scanning in sketches

rying to find a way to use drawings for logos, by scanning the sketches in and then working on them in photoshop and then illustrator...thought it would be easy but it seems to be quite difficult to keep the line looking hand drawn...

lots of little faces

orking hard this week at the day job......I need to complete 24 illustrated faces for a memory game by the end of the week....I'm going crossed eyed at my computer!

more softies

ore portraits, this time the latest batch of softies that I have been making...working out the patterns for the little animals is a long process and probably much easier to just buy the patterns but I quite enjoy the challenge of working out where to put the darts!

little faces

orking hard on the day job so not much to post in the way of real creativity or inspiration...still, I was pleased with my little boy and girl characters that I wanted to look very slightly retro, and still be able to be screen printed at the factory...

a new little mouse

new mouse in fluffy pink slippers and my rather strange little red riding hood characters....wanted to see whether I could photograph them all against some patterned backgrounds and give them some kind of personality with some blurring....I might leave the photography to the experts!
Shall I call the mouse Nibs or Jacques?

tooth fairies

wo little milk teeth fairies.....they just need to be made up using plain and patterned coloured velour. At only 10 cms in height they should look cute enough to collect those lost teeth!

cats and dogs

ome new designs for applique animals....thought about a load of animals all chasing each other.....a bit tom and jerry perhaps...shows my age!

annual factory visit

very hot and humid week here in Surabaya, Indonesia where the factory is....but also very exciting! One of the cats had a litter of kittens in one of the buckets, and we feasted on some amazingly delicious homegrown tropical bananas from the garden!

soft dolly

ollies everywhere in my head at the moment as I'm frantically trying to produce some styles that would be more commercial than the ones I have done before......this dolly would be for a much younger age group hence the velvet/velour style hair which would be more suitable than lots of wool, and much softer.The face needs a little more cheering up though as she looks a little non plussed sitting in my armchair!

paper doll printable downloads

his week I have been working on an illustration style for our website, so that we can do some printable downloads for children that log onto to the website. The paper doll idea is always popular and easily printable onto thicker paper.....the illustrations above were done by using the illusrator programme on the mac to trace the watercolour painting, and create gradients in the vector shapes....while the painterly style is prettier, the clean lines of illustrator is more in keeping with the rest of our products...if you want to see all the dolls in the range you can log onto the budkins website

Thank you Di

allelulia I'm home! And just look what was waiting for me on my return, but the cutest most perfect bijoux gift! My own little travelling Becassine, where did you get her Di? I love her....shame I cannot look like her when I travel.....

incidents in Indonesia

ere I am in Surabaya this week on the bi annual factory visit which was going very well until we took a trip to the beautiful Shangrila hotel in the centre of town.....a crowded bus failed to stop and managed to write off the car we were travelling in! Within minutes we had attracted quite a crowd of locals, I snapped some pictures of the general chaos that ensued, quite a contrast to the tropical haven of our destination....

a week at the factory

y oh my, here I am in the place of my birth, Singapore! waiting to fly out to visit my very exotic brother Richard, Tracy and the spectacular Rafael ( he is only 5 but is already spectacular!) having just spent a week at the factory in Surabaya, Indonesia. I know that some of you wanted to see pictures of the factory and so here they are! I am very proud to be a part of this factory because it is amazing, - clean and airy, brand new machinery and great working conditions for the 2000 employees who live in the surrounding Jombang areas - it also produces some wonderful wooden toys! What never fails to impress me though is the skill of the workers who still rely on relatively low tech practices to produce a professional finish, as you can see from the paint mixing area!