eCommerce Store – Artist Research Honourable Mentions

Stated in my previous 3 posts, as with any commercial project it is integral for its success that any designs are based on strategic decisions. As stated, before what this means is that any designs, I produce must appeal to the target audience. I have observed three artists in an appropriate degree of depth, and I am confident I am ready to begin my design experiment process. The previous three artist are the biggest sources of influence to me during this experimental development process, however there has been a selection of other artists that have influenced my intentions for the aesthetic of my intended brand label. The following artists are the honourable mentions in that each aspect will influence the final design to a degree as well.

Artist 4 – Meyoco

Meyoco is at the peak of the Kawaii and Cute niche as an influencer and trend-setter. Meyoco’s credentials are marked loud and clear with her 1.2 million followers on Instagram which clearly affirm the majority of the niche’s admiration for her design aesthetic. I believe that the liquid elements and reflective aspects that have become signature to Meyoco’s visual appeal are aspects of her design that have drawn me to their work the most. In response to Meyoco’s illustrations I am keen to incorporate the elements into my current projects design experiments.

Artist 5 – Goodvibestype

“Goodvibestype” is the brand label and pseudonym of Kelli Laderer. Kelli is an ethical, eco-friendly activist that promotes positive mental health through her artworks and illustrations. Primarily her artworks aesthetics consist of blocked letter incorporated in creative and unique ways to convey her illustrations intentions. I am drawn to Kelli’s illustrations due to the interesting use of layout and composition regarding type and characters. In response to Kelli’s illustrations I am keen to explore and experiment with the way that she implements composition within this current project.

Artist 6 – Emily Kim

Emily Kim is a leader in the Kawaii and Cute niche community on Instagram sporting 450,000 followers celebrating her artworks daily. I believe that Emily is deeply influenced by a key element that sparked the rise of Kawaii and Cute niche within the western culture and that is the animation “Sailor Moon”. Sailor Moon stimulated a sub-niche within the overarching Kawaii and Cute niche called the “Magical Girl” category. I identify a lot of elements of the “Magical Girl” sub-niche within Emily Kun’s work and it is Emily’s unique take on these elements that draws me in as an influence on my current project. In response to Emily’s character illustrations I am keen to incorporate the elements I am drawn to, to develop a distinct style for my brand label to insure my target audience is attracted to buy.

Artist 7 – Yeaaah! Studio

Yeaaah! Studo’s is a French independent apparel and accessories brand owned and operated by husband and wife Stéphane and Lauara Casier. Each design that the brand sports is designed by Stéphane whilst all fulfilment is managed by Laura. As far as I can tell due to the nature of this independent business the only advertisement that Yeaaah! Studio’s utilises is through their social channel of Instagram which currently is sitting at a following of 186,000. Due to the linear advertisement route each post on their Instagram is carefully designed and curated to push the impression of the brand and the product to stimulate high conversion as at present it is the sole driving factor of the brand. I am extremely engaged with the content that they post as I believe it is appealing and visually pleasing which has driven me to check out their website and consider purchasing. I am keen to experiment with the compositional advertising that has stimulated me to the degree it has within my own brand and niche when moving forward into sales and marketing.

Artist 8 – Becky Cas

Becky Cas is an artist and illustrator based in Switzerland who is a prolific and celebrated creative In the Kawaii and Cute niche. The focus of Becky’s illustrations are the created and curation of simplified character designed to stimulate the part of the brain that generates an “awh” when something is to cute to handle. Becky has seen much success using this method making an estimated £7000 on her Etsy store based on average order value times by total store sales . I am drawn to the effect that her overtly cute style stimulates in her audience and I am keen to implement her designs as an influence in my stores product design experiments.

Conclusion

Having now scripted analysis regarding these final five artists I now conclude that the research phase of my eCommerce store product development is now complete. The next step in my process is begin my design experiments and start putting pen to paper developing potential design options exploring style, composition, colour, and concept. The next blog post will involve the showcasing of these design explorations.

S.M.A.R.T targets – Munchy May Side Project

As you may recall during my education on this blog I made use of a reflective cycle that defined what had previously happened in a project, affirmed where I was currently, and then with this new clarity aim towards where I should strategically direct my efforts next. I utilised a tool and framework called S.M.A.R.T targets as a method to implement self-reflection into my creative process as a exercise to make the unconscious conscious, the saying goes what gets measured gets focused. ‘S.M.A.R.T’ Is an acronym that stands for ‘Small’, ‘Measurable’, ‘And’, ‘Realistic’, ‘Targets’. The intention of this tool is to periodically review goals and milestones for the purpose of growth through accurate and appropriate target setting. The results from this review would then be tailored into a concise action plan moving forward.

