Banner Design for My Portfolio Site...

After toying with a few simple typographical iterations of my name (and finding them too frustratingly bland) I opted to create a banner out of something random- initially my first idea was to try out making my name out of lights (like the lights made for Latest TV) but I quickly scrapped it because it looked odd. Ideally in my head I wanted my site to use a white background- since I think it works as a nicer offset to the bold colours of my work. In order to do this my banner would have to work without a background colour.

My first official design had the right idea but I thought my name looked a little too obscure on the clothes line- so I opted to develop it further. The design below is very much inspired by Briony May Smith's header but I wanted to make something thinner (since thin banners are common within Flikr, Facebook and other potentially promotional sites). Im really proud of my design I like the madness to the concept, although I am still unsure as to whether my little bird is too realistic in comparison to the rest of the design and whether this even matters because its such a small element. Thus far very happy with it - depending on how the project goes depends on how much I tweak the design!

Tumblr Themes Research...

I plan on using tumblr to make my portfolio site (since coding is not my forte) but before doing so I began by researching various responsive Tumblr themes.
A quick google search led me to this site : http://themeguide.tumblr.com/ which had a great deal of responsive tumblr themes to choose from. It was important for me to choose something that could be heavily customised to suit my style which is one of the factors I used to narrow down my theme choice.
I felt that these three in particular were my best options and played around with each of them during the initial creation of my site.

 Although from a photographical perspective the lack of space between the image creates an even moodboard, I found that when putting in any of my illustrations it looked too bold (there was too much going on, a lot of my images need breathing space) from a design perspective if I decide to explore other illustrative styles then this theme is very limiting since I think in order for it to work well there needs to be a cohesive style.

 I liked the Belle theme above- but I had issues trying to customise it- it didn't seem to like the image that I placed at the top of the heading and it required a permanent avatar which I didnt like since I wanted to create a banner at the top and then have my work with nothing to interfere with the overall look.

In the end I settled on the simplest of the themes that I could find- it allowed me to incorporate my own header- control the amount of columns and fully customise to my preference - overall happy so far.

Promotional Sites (Illustrators/Animators/Designers)

Before designing my own promotional portfolio site I looked into what other illustrators and designers produced to advertise their work. Personally I want to make something very simple to allow for my work to speak for itself but with enough of my personality to give it a Jess flair.

Abigail Halpins page is the one of the portfolio sites I really liked, the sites front page - its a lovely illustration that displays both name and style and I like the idea of using that as a sort of intro into there rest of the work.The work itself has been placed within a simple grid shape (when work is clicked on the square expands to show the whole pice) which I think works incredibly well - easy to understand navigation occupies the side of the page which separates the work into various categories. An additional hand drawn name remains the constant logo within the design which is once again a personalised element but it also ensures that both name and style are iterated clearly.

Again Sophie Joyce has manipulated a similar grid system although her heading is not as illustrative as some of the other sites researched.

Im not sure if this detracts from the site because theres a lot of colour and line evident within her work and the name has been hand-drawn it just feels a little bland in comparison to the others I have looked at.

 Briony May Smith's work is one of my favourites to look at- I really love her style which is both playful and dark. Her site in particular is one that I aim to aspire to, I like the illustrative heading (unlike Halpins page there is no opening page its all on one) the simple grid to display her work and the top line navigation keeps the site professional and fully keeps her work centre stage. Each image when clicked on takes it to a new page where the full comic/story can be read.
I definitely plan on using a bold heading and grid layout- since its a common element to the portfolio sites I have looked at. I am actually very excited about making a top banner header - which is essentially going to be my own personal branding.

Creating a Website- Using Tumbler- Self Promotional Portfolio Site...

Since I am not amazingly good at web, and since we are not required to hand code our own sites I have opted to use Tumblr to create my own promotional site with all my work on. Its simple to use, theres a variety of different themes that I can use and if all else fails I know the tiniest amount of code which can help me make small adjustments. My Tumblr site is below- Im mostly going to link a lot of work from both Behance and Youtube which means that all of my work is under a creative commons licence.
http://jesshislopdesign.tumblr.com/

I want to keep my site very simple- at the moment I am visualising a simple grid system with one big header image as an opening into my site- although I will have to investigate some more themes to make sure this is feasible.

Self Promotion Design Number 1..!

So this is what I have come up with as my first design so far- Ive drawn myself as best as I am able (I think it looks a bit like me so I am happy) sitting on a teapot. I noticed that when drawing the teapot that it reminded me of an elephant trunk so I decided to turn the whole teapot into an elephant - adding the shape of an ear, feet and an eye. I opted to put something really random on the teapot because the whole design has a very random quality fish were the first things that came to mind hense the fish pattern. I knew that the design needed something else and since theres not enough room I thought that adding biscuits would be a nice alternative. Biscuits would also enable me to bring in some additional colours I was pretty limited in my colour palette so adding in some soft yellows and browns helped to provide contrast. I opted to add some brightly coloured triangles into the steam just to make the top half of the design more interesting and after much deliberation opted to use the same font that I had used in the previous branding experiments. I then exported the whole image as a png and put it into photoshop to play around with textures and shadow, I think that leaving it clean is my best option and I definitely like how the drop shadow integrates depth. Overall I am very happy with what I have produced!

 The image above is one with a grain and altered contrast, I think that its too much with the grain and I prefer it without. Below are some different colour iterations for the background but I think the blue contrasts best.

Drawing People Inspiration for Personal Branding...

Since I knew that I wanted to include a representation of myself I researched how others drew people and characters and narrowed down the results to this mood board- I have my own style that I want to utilise of course but I was kinda lacking in inspiration so looking up other characters was helpful in ensuring that I made something fun and playful. I particularly liked how cheeks are emphasised with shape and how faces can be rounded and elongated to make a more quirky representation.

The business cards below are just some extras that I came across when looking into other artists self promotion, mostly the colours caught my attention but I like how the designer has included a variety of designs in a range of colours to make it more interesting.

Self Promotion Inspiration Research...

I looked into a lot of other illustrators and designers to see how they promoted themselves. Since most of the people I looked at seemed to be drawers/ illustrators most of their self promotion included their illustrated work.  I like the idea of filling the front of a business card or postcard with some of my work (or something new to really advertise myself) since I think illustration is really my realm.

I have noticed that on a lot of business cards the illustrators tend to draw themselves or include some kind of representational character- If I made more than one business card design then this would provide a nice link between designs, but I also think that it makes it more personal.

I really like the style of the card above the drawing itself is quirky and the level of detail really draws the eye. The red and blue colours used on the face really help to give it a slightly more abstract idea and I like the shapes included on the cheeks which gives it a nice jaunty quirk.

Different designs with a common theme is a possible idea since it provides variety as well as working together coherently. 

I have since had the idea to draw myself coming out of a teapot (since I have  a great love of tea) and It was suggested by my mother to include a teabag with each postcard that I make- possibly with a little note like have a cup of tea and look up my work (obviously in a more lyrical manner) which I think will help peopleremember me and my work more.