Studio Sneak Peeks

How I draw...read more.

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Inky stdio chair...read more.

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freshly inked pixels...read more.

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Downloadable snowy certificates! ...read more.

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Christmas drawings for YCN...read more.

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Commission Mission complete...read more.

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A few new images I’ve been working on as part of my lovely new illustration portfolio....read more.

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Coming soon to a screen or desk near you…...read more.

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Hermes...read more.

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I’ve been in sizzling hot London town this week to say hello to new clients and to visit the peeps out at Coriander Print Studios - sorry about the iPhon<script type=...read more.

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As expected, my stint as a pattern cutter didn’t really go to plan…...read more.

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The next chapter in my eternal quest to find new ways of getting the big commissioners to see my work....read more.

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A black and white Frock in the making...read more.

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After yesterday’s over indulgence in all things chocolatey, I decided to kick start the week by having a bit of a spring clean of my website. ...read more.

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Hot off the sketchbook page is this piece for Jack Vettriano's new venture, Heartbreak Publishing....read more.

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After the frenzy of Paris, a parking ticket on Valentines day (Traffic wardens apparently don’t believe in spreading the love), some technical glitches and an unplanned trip to London, I’m back in the studio - hurrah!...read more.

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This week snow brought the rest of the UK to a grinding halt (the Southerners really need to learn how to cope with the frosty stuff!) so I cranked up the heating and got stuck into some last minute prep for Indigo....read more.

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When Gillian from Nesta asked me to take part in a spot of filming for a new Nesta / Starter for 6 promotion video, I told her my agent would check my media schedule and get back to her. Thankfully, UKStyle were booked for tomorrow, not today, so we managed to go ahead....read more.

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Adding value to the British Economy... a nice little project which is bubbling away......read more.

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So, after much pondering over cups of tea, I’ve decided to shun the traditional business card for now and go with something a little bit different....read more.

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A sneak peak of some new work and a fond farewell to a childhood hero...read more.

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I spent all day yesterday drawing in the studio and thinking about my Darwinism-esque project. ...read more.

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Sparked by a series of programmes on Radio 4, my newfound interest in the Biologist Darwin, combined with family roots in Horticulture, Biology and Game Keeping, has given me an idea for a project proposal I’m putting together for the Scottish Arts Council. ...read more.

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After 2 hours of staring at a blank sheet of paper and several pots of coffee later, I was on a caffeine high and skipping out the door on a quest for ‘Inspiration Salvation’....read more.

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Today I’ve been putting the finishing touches to a small satellite collection of inkblot-esque designs for the Indigo Textile Collection. A bit like an inkblot, they are horizontally symmetrical, although staring at these pretty pictures will not reveal anything much about your inner psyche, although the intricate hand drawn artwork does contain a plethora of hidden gems, from little dogs, to birds, pirate ships and white rabbits!...read more.

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Happy New Year! I’m back at my desk and up to my ears in pens and sketchpads again. My sketchbooks are overflowing with ideas and projects that I will be tackling in 2009, ranging from the Alice in Wonderland textiles collection, to an installation at Canary Warf in London, a collaboration with Scottish fashion designer Graeme Armour for London Fashion Week and a very top secret little addition to my range of products (I’m very excited about this!). So many ides and so few hours in a day to fit them all in!...read more.

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I’m busy in the studio just now putting together my Spring / Summer Textile Collection which will be launched at Indigo, Premiere Vision, in Paris February 2009. True to form, I will be shunning the restrictive guidelines of the Trend Forecasters to pursue my own creative journey, which this season involves whimsical imaginations from Alice in Wonderland and The Secret Garden, with a hint of inky magic from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Intrigued? Here’s a little taster of what to expect in February...read more.

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December is finally here and Scotland is white with snow! For those of you who love Christmas as much as I do, the thought of sending a “Christmas e-mail” is an unthinkable act! So, to get everyone in the spirit of sending a nice, old fashioned Christmas card I have uploaded the template artwork for my Christmas Circle card to the Press Section of my website (I was going to try and add it here – but the technological challenge was immense!). This is a bit of a Christmas exclusive, as I never give away my artwork for free, but for the next week you will be able to download the high res image file and print it off on your printer at home, thus making some pretty nifty designer cards! Here’s the simple guide to wowing your friends with your cards:...read more.

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I’ve recently updated the gallery section of the website with more examples of my black and white hand drawn imagery. 2009 is going to see some big changes to my little business, from moving studio, to the launch of several new fashion textile collections and the departure of some old favorites in the wallpaper collection. The New Year will see a new focus for the business, concentrating on creating and designing as opposed to making. Confused? Keep an eye on the website over the festive period to see new work uploaded and new information on commissioning design work....read more.