During my education I found that despite how time-consuming it was to dedicate time to this reflective cycle that positive and focused results were born from this process. Therefore, I will be utilising this tool again for my current projects as I seek to emulate the success I found using this method in the past. I will be reviewing my second project: Munchy May.

Context of previous two weeks

On Tuesday the 7th of April I created a post called “What are my current projects?”. Within this post I outlined my two current projects: the first being to create and grow an eCommerce store online within a focused niche. The second being my ambitions to grow a brand label which would act as an entity hosting an open call project inviting designers to take part in an art challenge. This brand label is called “Munchy May” which is also the name of the project and challenge.

During the first week after I set my targets, I released that I could not achieve the goals I set for my first project because I had missed vital information that I needed to work through before I can begin the creation process. Highlighted on my blog I spent my time exploring the best potential niche I could work towards building a store for which I concluded was the “Cute and Kawaii” niche. I explored the limitations and benefits between the “print on demand” and “drop shipping” supply chain fulfilment, and I also explored all potential products that were available for manufacture using print on demand manufacturers in the USA. I ended the first week of my project researching 3 artists which I believe will benefit the visual aesthetic of my intended brand label should I experiment and incorporate it within my product designs.

In my previous post, I expressed that my goals for my second project were to utilise the follow for follow Instagram strategy to grow the Munchy May Instagram account to 1,000 followers. The deadline I set for myself was to achieve this level of growth before the first of May by gaining a minimum of 20 new followers per day. I also expressed that I intended to design, construct, and publish a website explaining the entire event in detail including the creation of promotional content which will be posted on the Instagram account. Over the course of the 2 weeks since these targets were set I have achieved every single goal I intended to for this project. At present the Munchy May Instagram account has just hit 1,000 followers, the website has been created and published and can now be viewed by anyone, and a series of promotional posts have been published to the account.

What’s Happening this week?

This week is the countdown to the beginning of Munchy May event. It is my last chance to promote the event and encourage participation before the challenge begins on the first of May. I have achieved my monthly target for follower count acquisition and any extra followers are a bonus. Essentially this week is focused on marketing the event to as many people as possible that would consider the option of participating in the event. I will spend my time engaging in conversations with people, direct messaging peers and potential participants formally inviting them to the event as well as posting content to reach a wider audience. In each posts description I will leave details about the event including direction towards how to find more information. The aim is to do this consistently to gain results utilising the compound effect regarding audience retention.

It is my intention to also dedicate some of my time this week dedicated to finalising my artist research in regard to my eCommerce store. Once I have finalised my research, I will begin the process of exploring designs and experimenting with shape and form. My goal for this stage is to have 13 different designs for my chosen 20 products which I outlined in a previous post. I will need to design 1 square design, 4 rectangular (A3 shape) designs, 2 badge designs, and 6 seamless patterns. I would consider this week very product if I can finalise my experiment and complete a single design towards this goal.

What I need to reflect on

At this stage in my two projects I have completed my initial goals for Munchy May but I am still working towards beginning the process of my eCommerce goals. As stated, I have however achieved the completion multiple aspects of my research for this project. I need to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of both projects to transfer this knowledge into an action plan that will ensure the continued growth and refinement of a specialised skillset. This skillset is integral for the growth and refinement of my projects which will have a direct positive impact on each projects success.

Looking forward into the next few weeks, I will need to define the next milestones that I intend for both projects as well as implement a measurable action plan which I will use to ensure success whilst being able to receive reflective feedback throughout the process. It is important that I consider the pitfalls that I may face at each stage including how best I can overcome each obstacle. I believe by doing this I will continue the refinement of each project through rigorous self-management and dedication to my goals. It is better to work smart than to work hard.

Munchy May Target 1 – Continue marketing the event to as many people as possible through various means.

Discussed throughout this SMART target blog post, the events success can only be ensured if I have people participate in the challenge. Not a lot of people choose to get involved in a long form project once the project has begun for the other participates. Therefore, it is important that I put this information Infront of as many people as I possibly can. The methods that I will utilise to communicate this message are as follows:

1. Direct message peers inside and outside my circle formally inviting them to take part in the event. I will also direct message them the promotional carousel post so that they may be put into my funnel directly.
2. Post content that my audience will like and include a call to action in the description directing people to check out my website for more information.
3. Engage in discussion with people by engaging with their content and responding to comments on their content as well. This will encourage people to learn more about me and they could check out my profile.

I will consider this target a success if I can get to 100 website visitors before the first of April as well as 100 post saves for the combined force of my promotional Instagram posts. If I achieve this, I would consider this marketing sprint a success because I would have ensured more people were aware of the event and the potential them to partake is higher.

