The house and the tea party...

This is the tea party with the house, overall I like it although it will balance better when I have finished the other elements. Im not sure if the tea party is too liney in comparison to the house but it needs something in order to ensure overall continuity. Having said this I think im going to see how it works with my other elements which may balance it out before making changes.

Drawing the tea party...

The tea party was the next element that I drew, this time I created the simple outline of the table first and opted to introduce the shaded brush strokes for the other elements. I had two real shades of grey to use as well as black and white so I had to be careful with my colour mixing, I wanted to give it a watercolour wishy washy style in order to mimic the Cath Kidston postcard print so I opted to shade using brushes and altered the opacity along the edges to create the watery effect. 

 I made sure to include the green lines of grass in order to give it a sense of weight and space. I didnt want it to be a random floating element within the print and the whole mini design needed some additional strokes of colour which the green provided.

 I added some stylised roses on the table cloth that are loosely based on Kidston roses but I gave them a different style simply because  I wanted them to match the overall line watercolour feel that my whole design encapsulates.

This is the final table- the table is based off some 1800 tables found on google- I gave it the little swirled edges in order to match the swirled design on the house. It's not quite right in my opinion but I am fairly happy with it. I plan on seeing how well it matches my house before deciding if it needs tweaks.

Drawing the house....

 I started designing the house because it was the easiest shape to start with. I took a lot of inspiration from the house from Mr Darcy's house in the 2005 film, but I did mix this with elements from the house used in the 1995 Tv version as well as elements that I knew were prominent within architecture in the 1800s (the pillars and the central steps).

 I began by putting basic squares together to create the basic elements to the house, I used a thick stroke on the base squares so I didnt get confused by the brick lines- the bricks have a nice softish pencil stoke to them so I plan on using this stroke overall to soften the angularity of the house and keep it within a Cath Kidston style.

 I placed one of my colour schemes in the background to test out how it would look and to help me design which colours would look better against it. I took the cream from the London Guard Landmark print and I think it really matches the design period.

 I altered the doorway completely so it looks a bit more grander and more period appropriate than the doorway I had previously drawn. It also meant that I could add an arched doorway which provoked contrast against the squareness of entire house.

I put in the Cath Kidston logo in the top rectangle which I thought would introduce some branding. I also noticed that in her patterns the name is a recurring element so I thought it would be good to include.

I have softened all the lines and made them into the pencil stroke. Overall I am very happy with the style and I am excited about continuing. I would change the background colour to get the three different colour schemes but the colours within each element would remain.

Pitch...

 I've tried to take my colour scheme from Kidston prints, I am concerned about the 12 colour limit but since I have the colours sorted and decided in general I am confident that I can limit myself.

This is the design that I pitched, I would stick to these elements and repeat them randomly throughout to create a repeat tile pattern. I have really been inspired by my Pride & Prejudice theme which is embodied throughout all of my elements, Ideally there would be a line style throughout (like the London landmark Guards Cath Kidston print) with hints of colour introduced like background water colour (like the Cath Kidston Postcard prints). I am very excited about drawing the wax seals because I am looking forward to creating an embossed effect. Overall my idea was well met, the subject matter was approved off as well as my chosen Kidstonesc style. I am very happy with my decisions and am enthusiastic about taking my design to the digital medium.

Cath Kidston entries...

Before beginning to design my print I wanted to see if anyone else had come up with anything for the brief. After searching on Behance I found three Kidston print designs by various Illustrators.

The first really runs with a gardening theme- theres a sense of country side and the overall styling of the design has a very Kidston style. I like how each element has been placed on a softly patterned circle which makes it easier to create the 3 different colour schemes required from the brief. The colours have primarily been taken from the Garden Bird prints and whilst I like all the little details I'm not convinced on the shed which looks a bit pale and flat.  Testing out the design with the logo is a really good idea because it ensure a Kidston continuity something to consider with my designs.

The tents above have really been well shaded, the lack of outline and careful blocks of colour is very in keeping with Kidston's prints. Again changing the background colour makes it easy to produce three different colour schemes. The tent aspect revolves around the "festival" aspect in the brief and whilst I do love how its been drawn I think it may lack edge- a bright contrasting pink aspect that would really make it British.

Again the outdoors and tents have evidently been a popular theme which is further evidenced by the tent/campfire/ festival theme in the design above. I think the repeat of the pattern should be more random but other than that I think there is a lot going on which is needed to create an engaging conversational piece.

So far really interesting to see the themes that other people are going for and Im happy that I havent found a Pride & Prejudice inspired one yet! Having said that I have got a better idea of using shade now thanks to the designs above although I am thinking about employing a line drawn element like those in the London and Guards of London Kidston print.

Inspiration...

I then decided to look into book covers - initially because of my Pride & Prejudice theme but also because I found the ballet book below and was struck by the similarities between Ambrose and Kidston.

