Tote design for inkydeep

I'm excited to reveal the design that I have been working on for a cornish based surf company inkydeep. Commissioned earlier in the year by the lovely owners Andy and Sarah the brief was to create something that conveyed the ethos of the company. inkydeep is all about life on the ocean- surfing, riding the waves, freedom in the water, a love of the sea... With this in mind I chose words and phrases that captured that and combined hand-lettering with surf culture elements.

The design has now been printed onto their organic totebags- (which are great quality and spacious) and are ready for sale in their online shop. Buy it here and also see their other great tees!

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Endangered creature ALPHABET!

Open publication - Free publishing - More alphabet

Hello! I've been itching to tell you about a project I've been involved in since May but until now have had to keep things close to my chest! Well not anymore as it is now LIVE! Myself and 25 other artists were selected to be a part of the Endangered Creature Alphabet project- the brief was to draw and illustrate an endangered animal- one for each letter of the Alphabet. The project initiated via twitter and organised by Matt Witt of CreatureMag includes an insightful foreword by John Farndon as well as a helpful key that lists the different levels of risk these animals are at.

The aim of the project was to:

'bring together a group of artists to create something that would highlight the plight of endangered species and hopefully enlighten and educate some minds. The alphabet seemed like a good means to meet this end.'

26 artists were involved in the project and each were given their own creature to illustrate in their distincitve style.

My letter was S and the animal I was asked to illustrate was the Sea Otter. I've pictured him with one of his favourite foods- starfish. He typically likes to float usually in large groups and funnily enough the collective word for them is 'a raft of sea otters'. Sea otters weren't the first group of animals that came to mind as an endangered species and thankfully a hunting ban has brought them back from the brink, but their future is still precarious.

Personally for me its been great to work on something collaboratively with other artists from across the globe. Something which I think has really been made achievable by social media and the accessibility we now have from being online. Twitter in particular enables this kind of dialogue and shouldn't be underestimated in facilitating projects that can help educate and engage minds.

Here are the 26 artists in order of appearance:

Emily May - www.emilymayillustration.co.uk 

David Blatch - www.davidblatch.com 

Kerri-Ann Hulme - www.kerriannhulme.co.uk 

Alex Woollam - www.alexwoollam.com 

Polly Alizarin Harvey- www.pollyalizarinharvey.blogspot.com 

Jess Marshall - www.jesscatdraws.blogspot.com 

Gareth Barnes - www.garethbarnes.com 

Fiona Purves - www.fionapurves.co.uk 

Leila Shetty - www.leilashetty.com 

Anna Jane Searle - www.flickr.com/photos/annajanesearle 

Chris Margerison - www.chrismargerison.blogspot.com 

Julia Broughton - www.juliabdesign.tumblr.com 

Paul Shinn - www.paulshinndraws.com 

Madi - www.madiillustration.co.uk 

Poonam Mistry - www.poonam-mistry.com 

David Litchfield - www.davidlitchfieldillustration.com 

Jenny Robins - www.jennyrobins.co.uk 

Julie Vermeille - www.julievermeille.com 

Melanie Chadwick - www.melaniechadwick.com 

Sean Wàrs - www.wwrrssddrrwwss.co.uk 

Kathryn Corlett - www.kathryncorlett.co.uk 

Martyn Warren - www.velcrocows.co.uk 

Kate Eggleston-Wirtz - www.eggwirtz.com 

Tom Moore - www.tommoore.eu 

Teresa Eastwood - www.tiaeastwood.blogspot.com 

Christina Bretschneider www.peppig-illustration.de

To see the book just click the book image above and you'll be able to read it online.

Click here to see more from CreatureMag and get involved with future projects!

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Out of this world!

I had drawn this space themed alphabet a little while ago and had put it away whilst I was concentrating on Fishy/Sea related products. However prompted by the call-out for SPACE related submissions for the Cardiff Design Festival,  I decided to dig it out and finish it off.  I decided to keep to a simple colour palette as the lettering did get a little wacky!
Why not enter yourself - the exhibition is open to anyone who likes to draw and all pieces will be featured on the website. See here for more details.

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Rate SHARK ATTACK!

Hello just a quick post to invite you to rate my Shark Attack Design over at All Tropical.

Its based on one of my prints and I thought it may work as a Tee! If you think so to, do  please vote for it before the week is up and it may be made into one!

