are mine, some are from other creative peeps –I've made a little credit box below. And yes, I am obsessed with Maira Kalman.

1, 6, 23. Maira Kalman The principles of Uncertainty. 2. Spotted Turtle Dove watercolour and pencil by me (A.L). 3. Cyclamen watercolour and pencil (A.L). 4. Maira Kalman, The Elements of Style. 5. Flower textile design from promo booklet (A.L). 7. Post card of Farningham, Kent artist unknown. 8. Flower from promo booklet (A.L). 9. Guillemot seabird watercolour (A.L). 10. Camellia watercolour and pencil (A.L). 11. Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Acrylic (A.L). 12. Fabric unknown 13. Kat Macleod Like I Give a Frock. 14. Photo of Kirra Jamison artwork. Photo source unknown. 15. Wallpaper source unknown. 16. Pen and ink map of Fitzroy (A.L). 17. Christmas Bush watercolour and pencil (A.L). 18. Abbey McCulloch painting from Frankie magazine issue 1. 19. Watercolour illustrations of The Abbey, Sydney (A.L). 20. Postcard from A Key to Help Make Your Own World Visible, Gracia Haby. 21. Wattle herbarium illustration watercolour, pencil, (A.L). 22. Pantone colour samples 3935U-3995U. 24. Bellflower textile design (A.L). 25. Tulip textile design (A.L). 26. Oliver Jeffers, The Incredible Book Eating Boy.

Images: Top: My desk (I tidied). Middle: Storyboard for BYW. Bottom: Storyboard credit key.

herbarium collection #3

2011-10-08T17:30:00.000+11:00

"For I have learned to look on nature, not as in the hour of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes, the still, sad music of humanity" - Wordsworth

Images: Herbarium and textile pattern samples © Allison Langton 2011

"Love what you do"

2011-10-07T08:00:00.000+11:00

RIPSJ

Images: Watercolour garden and peony for November

Sundays ...

2011-09-11T16:30:00.000+10:00

Search for me on a Sunday and you'll find me lounging at the library. Either crossed legged on the floor around the 700's (arts) or possibly with my nose tucked in the 150's trying to understand my brain (Psych). Lately I've been hanging out in the library a little more than usual, I seem to work much better amongst the stacks. And I'm taking a few library classes as part of my curriculum.

Currently reading ...
the really interesting The Idea Hunter: How to Find the Best Ideas and Make them Happen and the beautiful Margaret Mee's Amazon: The Diaries of an Artist Explorer and the inspiring Art Synectics and many, many more ....

Image: A few of the books I'm currently reading... –I should never have asked for a CAVAL card!

Explore. Dream. Discover.

2011-09-09T08:30:00.000+10:00

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." –Mark Twain

Images: Top left: Cherry Blossom, right: shopping map Canberra. Bottom: Avoca garden designed by Pangkarra Garden Design. All images for House & Garden magazine October 2011 issue.

The Abbey

2011-09-05T10:00:00.000+10:00

"The Abbey is alive, a weaver of spells, a house that reaches out and wraps its inhabitants and visitors in a crushing embrace"

This was a great brief from house & garden –illustrations for an extract of the new book Where Spirits Dwell by Karina Machado. The direction was to draw The Abbey in Annandale, Sydney, with a spooky feel and cats and bats and a grey washy background so I got to play with some water colour again! This time it was Zoisite Genuine, Perylene Green and a hint of Cascade.

The job came in very late and I had only two days to complete it. I used white gouache over the top of the water colour wash as I didn't have time to mask out the whites. I ran into difficulties painting the house because of this so it's a bit messy in areas, but because I painted the illo's quite large, they tightened up a bit when I shrunk them to size. Time restraints can often be a good thing –forcing you to think creatively. I'm researching creativity at the moment but will chat about that in the coming weeks ...

I will be back a bit later in the week with some more from H&G but in the meantime, if you want to see the shopping map I drew for the October issue, head over to the Thea and Sami blog for a current web exclusive! Thea is showing the map on her blog this month as I drew one of her lovely cushions. Check it out ...

Images: Illustrations for Australian House & Garden magazine ©Allison Langton 2011. Art direction Amy Lees. Block quote from Where Spirits Dwell, Karina Machado.

I love Daniel Smith ... and other sneaky peeks

2011-08-18T12:00:00.000+10:00

About a month ago, I bought the most fabulous set of colour charts from my local art shop. 238 watercolour dots on cards from Daniel Smith. I've been in watercolour heaven ever since. All you do is add water and you get to sample ALL of Daniel Smith's watercolours. Great idea from the DS marketing department, I have bought so many more tubes because of it. You just can't tell what a colour will do on your paper from a printed colour chart. I have many, many favourites from Pyrrol Orange, and the brightest Opera Pink you will ever find and Cobalt Teal Blue - you just can't mix these colours. Part of their range also include Primatek, a series of paints made with authentic mineral pigments. 'Oh my, oh my' I heard myself saying as I mixed each spot with water. Some of my favourites include Cascade Green, a beautiful mid-range green that disperses pools of teal blue and then there's Serpentine green, that one leaves lovely flecks of russet to settle in the texture of your paper -apparently the serpentine pigment is sourced from Australia, and what about the Zoisite Genuine! I used this in a piece a few days ago for a story on a haunted house that needed a lovely dark textural background.