  Kay Ambrose, 50s designer/writer 

There is a great sense of fluidity within Ambrose's work which is further exemplified by the soft sweeps of outline that remind me a lot of watercolour. The figures are really very simple which matches the figures in the  Kidston cowboy print. The 4 shade colour scheme is incredibly soft and I like how the line drawings of the figures focuses more on the movement of the ballerinas and the body shapes.

 Coralie Bickford-Smith, a modern designer that works for Penguin books

Since I found Ambrose's design  by researching book covers I opted to research some more penguin book covers, I found some modern designs that have a lovely vintage quality to them.  The use of soft vintage backgrounds gives the whole design a period element. Bickford- Smith comments that she tried to keep the covers in keeping with the era's content which is why they feel like they are old fashioned. I really like the turquoise teapot design, the solid shape contrasts really well against the shaded flowers (which look a lot like Cath Kidston's floral designs) possibly due to the use of shading which helps to give the flowers a sense of realism. The White Hart Inn cover also reminds me of Kidston's print due to the lack of outline and the shapes of colour that help to generate a sense of light and dark. 

Bickford-Smith's Pride & Prejudice cover also maintains the old fashioned vintage style as is the covers above, as a pattern I think its a bit boring and I would never consider repeating one design over and over to generate a pattern. However swans have been used on the cover- and I am wondering if I should incorporate swans in my design instead of peacocks- although I thought that peacocks better conveys the 'pride' theme.

Marian Mahler...

I continued to look into the 50's to see if I could come across prints that were reminiscent of Kidstons. I found Marian Mahler an Australian 50's designer whose work reminded me a bit more of Kidstons than the previously researched Moores.

The print above in particular reminds me a lot of Kidstons patterns, each repeat is self contained (which helps to tell more of a story) and there is a rougher hand-drawn element that is evident within Kidstons patterns.  I really like the printed textural element and there is a very British theme to the various elements, castles, hunting and countryside.  As each design is black and white its easy to employ different background colour schemes because they always match and integrate well together.  

I like how the lines overlap all of the colours in the background in the print above. The overall design is bright, bold and geometric. This isn't particularly Kidston(esc) but there is a great emphasis on line which is evident within  Kidston's work. 

Henry Moore- 50's Wallpaper Designer...

Cath Kidston is highly influenced by the 40s/50s so I opted to look into some 50's wallpaper which led me to the modernists 50's designer Henry Moore.  

 I love the boldness of the design theres a great colourful element within the patterns and the blocks of shade are contrasted by smooth colourful outline. Though the design repeats, the repeat itself looks random, possibly because the shapes vary slightly in colour. Some of the background lines have a mirror background line which helps to soften the black and provide more points of interest. Although I don't think it looks anything like Kidston's work at all Henry Moore does use a small colour palette and there is a lot of emphasis placed on colour much like Kidston's work.

Moore has drawn inspiration from leaves and ferns  by the look of it and its the only print by Moore that I have found that has a floral...ish influence (Kidston has a lot of floral prints and I thought I could draw parallels but there really are none).

I really really love the bird design above- Kidston has a whole garden bird print collection and I thought it was interesting how differently Moore has portrayed birds. I think the biggest distinction would be that Moore's work is more figurative, using blocks of colour, sharp edges shapes and random pattern. In contrast Kidstons work is relatively literal (except perhaps in colour) her birds are generated out of strips of carefully placed block colour that helps to create the impression of shade and shape. Despite Moore's obvious differences I love the birds 4 shade colour palette. The use of line creates detail and the design has a clear repeat. His designs I have noticed are incredibly chaotic, theres a lot going on and I think it really works with his style.

The print above is somewhat subdued compared to earlier examples, the pattern itself reminds me of a typewriter. Again huge emphasis is placed on both line and shape with a controlled colour palette that keeps the pattern calm.

Overall I can really draw no real parallels between Moore's work and Kidston's, but looking at his work has helped to inspire me- although I shall be very careful about creating a Kidstonesc style. Since Kidston draws inspiration from vintage fabrics from the 40s/50s it has been helpful to draw inspiration in the same way.

Inspiration Mood Board...

I didnt really know how to continue my artist research since I didnt really want to deviate from Cath Kidston's style so in order to gain some inspiration I created this mood board out of a collection of artwork that I found interesting. There are several Pride & Prejudice book covers, some teapot based drawings and a beautifully paper cut out whale. (The whale design has no relevance to my project but I love the shapes and the colours so I thought it would help inspire).

Marc Ahr...

I really liked the Cath Kidston print below, I liked how crowded it was and I liked the watercolour incorporation of colour and the line/hand-drawn scenes on top- the use of a 4 shade colour scheme really cements it as a Cath Kidston print. I  plan on drawing visual style from this print. 