Munchy May Target 2 – Grow the Instagram account to 1300 followers before the 1st of May.

As off the creation of this post the Munchy May official Instagram account is sitting on 1077 followers. The difference between the account’s current total followers and the aspirational goal of 1300 is 223 followers. There is exactly 1 week left in April, if you divide 223 by the 7 days it equals to 31 followers per day. I will use the target of acquiring 31 new followers per day as the framework I need to achieve my aspirational goal of growth. I will consider this target achieved if I hit my target number by the deadline outlined. I believe that this is an important target to hit as it will increase the potential number of participants involved in the event.

eCommerce store Target 1 – Finish all research blog posts.

Time is off the essence and it’s important to make small consistent progress to ensure a project achieves its goals. The research that I am currently finalising is integral to the next step in my project’s creative method. I feel that I would be crippling my progress if I dwelled to much on this aspect of my development and therefore wish to seek the swift completion of this stage. I will consider this target a success if all blog research has been posted by Tuesday the 28th of April.

eCommerce store Target 2 – Illustrate 10 different style explorations including, form, line weight, colour, shading, and aesthetic, in response to my artist research.

Due to the nature of my product development goals it is important that I be open minded in my exploration of potential designs that my niche could consider appealing. If I follow a linear development process it is likely I will miss the opportunity to refine my designs to impress my audience in a way that would truly resonate with them. Therefore I will not consider this target a success unless I have a minimum of 10 different variations of style in response to my artist research.

Conclusion

Therefore, in response to my outlined goals, this week I will be spending my time finalising het research phase for my eCommerce store’s product development. Which will then lead into my experimental drawing phase which I will respond to the analysed aesthetic which I have outlined within my blog research. Meanwhile whilst I am executing these objectives, I will also be spending my spare time continuing to market the Munchy May event on Instagram as well as employing the current strategies for growth with the goal of achieving 1300 followers by the 1st of May. I believe that If I achieve each of my goals that I will be on track for success with both of my projects. I intend to review these targets by next Sunday the 3rd of May. This will be the third day in my Munchy May event where I will be able to outline my successes in regard to marketing the event.

eCommerce Store – Artist Research 3

Stated in my previous post, as with any commercial project it is integral for its success that any designs are based on strategic decisions. As stated, before what this means is that any designs, I produce must appeal to the target audience. After observing various competitors in the niche as well as lead designers celebrated in the community, I have identified a trend in the design patterns that I believe the community leans towards. Using this information, I have selected a set of artists that I will analyse to allow myself the opportunity to learn and decipher the creative rules of the style to begin the process of developing my own for this project. This should allow me to produce artwork that appeals directly to my target market.

Artist Three – Faline San

Faline San is a digital illustrator that is extremely popular within the Kawaii and Cute Niche community. I measure her success as been big due to having 147,000 followers on Instagram with many of her posts receiving a lot of comments from the community showing love and admiration for her creative works. I feel that out of other members in the community who have less support and followers than her that she is a deep influencer and leader in her space as a creative. I am seeking to serve the same audience that she has a strong connection to and therefore logic dictates that it is in my best interest to analyse the elements that she has mastered. Therefore I believe performing a written analysis of her illustrations will allow me to gain deep insight into my target market and how best I can appeal to them.

Other than the strategic decision to learn and observe the aspects of a successful designer In my target market, the reason I am drawn to Faline’s artwork is the way in which it portrays value and lighting to create depth resulting in a more refined degree of appeal when observed. I am also drawn to the experiential concepts that Faline covers in her selected visual aesthetic. I had not considered each specific arrangement of elements that she makes use of within her design but, by using the target market as a lense, it is easy to see why as an artist she has become popular within this community.

Another element that has drawn me to Faline’s illustrations are the color palette that she has shown within her artworks brand and style. Even as someone that is outside the niche looking in, I can observe and understand what is appealing about the color choices that is included within her work; even invoking a sense of appreciation for it myself. Throughout the rest of this blogpost I will be discussing different aspects of Faline’s work and creative process to refine my understanding of her work moving forward.

This illustration portrays to original characters that Faline has created to express herself.

Conceptually Faline’s artwork covers a range of topics within the Kawaii and cute niche but there are 2 key focal points within the majority of her illustrations. The first conceptual theme that is often found within Faline’s work is human characters, often teen girls, wearing fashion heavily inspired by popular aspects of the Kawaii and cute niche. The second conceptual theme that is found within Faline’s work is symbolic items that are popular within this niche such as sweet food, cute animals, magical symbols, astrological elements, and abstract forms. These elements are often used in conjunction to form experimental visuals that stimulate a specific impression that members of the niche enjoy viewing and engage with. Oftentimes the concept of each piece is an arrangement of experimental elements intended to portray a feeling that members of her niche as well as Faline herself identify with. Therefore, one could say the concept of each piece is a symbolic representation of a theme or emotion.

