Nature is the best source of inspiration…..

Have you may have already noticed, there are some new collectables available! Here is a little behind the scenes on how I came up with the designs….

First up we have the new t-shirt, creature arms consists of some stacked up monster limbs that fit on top of each other like a jigsaw and are full of little details.

I came up for the idea for this one a long time ago, but it really took off when I visited Austria last year for two weeks. I always draw little thumbnails when I think of a composition for a shirt, and a sort of pattern / jigsaw type idea for a composition has been the for a while.

So while visiting Austria I made time to draw every day, I saw it as a holiday where I could really get away into the wild and work on my ideas and thoughts. One day, in our little lodge type apartment I drew this….

I really liked how the arms fit together, I also had some good feedback on the idea and thought I might be onto something. However when I got back from Austria I just didn’t know where to go with it.

This is nothing to be ashamed about, in fact it’s a key part of being a creative. Don’t push your ideas just because you feel like you need to finish it, leave it for a while until the ideas come back to you, I left this for months, and I’m glad I did as it probably wouldn’t have turned out the way I wanted it otherwise!

I worked a lot on creating lots of different creature arms and variations of the same types of arms….

This is when I saw my idea really come alive, I knew drawing all these different arms that I was happy with where it was going. After drawing tonnes of limbs, I pieced together my favourites and the Creature Arms t-shirt was born!

The next collectable is pretty special to me, it’s something every creative should have, a handy little companion that I use daily so I created my own to use and obviously share with you guys!

Pretty much all my ideas start in a small sketchbook, even if it’s just a couple of notes and no drawing, I try to record all of my ideas just because it clears my head and it means I always have plenty of inspiration of my own to look back on when I need an idea!

It’s A5 so can be easily carried anywhere for you to use wherever your life takes you, the paper is really nice and high quality, and it has a pretty snazzy inside cover print. Oh, and it’s fully recycled to top it off!

Here’s some of the early sketches…. they were pretty small!

I used the phrase ‘TAKE RISKS’ because it’s something I strongly believe in, your life will never change if you don’t do something about it, yeah it might not always work out when you do take a risk, but you’re not doing anything if you’re not making mistakes.

There’s plenty of creatures inside to keep you company when you’re out and about too!

With the release of the new collectables I’m also doing a special deal, if you buy both of them and enter the code ‘CREATURE’ at the checkout, you’ll get the sketchbook for half price!