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Late last night, whilst listening to the Shipping Forecast on Radio 4, I finished the computer manipulation of the hand drawn design; tidying up the lines and flipping the half moon to make a full sphere. Today I’ll be printing out the motif on my A3 printer and popping along to the Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Library to photocopy the motif onto acetate. There’s lots of ways to transform artwork onto transparencies for exposing onto the silk screen, some people paint straight onto big sheets of ethulon paper (a glossy sort of hazy tracing paper) with a thick opaque ink called Speedball, others print the motif onto tracing paper in black and white but I think you get the crispest print by using acetates, it costs a bit more, but the result is a more defined image on the screen from which you get a beautifully detailed print. Nice. ...read more.

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The dark, cold mornings are back with a vengeance - winter is here once more, boo. I thought I would give you sneak peek of my desk today. I've been working on a black and white design for a big Scottish organization (will let you in on their secret identity as soon as the commission is finalized - counting your eggs and all...) The brief was to create a limited edition print for them which could be presented as a gift to VIP's. I wanted to create one of my signature spherical black and white designs with a Scottish accent, so I intertwined the foliage with the odd thistle head and jagged little prickle. The hand drawn stage is now complete, so the next step is to scan it into my trusty Mac, tidy up the artwork and flip it in Photoshop to create a perfect circle. After that, I'll print the black and white sphere out onto acetate and expose it onto a silk screen, before getting mucky and hand printing the first few samples. The whole process should be complete by Monday, just in time to pop the samples in the post to my Mystery Client. Check back over the next couple of days to see updates on the process and see the first prints, hot off the print table!...read more.

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The world is full of great double acts, Kylie and Jason, Rhubarb and Custard, Tia Maria and orange juice (try it, it takes like Jaffa Cakes!). For me, Black and White is the ultimate combo; clean and crisp white, against dense inky black provides the perfect format for showcasing my style of intricately drawn pattern. The artwork I create is so densely composed, I often think injecting colour into the design may deflect attention away from the fundamentals of the composition; line, shape and pattern. I don’t use a multi-specturm colour palette, as I just feel it is unnecessary. The drawings are created in black and white, so retaining the original palette feels true to the design almost. I don’t leave the final stages of the design down to a computer pantone palette, selecting random colours at whim with the click of a mouse, the designs I sell are more honest than that. My finished pieces have grown organically on the page and their final format represents how I envisaged the piece during the creative process. Embrace the monochrome; black and white is the new black!...read more.

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I escaped from the studio and Dundee this week to head back up to my parents’ fish farm in Aberdeenshire in search of some inspiration. Long walks with our 2 golden labs around the fish farm provided plenty of new ideas of the botanical kind. Armed with just my trusty Canon Camera, a pair of red flowery wellies and a pocketful of dog biscuits (just incase), my canine companions and myself went in search of the weird and the wonderful of the plant world. On our daily rambles through the Buchan countryside we came across bramble bushes and crab apple trees, wild raspberries, abandoned nests, giant stalks of cow parsley, harebells, fireweed stems, seed pods and dog roses, tufted thistle heads and rose hips, honeysuckle, baby rabbits, pheasants and even a couple of herons. I’ve got a million little ideas bubbling away, so now its back to the studio to get creative....read more.

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A little project I’m working on in the Studio at the moment for Craft Scotland. Still early days, but this is a sample piece for a hand printed gift box for one of my ceramic mugs. Each box is individually silk screen printed in gloss black ink onto manila-brown corrugated card, before being assembled by hand and finished with a skinny black ribbon bow to keep the contents safe. I quite like the crispness of glossy print against the scuffed up cardboard. The intricate motif versus the exposed edges of the card give it a contemporary grittiness. ...read more.

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With only 13 weeks to go until 100% Design, I have been super busy in the studio getting the new wallpapers ready for the press. Today was spent fixing glittering handfuls of Swarovski Crystals to my new Delirium Wallpaper - the little packets of beautifully cut gems are sent from Austria in carefully folded paper pockets, which open to reveal hundreds of tiny sparkles. Each crystal is fixed by hand to the paper using tweezers - a painstakingly slow process but the delicate swirls of sparkling light add a magical extra dimension....read more.

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My NEW WEBSITE johannabasford.com went live this week. The long awaited new site is a wee beauty! Lots of new images and a comprehensive showcase of all my work, both old and new. ...read more.

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NEW for 100% Design 2008: Johanna introduces 3 new designs to her Bespoke Collection of wallpapers. Punk Peacock, Scribble and Delirium....read more.

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