To dissect this concept using an example, the illustration above features original characters designed by Faline as a form of self-expression from the artist. The girls featured outfits are inspired by aspects of harujuku fashion (a niche of fashion popular with this community) as well as underlining themes such as angles and demons. One girl has soft horns on her head as well as a backpack that is fashioning a demon tail and wings. The other has a halo above her head and a backpack that has angel wings.

The concept of this piece can feel abstract, but I believe it captures the duality of the thrill of doing something you’re not supposed to, juxtaposed against the pride of doing something in good faith. The concept was the portrayal of two characters, but the intention was the communication of an underlining theme and representation of a feeling. By observing and analysing the conceptual perspective of Faline’s work I believe I have begun the process of refining my understanding of her artwork. I am keen to apply this in practice through experimenting with what I have learned later in my creative process.

The artwork above portrays an illustration consisting of various elements of the Kawaii and cute culture.

I would define Faline’s illustration style as being a modern twist on vintage Japanese animation combined modern fashion trends and aesthetic choices. On the simple vs complex ratio I would express that Faline’s style is more stylised than based in realism due to the simplification of features and textures. In-fact texture has been removed entirely and utilises soft linework, edges, and colour tones. All colour tones that Faline utilises are pastel in nature meaning that they generally have a lot of white pigment in the pixel ratio. This also means that Faline rarely uses high contrast darker shades within her design excluding the dark tones she uses in her linework. The shading that Faline implements into her designs uses a combination of blocked out highlights and soft shaded light tones when determined appropriate. These soft shaded tones persist the consistency of a gentle and inviting aesthetic.

Faline utilises a style that is very impactful when it comes to portraying warm and cool colours. As an example, if a design is predominantly warm in nature then Faline will utilise cooler colours to balance out the image and generate a visual stimulus to engage with her artwork’s observer.  The line weight is often consistent and although Is very present is finer than the works of Juancho Styler and Drew Millward. All linework within a design is not one consistent colour as well, when appropriate the colour is a softer tone, for example in the flash sheet artwork above the lollypop utilises a dark pink tone rather than black like the other aspects of the artwork.

Lighting plays a vital role within the designs aesthetic but specifically when used by aspects of the design that appear to be glowing. The artwork below features a character that has glowing stars in her hair, this is a design choice that aligns with the concept and them of the illustration but is core to the chosen style. I believe I have learnt a considerable amount about the style and visual aesthetic that Faline implements into her illustrations. I am keen to perform various experiments with this set of rules that I have identified to refine and explore the potential aspects of Faline’s work that would benefit my current project.

The artwork above portrays an original character that Faline designed as a form of self-expression.

The technique that Faline utilises to create her artwork is likely the same as the majority of professional modern designers. I believe that she would likely create her artwork utilising a digital pen display, such as a branded one from Huion or Wacom, within a drawing software such as Adobe Photoshop. There is a possibility that Faline may start her process by sketching directly onto paper, but I believe it likely that she begins by sketching out some thumbnailed compositions, shapes, and forms on a layer within her painting software. She could also as an alternative utilise a tablet-based software such as procreate using an iPad Pro rather than a computer. Once her sketch has been refined and she has decided the direction in which her artwork is going in, I believe that she would then start illustrating more refined linework until she is confident that her linework is satisfactory.

Once the linework has been perfected I believe that Faline would block out the coloured areas implementing gradients where necessary to add depth and define shape or form. Once the colour has been implemented, I believe she would lock the pixels of the linework layer and alter the colour of certain linework sections to stylise and define the forms further with her aesthetic. Finally, she may colour a background out or implement a stock texture of a page of paper to align with her theme’s intentions. Extra attention would be given in a refinement stage to lighting ensuring that each illustration holds a level of atmosphere that is representative to the intended tone that Faline desires to convey. The final image will have a slight amount of noise edited onto the illustration to cause a subtle organic feeling to be defined into the resulting design. Understanding Faline’s creative process is incredibly important If I am to be able to construct an appealing design for my targeted audience and I am confident through this analysis process that I am refining my understanding and ability towards my projects goal.

The artwork above portrays a selection of symbols and objects within the Kawaii and Cute niche.