Many thanks, Yours Truly x

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Win a Print Competition!

Hello! Having launched my shop last week I think it's time for a competition.
The PRIZE is a signed digital print, of your choosing either A4 or A5 from my shop!
These are printed on 300gsm Somerset Enhanced paper and have a lovely textured feel.
So here's the deal should you decide to enter:
Make sure you're following along on twitter then...

• Take a browse through the SHOP and CHOOSE a product you like
• TWEET about it including the link and my twitter name @mellybeeblog so I know you have and...
• That's it!

You have until SATURDAY this week (9th July) when I will draw from random the winner.  Each time you tweet will count as an entry so the more you do the more your chance of winning! ALL THE BEST!

International entries welcome!

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SHOP NOW OPEN!

After quite a few weeks of procrastination and talk I finally knuckled down and got on with the job of making my online webshop...and at last here it is!   It is NOW OPEN for business! Why not have a gander and head on over to have a looksy- I would love to hear your feedback. (I actually have butterflies thinking of what folk will say). There is also a nice little opening offer of the first 20 sales of £10 or more will all receive extra goodies in their orders!  Can't wait to start selling!

I've also had a bit of late spring clean on the website and blog as well so you should find it a bit clearer to navigate and some new work to see.

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Fishy things at Here & Now

My Fishy themed artwork is now for sale in a few places, one of them is in my favourite independent shop in Falmouth Here and Now Gallery. If you manage to pop in (and you won't be disappointed if you do) you'll find Kate O'Leary (owner) stocks all sorts of fabulous designs from a a wide range of artists.  Take a trip to the seaside,  have some fish and chips as well and make it a grand day out! 

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Featured in BurstMagazine

Thought I'd let you know I've been interviewed by Burst Magazine for their latest issue on Typography. Although I wouldn't say I was a Typesetter I do love to create quirky hand-drawn lettering and so you'll find a few of my newer pieces centred on my nautical theme are featured alongside the interview.
It was a bit of a surprise to be asked but I found the process a great way to reflect on where I was with my illustration/art practice and a helpful reminder of how I've progressed and where I'm going. To read more please click by BurstMagazine's website and download Issue Five- it's free and has lots of other inspiring creatives in there too!

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Something Fishy going on...

Hello-I've been a bit busy these last couple of weeks preparing new stock for the River and Fish Festival that's been happening over the bank holiday weekend here in Falmouth.  I thought I'd just post a couple of photos of the stall as well as some production shots of some of the bags being screen printed in my garage. The newest line is based around the theme of Fish and joins my I ♥Tea and Doodle-Day range. It incorporates Tea-towels, Tote bags and prints as well as fridge magnets and badges. I have a few more images on my FB page if you like to take a nosey!

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Tea-rrific prizes could be yours!

If you like Tea then YOU should definitely check out The TEA Appreciation Society- not only do they love that warm comforting drink they are also offering a chance for you to win 3 great prizes if you sign up to receive their newsletter. Which, you'll be pleased to know are my tea-towels, art prints and an original illustration! Yay! So what are you waiting for? Get over there and sign up! Happy brewing...

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Croquet East Gazette

A peacock, some coloured balls and a mallet - fancy a game of croquet? This was the image I came up with for  Croquet East's gazette competition organised through CreatureMag and rather surprisingly it has been chosen along with some other crazily coloured entries to appear in their quarterly gazette! Hoo-rah!

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Painting Sale!

As some of you may know we relocated from Scotland to Cornwall this year and so far it has been lovely. However we are still trying to find a place for everything and more boxes than desired are cluttering up our living space. It appears that moving from a semi-furnished flat to an unfurnished house contributes quite a bit to this- as we just don't have enough furniture to put stuff away. So to this end I have had a sort through of my paintings that I did prior to leaving Scotland and am offering them here at a special price as a thank-you to those who have been following along on my blog. They have been painted using watercolour and layers of liquid acrylic and details highlighted with pen and ink.

Each one has been framed professionally and is ready to send to a good-loving home for the sum of £35 plus £2.50 P&P. Will ship worldwide just contact for pricing.

Have a scroll through and if you would like to be the proud owner of an original piece of art just send me an email (see contact) along with title of painting and your address- if you have any further questions just leave a comment below! Thanks.