I don't often like to promote art brands on my blog, I'm a big believer in using what you have - I don't want to make anyone feel like they have to rush out and buy something. But I can honestly recommend getting the colour chart spots to test Daniel Smiths colour range - and there is enough paint on the page to use the colours in your own little paintings too. You can't go wrong.

Below is a sneaky early peek of a map I did for next months House & Garden magazine using Daniel Smith watercolours -and a few Windsor & Newton colours too to be fair (I still love you W&N). I've been using the pans (dried blocks of watercolour that you add water to) for years but I'm starting to really enjoy using the tubes of paint. I've also started using a cold-press paper with a bit more tooth rather than the smoothest hot-press I can find. But can you spot the mistake in the western Europe map below. I missed a whole country! It was in the pencil rough but I must have painted over it on the final. Begins with L. Oh dear! My humble apologies to all who call L********* home (over half a million people). I should send a prize to the first person to guess correctly.
This map and some other watercolour illo's will be in the October issue of Australian House & Garden magazine - on sale in a couple of weeks (5th September).

Images Top: Daniel Smith watercolour charts. Bottom: Watercolour map of 'Summer in Europe' for the October issue of Australian House & Garden magazine. Watercolour and Photoshop. Art Direction Katrina Breen.

wonder-filled world

2011-07-11T08:00:00.000+10:00

I'm over half way through a four week self-imposed internet hiatus like last year. I don't have the vocabulary to describe just how much it helps my creative process. Switching off the internet, the tv, not waiting for inspiration to strike first, just sitting down and starting that project you've been wanting to start for years ...works WONDERS!

Image: Water colour Wisteria for Australian House & Garden magazine July issue

Organic Gardening magazine

2011-05-14T06:30:00.000+10:00

It was really nice to be asked to illustrate a garden plan for the June/July issue of Organic Gardening magazine in the US. It's a lovely publication ~~unfortunately only available in Australia via subscription~~ some larger newsagents stock it here, but it's the perfect magazine for those searching for a more sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle. The garden I was drawing had some great ideas for saving rain water and retaining water runoff. The highlight for me was the green roof garden. It helps with heating and cooling the property but has the added advantage of looking fabulous.

I'm also safely tucked away back home in Melbourne after making the decision not to continue studying at Newcastle. I found full-time study difficult and so decided to head back home to Melbourne and continue with some part-time study. I had a great time in Newcastle (it's such a lovely place) and made some fabulous new friends but I knew almost immediately that it wasn't quite right for me. Although I was disappointed that it didn't work out as planned, it has given me the direction I was craving as well as the motivation to continue drawing. And that's a good thing.

Image top: Illustration for Organic Gardening magazine June/July issue. Art Direction Gavin Robinson. Image bottom: Camellia Japonica Hermes for Australian House & Garden magazine June issue. Both © Allison Langton 2011.

Work/Life 2

2011-03-28T19:15:00.000+11:00

Work/Life 2 is now shipping from Uppercase. My copy is yet to arrive but I know, without a doubt, if Janine Vangool has anything to do with a project it will be fabulous. And I have a little profile in there too :)
Image: Left; cover design by the very talented Alyssa Nassner Right; One of my illo's for Work/Life2.

electric blue satin shantung ...

2011-03-28T19:00:00.001+11:00

This was such a fun brief to work on from House & Garden magazine ... an article on hoarding. We all do it. Don't we? Though for some it can create serious problems.
When I moved to Newcastle I had to let go of a number of things I had been ~~hoarding~~ holding on to for over 20 years. My year 10 formal dress (circa 1990) was one of the first things to go. Long since able to fit into it, I'd pull it out of the closet every couple of years and remember a different time and place. It was my first best dress and I'm not even a dress kind of gal anymore - why was I keeping it? Hand sewn from electric blue satin shantung I felt a little pang in my heart as I dropped it down the chute at my local vinnies store. I no longer had the room for it but will always wonder just where it ended up... a rag pile, a fancy dress costume or possibly 'pretty in pinkified' into some fabulously new ensemble - highly unlikely but one can hope. Do you have something you can't bare to throw away? Something that holds a memory, a dream, a sound, part of the landscape from a far away place ... what is it that captures us about these things?

I thought I'd add the original rough pencil sketch for this job too. I should post these more often. With the help of creative directors and art directors (Melissa Mylchreest and Katrina Breen in this case from House & Garden) the idea is shaped and I think you'll agree the final is a far superior product. If only I could keep an art director in my pocket at all times.
The May issue of Australian House & Garden magazine is on sale next week (4th April) Or get it delivered straight to your post box even earlier by subscribing :)

All images © Allison Langton 2011

Change is good ... isn't it?