All of Faline’s Illustrations compositionally are either portraits or flash sheets. This makes sense as the majority of Faline’s content is character based of creative abstractions experimenting with the Kawaii and Cute visual aesthetic. The aim of each of her artworks regarding composition is to be direct. Oftentimes there is little to no negative space with each area not filled with direct subject being used to portray stars, sparkles, or celestial symbols. Due to the nature of each composition, the rule of thirds plays a big role in the spacing of important content. For example, there is never an important detail directly in the centre of the composition, it is always centralised to 4 of the available 9 squares in the rule of third. I believe the direct aim of Faline’s composition is important to the niche I am trying to break into and as a result of this decision I will make sure to experiment with these styles of composition when performing my design method.

The artwork above portrays a portrait of an original character created by Faline.

I believe that like many artists that Faline was influenced by other artists within her niche that were established before them. Qing Han also known by the tag “Qinniart”, in her life before she passed away, made a name for herself for her signature glowing stars. I believe that these glowing stars inspired a myriad of artists within the niche and has potentially become a staple to the niche’s aesthetic. I believe Qing was a clear influence on this artist due to how Faline now incorporates many aspects of Qing’s signature style within her work.

Harujuku is a district in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan that is a major commercial location regarding Japanese youth culture and fashion. It has become known in the Kawaii and Cute niche as been a leader to the Kawaii fashion industry. I believe that the fashion and commercial direction from Harujuku has directly impacted Faline’s art style and will continue to influence her vision and aesthetic decisions. Sourcing Faline’s influences back has provided me with further reference that I can investigate regarding developing an aesthetic for my brand. I am keen to implement these influences into my own design experiments moving forward

I believe the purpose and goal behind Faline’s illustrations is purely self-expression. When researching into her artwork I found that much of her illustrations were in response to her personal life and her interests. I believe that Faline’s artwork is a portal for her to express her inner monologue and receive feedback from her community as a result. I also believe that her artwork is just a response to her own interest in the Kawaii and cute niche. When viewing artwork within the niche that she admires I believe she feels inspired and wants to contribute to the conversation with her own voice. In response to this purpose I am keen to implement my own voice into each artwork to produce a unique impression of the Kawaii and cute niche to generate a response within my target audience.

Faline is the third artist that I have analysed during this projects research phase. I will be performing one more analysis that is different than the previous three outlining the smaller influences to my research stage. This will be posted shortly after this post. Thank you for taking the time to read. 

eCommerce Store – Artist Research 2

Stated in my previous post, as with any commercial project it is integral for its success that any designs are based on strategic decisions. As stated before what this means is that any designs, I produce must appeal to the target audience. After observing various competitors in the niche as well as lead designers celebrated in the community, I have identified a trend in the design patterns that I believe the community leans towards. Using this information, I have selected a set of artists that I will analyse to allow myself the opportunity to learn and decipher the creative rules of the style to begin the process of developing my own for this project. This should allow me to produce artwork that appeals directly to my target market.

Artist Two – Drew Millward

Drew Millward is an Illustrator who typically works in the commercial poster industry. From what I can tell he is currently represented by Nobrow press due to his recent feature in the Nobrow book titled “Studio Dreams” which is the tenth book within this series printed by the publisher. The image directly below this text is Drew’s submission to the book “Studio Dreams” and is how I discovered him as an artist. Nobrow 10 was the first book from the publisher Nobrow that I collected upon its launch and Drew’s interpretation of the brief was one of my favourites due to his bold and striking style.

The visual aesthetic is quirky and abstract in nature and I would suggest is not a good fit for my current project. However, the style that I have identified that appeals to the Kawaii and cute niche makes use of elements that Drew is extremely talented at executing. The bold lines and blocked out colouring choices is something that aligns with popular designs within the niche of choice. Therefore, I would like to analyse Drew’s illustrations in depth to extract the elements that I feel make his work so appealing into a new experimental outcome of my own making to fashion a solution for my design needs. In the next few paragraphs, I will deconstruct the appealing style that I am drawn towards.

The artwork above is the design that Drew Millward’s submitted to the Nobrow book: Studio Dreams.

The concepts that Drew typically illustrates into his designs consist of abstracted characters or animals in vast and eccentric landscapes covered with symbolism and interesting visual stimulus. These characters and environments are often representing a theme or ideal in a visual form to communicate an intended piece of information of message. As a commercial artist much of his work is intended to communicate the client’s intentions in eye catching visual ideas, therefore the concepts or characters that are included within each artwork utilise clever symbolic concepts to convey such messages.

The artwork below this text is a cropped close-up of a poster that Drew illustrated for the leads festival featuring an Owl. Festivals are often events that last well into the hours of the night and as such Drew cleverly used the concept of an owl to represent the impression of a fun and exciting character that is ready to be up all night just as owls do in the wild. This subtle design choice uses the concept to engage with a target market directing hot traffic to the other information on the poster. The way in which Drew utilises concepts in a subtle and skilled fashion is one of the reasons I am drawn to him as an artist. It will benefit my current project impeccably if I learn to master the strategic techniques that Drew implements into his artworks such as concise concept application. I intend to experiment with this element of design in response to the observations I have made in response to Drew’s work using my design experiments.

