I found out about Merry Critmas in 2017, but to begin with nerves prevented me from submitting my portfolio. After a few weeks of indecision (and only a few days before the deadline) I bit the bullet and did it. I'm so glad I did, as I got a lot of valuable insight on how to boost my portfolio from someone completely unbiased.
It was actually Father Critmas himself who reviewed it and that led to me being involved in all of the illustration work this year! Being part of the Merry Critmas crew has been amazing, it just goes to show what can happen when you take part, you just need to go for it!
It's not normal for a letterer to admit this but... I used to suck at vectoring. I avoided it like the plague but one day I just clenched my jaw and decided that I was going to try and decipher the world of anchor points. So every other day I would illustrate a new letter (some taking longer than others) but I found myself getting quicker as the challenge went on. And here are my results! Which one is your favourite?
It was time for my branding to have an update, and it began like every other project but this time I was the client. How do I present myself to the world? What kind of styles do I like? Are there any recurring instances in my work?
This brought to my attention that I used one particular lettering style in a lot of my work, and that's when it clicked; this was my signature. I also love experimenting with bright colours so I had a look at the ones that I used the most in my work and incorporated that into my new branding.
Personal project which stemmed from my "Always be a yourself... Unless you can be a unicorn" piece which I have labelled my "Reality Check series."
We are constantly surrounded by motivational quotes that we have a habit of pushing blame onto others and forget that sometimes we are the problem. This series serves as a reality check as it reminds us that sometimes we're just being a d*ck and we need to suck it up and apologise and change for the better. Bright colours are used to reflect the playful nature of the project, and the magical creatures* presents a juxtaposition as it's unreal creatures asking you to check your reality. Besides, everyone likes a bit of magical nonsense every now and then!
*Yes I know that narwhals aren't magical creatures but they look pretty magical so it kinda' counts.
My friend Vi (of Vi Young) is an amazing photographer. Call me biased, but she’s so good at event photography, and one day she sent me a little message asking if I was able to do some branding for her. And the rest is history!
What began as a personal project to celebrate International Women's Day 2016, ended up being a series that carried on into 2017! Being or doing things "like a girl" is not a sign of weakness - we are powerful and magical beings that deserve recognition. I'll be constantly adding to it!
Big Cat was briefed to create a visual identity for Cloggs (whom we’ve worked with in the past to deliver a marketing, branding and PR campaign) for their first house brand, Imogen.
I adopted a playful edge to the Imogen brand by incorporating a butterfly icon in the logo as well as a hand-lettered approach. This added a personal touch to the brand, emphasising a delicate and sincere persona.
The chosen colour palette reflected both the elegant and light-hearted nature of the butterfly – copper, pink, and black – which was used in the box packaging and product tags.
Halloween isn't just a day, it's a season, and I celebrated by doing a series of Halloween-inspired pieces. Here I focused more on illustrative lettering (sometimes leaning more on illustration).
Illustration, animation and way-finding signs
I decided to take part in the 2015 "100 Day Project" hosted by The Great Discontent and Elle Luna. I think it's such an amazing idea, and I've been itching to try out some more lettering techniques so what was more perfect than spending a few hours every day doing it?
I dubbed this project as "100 Days of Lizzie's Lettering" on Instagram, and each day I did a little bit at a time. Some of these pieces were spread out over a few days when I wanted to experiment with a different style.
You can see my full project on my instagram here.
Within my 100 Days of Lettering Project I had another project (project-ception) which was a series of motivational quotes. There were days that I couldn't bring myself to do another piece and I could feel myself slowly burning out. When that happened I just did a nice and easy "note to self", and it worked!
I still like looking at motivational quotes, so this is an ongoing project that I'm going to keep adding onto.
I was approached by Sparknotes to do a series of hand-lettered pieces; one for "sparkitors" (readers of sparknotes) and another on girl power quotes.
A series of hand-lettered illustrations of empowering female lyrics for SparkLife.
"In our dream world, every woman would feel badass, empowered, confident, beautiful, and respected—and until that becomes a reality, we're going to keep shouting these gems as loud as we can (and we can shout VERY, VERY LOUDLY)." - SparkLife
Annual Review Document
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was the first book I had that I could call my own. Little did I know that the Harry Potter series would have such a big impact on me! This is a continuous series so keep an eye out for new pieces.
Creative Collateral
Magazine design
