the gift of chocolate

This year, Pana Chocolate decided to add special occasion gift boxes to their range. The series started with Happy Easter and I love you mum (available to buy on their website), with more occasions to be added to the range later on. The gift box was based off a large version of the original 45g bar, with a brown box and bright coloured sleeve. It also included a gift card that tucked into the sleeve on the front.

The box was foiled with silver and embossed. As with all Pana Chocolate packaging, the box was printed with soy based pantone inks on 100% recycled board and used recyclable foil.

octopus dumpling

For a music loving foodie friends recent birthday, I decided to make her a present rather than buy one. I thought it would be really fun to do a band poster where the stars are food and side-dishes instead of bands.

Given her love for Japanese food (who could blame her, its amazing), I went with some tasty and (in the end) cute japanese dishes – Soft shell crab and the Tempuras, Octopus Dumplings with Shiitake and enoki mushrooms. I was so happy with the outcome and judging by her squealing drunk hug, I think she loved it too.

mouse clicker

For the recent we heart collective exhibition we heart music, I decided to knockdown two projects with one drawing – not only an artwork for the exhibit, but also a new drawing for my about page.

I drew myself in my dream studio clicking my mouse endlessly, surrounding by things I love – forests, deer, tron cats, textures, interesting objects, the most awesome space skirt I wish existed and of course a pair of mouse shoes.

Music in my workspace is a powerful thing. When work presents a problem, music is always the answer. Got a bad case of 'blank canvas'? Time for guilty-pleasure 80's synth-pop. Facing a day of drawing fiddly-bits? Queue up that endless folky-but-not-folk playlist and zone out. Got a client demanding 'like this but fresh'? Find whatever the hipsters are listening to this week and the freshness will take care of itself. I've never come across a work-related problem that music can't fix, but if I do, there's always that mysterious 'work emergencies only' playlist.

I'm dreaming of an EzyDog christmas

I was really excited when EzyDog asked me to create a christmas card for them last year. My mind boggled with ideas, but I decided I really wanted to focus on the (super cute) idea that a dog would be looking forward to christmas. Of course there needed to be a marketing angle in there, so I came up with the theme of "I'm dreaming of an EzyDog christmas", whilst humming bing crosby in my head. After the worst pitch sketch of all time, the idea was approved and I got onto the drawing.

The idea is that the dog is dreaming of the night before christmas, when the EzyDog santa comes into the room with his sack full of the brands goodies. I kept all things branded in the dream bubble and only coloured those section to draw the focus.

... and then Santa again on the inside of the card.

we heart music

The we heart collective's next exhibition has been announced for Feb 15th. It will be held in a recording studio with a few performances from some triple J unearthed bands (details on the Facebook event page).

I designed the collateral for this exhibition :) which was lots of fun (being a group of designers, we take turns to do each exhibits collateral) and of course used the collective's signature lettering by Ashleigh Brennan.

cat shrine

A while ago I promised my friend Ashleigh that I would draw her something for her birthday. She recently got a kitten called Pudding (it was born on christmas day – cute) which has become the centre of her world. It seemed obvious to draw Ash's pudding devotion into a kitty shrine.

drawn in illustrator, printed on a textured coated stock and framed. Finished size, 300 x 400mm. I also included Ash's other favourite things – floral dresses, the colour lavender, lots of cats and her signature bob hairstyle. I'm pretty sure she loved it ;)

dogs dogs dogs

A recent project involved drawing lots of dogs wearing dog products. What began as repackaging an entire line of dog products for local manufacturer EzyDog, soon turned into an illustration exercise when I drew an illustration of a dog lifejacket to go onto a swing tag.

The clients loved the drawing and how clearly it communicated their product, so they quickly asked for ALL of their products to have a similar drawing made :) The client asked that all the products be drawn on the same breed of dog - an iconic australian blue healer style dog with pointy ears - with the intention that it become a sort of mascot for the brand. So I drew a decent selection of drawings of the same dog and then also a smaller puppy version to showcase their products aimed at small dogs.

At close to 30 drawings it was an interesting challenge to draw cute dogs (not so hard) with sufficient detail in the products to communicate all the features.
The drawings will of course be used on the packaging line I am creating but also for the companies soon to be launched website.

the do-over

Due to a mountain of complicated legal reasons, I recently converted all the things I had previously done for Conscious Chocolate over to be Pana Chocolate. It was the clients intention to keep everything as similar as possible to the previous look. The project was huge and involved redoing branding, website, the entire range of chocolate boxes (now 9 flavours), the distribution boxes, stationery and countless other smaller jobs - all in the space of a couple of weeks!

During previous revisions, some things on the box were adjusted to speed up packaging time and reduce cost compared to the first version which I talked about on the blog. The box also became more eco-friendly with 100% recycled stock, recycled foil and soy based pantone inks. The overall effect is a very rough, organic look - which the client (and their customers) love.

The launch of the new brand also coincided with the launch of three new flavours (cinnamon, eighty and rose), which expanded the colour range to include a pink and purple. At the beginning of the project, the future flavour range was divided up to allocate all flavours a colour - together they would make a full rainbow of flavours. It is nice to see the range coming together with more colours.

surprise... its a spot UV bunny

Seeing as I had changed almost everything else from my previous brown paper identity, I figured it was time to do some new business cards to match the teal, patterned thing I have.

Business cards can be such a dry, boring item and I really wanted to do something fun. On a whim I drew some little animals and made them spot UV ... success. A card that seems straight-laced, them bam, cute animals hiding in the matte cello.

drawing in real life

I was recently asked to illustrate a toy rhino to raise money for the seven-women charity. I had no hesitation about joining the project, but once I got my rhino I realised that I would not be able to use my usual processes to make the outcome - i.e. no computer. Panic stations! - you see I don't usually draw without a computer - seriously, never. I was stressed that I would stuff things up and then I couldn't undo it and my rhino would look awful and there would be nothing I could do about it. (My end consensus is that I should really try to draw in real life more often).



In the end I went with pattens and then drew patterned animals trying to hide in the patterns. I decided to alter the traditional patterns of the zebra and giraffe to make them more interesting and a bit quirky. I was pretty chuffed with the end result (and the fact I didn't stuff it up). Apparently another artist bought my toy rhino, which is nice to hear.