2011-03-12T12:00:00.000+11:00

I have no idea how to begin this post. So much has happened in the past month it is difficult to know where to begin.
A little over four weeks ago I left Melbourne and since then I've been quite surprised by the range of emotions I've experienced. I've gone from real excitement ... "This is going to be the best experience of my life...'" to disillusion and fear of the unknown ... "Did I really just sell/give away all of my belongings to move up here to study? What was I thinking?'"... and the quintessential thought of creative folk everywhere ... "Wow, there are some really talented drawers here, compared to their work mine really sucks, should I be here?'" blah blah blah, you get the idea.

On the whole I'm trying to remain positive about everything, it's just at those moments when I think about home and start to miss my family and friends and the fluffy cat, that I begin to harbour secret plans to stow away on the next cargo ship heading south. I have this strong need to surround myself with people who know me. I forgot how comfortable that is.

The course itself is pretty awesome and one-of-a-kind. Though it seems not to be immune from the cuts and pokes by university hierarchy like so many creative studies. This semester I'm taking Biology, Photography, Natural History Field Studies and Natural History Studio Studies. So far I've found Field Studies quite difficult. Perhaps because I'm used to drawing in the studio at a desk on my own with my water and brushes all nicely laid out in front of me, not lounging on the forest floor slapping mozzies and ants, trying to capture a whole nature scene. I really do suck at that. But the lecturers are of the school of thought that drawing is a learned skill. That to improve you need to draw everyday, all day, as much as you can manage. So we're to keep nature journals and sketch journals and although I'm a little behind (I'm the slowest drawer that ever there was) it's nice to have someone make me do this again. To just draw. I'd forgotten how calming and reflective it is. And how three hours flies by in what feels like thirty minutes.

I've also been thinking about how to tie this blog in with my studies. We have a fairly big work load and on top of that I need to earn a living. The blog will have to change somewhat. I want to share as much as I can about the things I am learning as I'm sure some will be interested. Perhaps it may become more of an image based blog with sketchbook work as well as finished work - I'm not sure. I hope to find a routine soon ... I also have to remember to breath :)

PS. My heart goes out to those who have lost so much in Japan. Those images of mother natures power are truly mind blowing. Where ever you are in the world, I hope you and your loved ones are safe and sound, x.

Images: Top- Rose for the April issue of Australian House & Garden.

The forest and the lake

2011-02-11T16:00:00.000+11:00

Toronto really is a lovely little place. It is just one of a multitude of villages and towns dotted around Lake Macquarie, one of the largest coastal salt water lakes in the southern hemisphere. There are so many different towns to explore I imagine it will take all of the three years I am here to explore them properly. And you can take your pick - the beach, the lake or the mountains - everything is close by.

Right now I am taking it slow. Investigating my immediate surroundings little by little. The drive was tiring. I stopped at Mittagong overnight and I'm glad I did because I needed all of my concentration to get through Sydney. It was easy enough to find my way - I took the M7 into the M2, then Pennant Hills road to the F3 on to Newcastle. For those that haven't driven along Pennant Hills Road, it is a six lane ~~highway~~ road that is super narrow and choked with huge trucks, that winds its way from Parramatta to Wahroonga. It was built in the 1820's as a bullock track and seriously should have stayed one. I don't think in Melbourne we have any roads equivalent in the fear factor as this one, though I'm sure if you drove it regularly you would get used to it.

The home I am staying in is lovely. I have my own bathroom and my bedroom/office has a deck leading out to a bush-land setting. There are many ponds that are home to native frogs and ducks (the frogs kept me awake on the first night) and just down the road you can walk the old fire tracks through the bush up the range. I miss home terribly but with such beautiful surrounds one can't complain. Will try to post more soon...

Images: Left- Lake Macquarie looking from Fennell Bay. Right- my daily forest walk up through the range - now there's no excuse not to loose those extra kg's :)

My last post for a while ...

2011-02-06T17:00:00.000+11:00

It's time for me to say goodbye to Melbourne and start the long journey to Newcastle. It's a 12 hour drive that I guess in the grand scheme of Australia isn't so lengthy, I just know I'll be glad when I get there. It's a long way to drive by yourself. I think I will break it into two days, perhaps stopping over in Goulburn or Mittagong.
I'm just about to start making some CDs to entertain along the way, though sometimes the silence is nice too, taking in the country-side and the long expanse of road.

I've enrolled in to all my lectures and tutorials for the semester (actually I have one final tutorial to enrol in tomorrow) and I'm looking forward to starting on the 28th February. I'm also taking some additional seminars for 'mature-age' students the week before uni officially starts, although mature age includes anyone over 20, I'm hoping there may be a few over 30 :).
I'll be working too. Picking up freelance work where I can and perhaps even a little weekend job. And I'm looking forward to exploring a new town -Toronto (of which I have learnt to follow quickly with 'New South Wales' else it be confused with the other one, which I'd also like to visit one day).

So long Melbourne, you've been lovely ...

Image: Snapdragon illustration for the March issue of Australian House & Garden magazine 2011.