The artwork above is a cropped selection of a poster that Drew created as a commission for the lead’s festival.

I define Drew Millwards visual style as a refined modern illustrated aesthetic informed by vintage graphic design with gritty elements and geometric forms. The structure that Drew builds his designs up with is heavily informed by geometry. There is heavy use of circles and straights which I define as been reminiscent of graphic design due to complimentary nature this has with a gridded format. Drew makes use of thick bold lines within his designs with much of the detailing using a difference in balance regarding line weight variation. The solid forms use consistent bold lines whereas the detailing has it’s boldness shrink down as it moves outward n the images design to define form. The way that Drew uses colour and shading is blocked out similar to how Jauncho made use of it in my last blog post.

The difference between the two artists is that Drew layers more detailing and colours to give the design depth by blocked out abstracted shapes and highlights in targeted areas of the design. For example, if you observe the image below the canister with the smiling face has dripping effects on his design. This is unnecessary to support the aesthetic of the piece but adds another layer of charm and refines depth throughout the piece. Due to Drew working primarily as a poster designer, he makes use of limited color palette’s in much of his work to direct tone and impression for the viewer of the artwork. This technique in visual communication as well as Drew’s design choices and style are all elements that I’m keen to experiment with regarding the stylised aesthetic that I intend to create for my current projects brand.

This artwork was commissioned by Northern Monk Brewery. The project is dubbed “Nothern Tropics”

Similar to the way that Jauncho works I believe that Drew Millward utilises the vector base software Adobe Illustrator to clean up hand drawn sketches that he forms on paper. Once the vector illustrated has been refined and completed, I believe he imports the design into Adobe Photoshop where he distresses the image with textured image overlays, brushes, and patterns effects to stylise and refine the tone of the piece. From start to finish I believe he collects references and collates ideas before sketching rough thumbnails for his designs. Then I believe he creates a final refined sketch which he imports in adobe Photoshop.

From here I believe that he blocks out the bold outlines for his images before using finer detailed linework to define shape and form increasing the images depth. Adding colour, he blocks out large segments of the image before implementing lighting, highlights, and shadows to add some sense of realism to his design. Finally, I believe he blocks out colours for even more depth and implements distressed texturing in adobe Photoshop to enhance the aesthetic appeal. The process that Drew utilises to construct his imagery is a method which I am keen to experiment with, I intend to practice and push the boundaries of Drews creative process to master the techniques that he makes use of and continue the refinement of an aesthetic for my brand.

The above artwork is a commission by Machynlleth Comedy Festival as a promotional poster for the event.

The composition that Drew Millward utilises within his illustrations makes clever use of the foreground, midground, background tactic. This technique layers visual information in a way that carefully manipulates the path that your eyes follow when observing the imagery. This layout technique is used in correlation with value and colour use to further emphasis this compositional effect. For example, in many of his posters the information that is needed to be communication is often placed in the far background using lighter values and a different colour from the rest of the piece. This immediately pulls the viewers’ attention towards the relevant information. Once the key information has been identified the gaze of the viewer then observes the rest of the illustration which utilises symbolism to set the tone and impression for the targeted audience.

Drew often uses a framing technique within his illustrations to contain all the visual information in a window of perspective. But he always makes sure to break the window by having certain objects, characters, or environment pool over the edges drawing attention to these aspects and causing the design to feel full and living. Leading lines are also a prevalent technique that Drew uses In his arsenal of visual techniques in combination with the rule of thirds to continue the process of skilfully directing the eye of the viewer towards the relevant information. Although these leading lines may be more subtle, they are still in play when directing attention, elements form together directing the viewer further.

I believe that the rule of thirds has a deep impact on Drew’s work due to the focal points of the design usually been placed in the top 4 squares of the rule of thirds with the other information supporting and guiding information towards peak points of interest. Because Drew Millward is primarily a poster designer I believe that he is skilled in his use of composition. I am keen to experiment and practice with this technique that is often established in the thumbnailing stage of the creative process. I believe by experimenting with such techniques that I will ensure a higher rate of success in my current project as a by product of such investigation.

This cropped closeup is another commission by Northern Monk Brewery for the “Nothern Tropics” project.