Two Scots Thistles

Three Scots Thistles

Queen's Cross, Glenesk

Maule Monument, Glenesk

Curlew

 Lapwing

Partridge

 Woodcock

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Surprise Feature

I had a lovely feature on my work from artist/writer Lorrie Whittington aka Illusio Creative the other day on her arty blog. It came as a sweet surprise and it was interesting to hear how she sees my work- so often it's just me and the page/screen/studio so having feedback, comments, interaction with others is something that gives me great encouragement and a fresh perspective! Read the blog post here.

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More Tea?

An exciting morning was spent hanging my tea-themed work at the Here and Now Gallery in Falmouth. I have a selection of original illustrations, hand screen-printed tea-towels and cards, notepads and a zine on the theme of Tea now on show there until the end of May. Near the bottom of Killigrew Street this gallery is packed full to the brim with quirky illustrations, prints, zines, cards, hand-made plushies and generally a haven for all things I love! 

A bonus was meeting the other artist whose work is also on show- Barnaby Purdy. On first glance his work looks digitally manipulated and printed but on closer examination (and with a bit of intense questioning) all his pieces have been lino-printed and details drawn in pencil over re-cycled pictures from encyclopedias! The effect is striking and seriously if I hadn't intensely scrutinised the pieces would not have believed they had been hand-rendered! If you are in Falmouth make sure you check the Gallery out- Purdy's work has to be seen in the person to appreciate the skill involved...

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Creature, creature

Hello- just a wee blog note today to let you know I did some mini banners on the weekend for the online art mag Creaturemag featuring my mice and teapots! Creaturemag even published their own blog on them so I was  pretty chuffed to read it -you can read it here. 

Creaturemag for your info is:

"an artist run online art magazine publishing inspiring illustrative work and great resources for upcoming Creatives. We encourage your involvement" 

If you're a fellow creative it's a great way to get involved and get your work on show- you can even follow their tweets @creaturemag or like their page on facebook here.

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Love is in the air...

In between travelling and packing and sorting boxes for our move I've been working on some wedding invite designs for my brother-in-laws upcoming wedding. Starting with a pencil sketch and then inking in with my favourite Rotring pens it was then transferred to the computer to colour and tweak- I'm still waiting to hear thoughts on the colours but wanted to blog on this happy project! It's also started to give me ideas for valentines day...

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Roll up...pikaland zines are here!

Yippee- it's been a while coming but finally the next fab project from Pikaland has arrived and is ready for folk to read/stroke/indulge their eyes and buy!
For those not in the know, the PikaPackage Project is a specially curated themed package that consists of a swap meet (for the artists) and a mystery package of various sizes containing items from participating artists available for sale (for art lovers) ; all rolled into one project!
I'm very happy to say my little zine on TEA had also been included and I can't wait to receive my mystery package!
You too can own your own- just hop over to Pikaland to see more pictures and buy your own Zine Package! 
The Zines PikaPackage is a beautiful collection of works by these artists:

1. Aijung Kim
2. Beavory
3. Beverly Ealdama
4. Doinky Doodles
5. Jeanne Van Etten
6. Josephine Katherine Ryder
7. Juliana Salcedo
8. Katie Allen
9. Katie Green
10. Ladypajama
11. Lori Dean Dyment
12. Lori Hutchinson
13. Mellybee
14. Minifanfan
15. Missy Kulik
16. Pintameldia

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Ice-skating, polar bears, christmas time.

Thought I'd spread a bit of festive cheer with these christmassy banners as well as experiment with a bit of texture!  What do you think? Merry Christmas.

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Stanley Moves in...

I'd like to introduce you to a new friend of mine- a fairy called Stanley. No I'm not going mad, I've just been working on creating the illustration for a character of a new book about a grumpy fairy who likes to live under a drip in a washbasin. The author Jack Ross aka Bill Kirton contacted me via a mutual friend-Fiona Jane, and from there he and I have been bringing Stanley to life. It's been a fun project to work on- and certainly been interesting to be able to breath life into a character that someone else has only written about. It's also funny how once the main image of Stanley came to be, he has become more like his own person and there are stances and moods that define and suit him more than others...in particular are moody, angry, miserable.

It's also been good to expand my portfolio and stretch out into children's book illustration. I hope there will be more opportunities to take Stanley and expand his character and mood -I'm already working on a Christmas related story and other covers for Stanley and his adventures. The first book is hoping to be published before Christmas and I'll let you know when it is available!
Read here for the authors blog on Stanley.