Due to the style and impression that I get when observing Drew Millwards Illustrations, I believe that he is deeply inspired by vintage graphic design as well as early psychedelic culture. Many of Drew’s illustrations remind me of the works of Gary Taxali which leads me to believe that he is inspired by this artist, similar artists, or the same source materials as this artist. I make the suggestion that Drew is inspired by early psychedelic culture due to the themes and conceptual pieces that Drew produces often featuring abstractions, multiple eyes, vivid colours, and unusual settings. Each of these elements combined remind me of many of the artworks found in the psychedelic movement. It is my hope that by observing the same source materials as Drew Millward that I will gain deeper insight into his creative method and aesthetic allowing me to empower my artworks during this project to achieve a better result.

Disscussed throughout this blogpost, the purpose behind most of Drew Millwards creative works is the communication of a client’s brand message or event details. The goals of each piece is always to define tone of the an event or brand. Essentially acting as a beacon looking for a look alike audience that relates to the visual and connects with the aesthetic. When the ideal targeted viewer is now giving attention to this artwork the purpose is the quick and clear communication of relevant information. To simplify this explanation, the purpose of Drew’s illustration is to grab people’s attention and communicate intended messages clearly. The secondary purpose of his work is to use theme and visual tone to qualify customers ensuring that the target audience is most likely to convert from a passer by to an informed and engaged potential customer. Due to the nature of my project been to convert customers there is a lot that can be learned by observing and practicing Drew Millwards design techniques. I intend to experiment during my project with what I have learned through this analysis. I believe this will have a positive impact on my design outcomes.

Drew Millward is the second artist that I have analysed during this projects research phase. I will be performing another artist analysis in the following blog post. Thank you for taking the time to read. 

eCommerce Store – Artist Research

As with any commercial project it is integral for its success that any designs are based on strategic decisions. What I mean by that is any designs I produce must appeal to the target audience! After observing various competitors in the niche as well as lead designers celebrated in the community, I have identified a trend in the design patterns that I believe the community leans towards. Using this information, I have selected a set of artists that I will analyse to allow myself the opportunity to learn and decipher the creative rules of the style to begin the process of developing my own for this project. This should allow me to produce artwork that appeals directly to my target market.

Artist One – Juancho Styler

Juancho Styler is a Venezuelan illustrator who creates vector-based artwork using Adobe Illustrator. Typically, his designs are designed for print but they feature much of their work in apparel and product based mock-ups. They produce a plethora of personal work but primarily work commercially for brands and company. I would describe Juancho Styler as a modern designer whose work is a combination of graphic elements with hand illustrated designs. The visual aesthetic and charm is a form that I believe would resonate with my target audience should the concept of the piece be more relevant to their interests within the Kawaii & Cute community.

I personally resonate with this piece as a creator looking through the commercial lense of the community relevance because I admire the complexity that is brought to a simply design. This unique balance in the simple vs complex ratio of style is something that I would define as idealistic in nature. What I mean by this is the nature of the design is ideal or visually pleasing because it places emphasis on beneficial elements and minimises or removes other elements that are less agreeable. For example the big bold lines allow the design to feel more charming and playful in contrast to the rough way that artworks more based in realism utilise. This described elements of Juancho’s style is something I would like to experiment with when designing for this current project as I believe the results would appeal to my brands target audience and would stimulate sales.

The artwork above highlights an illustration from Juancho Stylers project: Simpson Samurai.

The concept that Junacho typically utilises within his design illustrations is often informed by pop-culture references likely due to the personal interest of the designer. These concepts are often abstract in nature and consist of vivid imaginings of unique creations combining other elements that appeal to the artist. For example in Juancho’s project: Simpson Samurai, Junacho combines his interest of the television series “The Simpsons” with his interest in Japanese culture playing of the conceptual aesthetic of the samurai with Japanese modern fashion. This reminds me of how fashion designs digest information about modern trends and combine them with personal interest to produce moderns takes of self-expression making statements of opinion. Each of his pieces are a statement suggesting his personal visual expressions that he contributes to the world of design.

 The artwork above highlights an illustration from Juancho Stylers project: I want to be free.

I would define Juancho Styler’s art style as a playful and bold visual aesthetic informed by graphic elements. Each design is simple and bold in nature which is reminiscent to graphic design however in each artwork clear effort has been made to elevate the complexity of the piece weather through layered lighting, textured speckles, or finer lines detailing the piece. Juancho also makes use of limited color schemes to tighten the appeal making it less distracting in the bad way and more visually engaging to the viewer. I believe his colours are often very soft in tone, there is a distinct lack of black colour in the pixels that he uses. Even the linework he uses within his designs use a dark purple or brown to continue the soft impression of the design. I believe specific aesthetical choice will resonate with my target

audience deeply due to it being more appealing to their desired aesthetic.

The line weight variation utilises 2 sizes in variety, the core components utilise consistent bold lines and any side detailing uses a second smaller weight that is consistent throughout the design. The shape and form of each of the elements uses only round edges, with sharp jiggered edges being avoided. The linework also ends in a rounded butt cap to further this effect. This choice in design form aligns with the Cute and Kawaii aesthetic as it is inviting and soft all aspects that contribute to invoking a sense of cute. As mentioned earlier I believe this style that Juancho uses is idealised exaggerating features to be more inviting that we as humans are drawn too. For example, the eyes are blown up whereas the mouth is shrank down. I am keen to experiment with this style within my own experiments as much of this aesthetic aligns with the intentions for the clothing designs within my intended store.

The artwork above highlights an illustration from Juancho Stylers project: Pugs Cream.

The techniques that I believe Jauncho Styler utilises in the creation of his illustrations are the application of vector-based software. Although there are potential alternatives, I found on his Behance account that he uses Adobe Illustrator to create his vector illustrations. Although his design is created within Illustrator for the most part, I know that he first starts by sketching his design out on paper as a rough sketch and then refines the sketch until he is satisfied with it. Once he is happy with the shape and form of the design, he then photographs this as reference and sends it to be refined in Adobe Illustrator. Utilising the pen tool, I believe he begins the process by tracing the linework that will end up becoming the bold lines within his illustration. Once the bolder lines have been created, I then believe he goes and refines the detailed smaller weighted lines to give the design more depth in its aesthetic appeal.

If he has not selected a colour palette out yet I believe he would start the process of choosing a palette. The criteria that he uses for this process is to keep a limited selection of colours which are soft in nature, often pastel in variety, and assembling them aside before continuing his process. Once he has his palette selected, I believe he would use a combination of the shape tool and the pen tool to block out the core colour behind his linework before following up with blocking out the shading and highlights of his designs. Having blocked out all the lighting the final stage of his process would be to add any higher detailing such as speckled effects of angular marks in select locations creating a greater sense of depth. This process has connected with me through deep inspiration and I am keen to utilise it during my experiments within this project.

The artwork above highlights an illustration from Juancho Stylers project: Kuraishi.

The composition that Juancho utilises in near to all of his Illustrations follows a graphic poster style of layout. The design is suspended in space appearing more abstracted than grounded in a reality or context. Often his designs can just be text or elements of design such as symbols of illustrated designs, and other times they can be characters, but they all are suspended in a void setting with few to no surroundings. Each design is central to the image and fills up as much of the space as possible.

For example in the image above there is spacing between and around the two masks but Juancho has taken the time to design marks and symbols that align with the overall design to fill the space and further add detailing to the aesthetic of this piece of artwork. Although effort has been made to fill up the space of the design appropriate spacing has been made to ensure much of the elements don’t collide and only overlap as a specific design choice. This allows the design to breathe and feel full but not busy. I admire the inviting nature that Juanchos choice of composition utilises within his designs and I am keen to make use of this within my own experiments for this project.

The artwork above highlights an illustration from Juancho Stylers project: Aguacate Fresh.

I believe that Juancho Styler has taken influence from modern graphic design regarding the visual language and form that is utilised within his artworks. The composition, visual aesthetic, blocked out shading, and layout are all deeply reminiscent to graphic design and as such I define this as a core influence to Juancho as a creative. In much of Juancho’s concepts he makes use of modern fashion and pop culture invoking the idea to me that this is a key interest to Juancho as an artist. This can be identified as an example in the image above as branded sneakers, spray paint, a book box, and a basketball are all present in the designs theme. These are all elements of modern fashion and pop culture and as such I define that as a key interest for Juancho. I believe the Junacho’s interest in graphic design combined with his interest in modern fashion and pop culture has shaped his visual aesthetic as a core influence. This visual appeal is something that I am drawn to for this project and I am keen to implement this within my design experiments.

The purpose of Juancho’s graphic illustrations in my opinion is a combination of two underlining intentions: Self-expression and brand communication. Like many artists, self-expression is a core motivation that drives us to create artwork, we all have a voice and the creation process allows us to define ourselves and our interests in a visual method that is clear and freeing. It is clear to see when viewing the range of work that Junacho has produced over time how his voice has been refined and how he has grown. The second purpose that I believe Juancho’s work serves is for the establishment and communication of brand impression and communication. Each of his artworks expresses a feeling, a tone, and idea. I believe that the purpose of many of Juancho’s illustrations is to define that impression to attract like minded individuals, to stimulate a response, and to encourage community around the theme at hand. In response to Juancho’s purpose I am keen to wield my self-expression for the purpose of brand communication. I believe that Juancho is a master at what he does and I wish to embody his strengths during this project to see its success realised.

I will continue my artist research in my next post. Thank you for reading.