Because I liked the Style I did some research into artists that used a similar style in order to draw some inspiration. Although I am very conscious that I cannot deviate from the Kidston Style I also want to incorporate my own style within that in order to make it seem more original.

Marc Ahrs work really reminds me of the Postcard print- although the colours used mimic that of reality (green grass, blue skies, skin coloured people etc...) his work manipulates a fluid sense of colour and  neat outlines.  

I like the emphasis placed on shape through the use of careful outline and I really like how the crowd has been portrayed a sea of colour. The textural element of the brush strokes helps to frame the shapes but I think that texture should be kept to a minimum in my work because Kidstons work is very smooth.

The scene below is very smooth and neat. Bright colours dominate the bottom of the frame drawing the eye to the bottom of the piece before gradually softening as the eye is drawn upwards. I think that the faded line style is reminiscent of the postcard print and I definitely plan on manipulating the same hand drawn faded line styling within my own design.

Target Audience...

29 year old- British Women TA

Brief Requirements
"Fun, witty, interested, creative, optimistic and independent"


"She likes...
Making stuff... be it food for friends or cushions for her new sofa Going out... but she usually remembers how she got home these days
Festivals, car boots and vintage shopping
Going to an exhibition... followed by a bit of reality TV
The idea of country life... but not just yet
She is a modern British woman."



I extrapolated the following themes from the TA presented in the Kidston Brief:
Romantics- Downton Abbey, Mr Darcy, Love Stories, Reality TV.
Tea, Chocolate, Wellies, Festivals, Vintage Furniture, Birdcages, Birds, Lock/Key.

I looked into the Target Audience before starting any additional research- although I am convinced that my theme is suitable for the TA I wanted to fully justify it. I think that my chosen theme fits perfectly with the woman described in the brief.

Theme 2... Pride and Prejudice....

 One of the themes that I came up with was Pride and Prejudice, at the moment theres a huge audience for period dramas thanks to recent increasingly popular Tv series: Downton, Death Comes to Pemberly and Ripper Street. I think that the romanticised Pride and Prejudice theme would greatly apply to the 29 year old female target audience specified by Kidston in the brief. I also think that it would enable me to design in a manor that would allow me to really encapsulate her visual style. Class elegance (a requirement alluded to in the brief) thats not too mad and funky (my usual visual design style). Pride & Prejudice is also an iconic British classic so I think it would really allow me to cement the British theme.

 The Pride and Prejudice theme would allow me to incorporate a tea theme thats iconically British another important element of the Cath Kidston Brief although of course I would have to look into the teapots of the early 1800s period in order to preserve visual continuity.

Mr Darcy's house in Pemberly could provide a nice starting point- essentially it would help to generate a sense of location and is large enough design wise to become a main element. I could draw the house in the line style that Kidston employs in the London and London Guards prints which would really  help to clarify the Kidston style. The house itself would also create a nice self contained design that I could repeat at random. 

 I wanted to incorporate some kind of bird into the theme because bird designs are very vintage which relates to the current styles. I initially thought of a swan because swans relate to the queen and the royal family which is obviously British. However I felt that peacocks would be more visually attractive- theres a lot of peacock motifs in fashion at the moment- and the peacock itself has connotations of pride which refers back to Pride & Prejudice.

 Since Britain is known for bad weather I initially wanted to include some kind of umbrella before I realised that it wouldnt fit visually with the early 1800 time era- this then led me to parasols - a lacy umbrella used by respectable ladies in order to preserve the pale complexion associated with the rich. Although I wouldnt use the parasol as a main design I think I could integrate it as a smaller element that offsets the larger design aspects.

 Stamps and silhouettes are also aspects that I could introduce as smaller elements to really indicate a sense of story- Pride & Prejudice revolves around letters to it would be a nice reference to the story. As well as this stamps in my head also make me think of the Royal family which is iconically British.

Overall I am really excited about this theme I think it gives me a whole world to play with and would ensure that I didnt deviate from the Kidston style.

Themes Further Research ....

I  decided to further my conceptual research by looking into one of the themes that I have come up with so far. Since London landmarks have already been done - I opted to look into landmarks more affiliated with British landmarks.

 Stonehenge was one of the main landmarks that instantly came to mind, its iconic and the shapes are simplistic so they would be easy to draw and recreate in Illustrator. Since much of Kidston's work is shade based I could make the stones look really dramatic by using bold darker shades.  It would also work well as a self contained design due to the circular nature of the landmark itself.

 The white cliffs of Dover was another main landmark that came up when I researched the term British Landmarks. The cliffs would allow me to incorporate a seascape element but I'm not convinced on the originality of the design- Kidston has a lot of sea based prints and Im not sure if it would work well as a self contained pattern that repeats throughout.

Since I live in the South East The Long Man of Wilmington is a well known landmark, its self contained once again so it would work as a repeat and it would work well with Stonehenge the only issue that I can foresee is that its a line drawing and wouldn't require any of the Kidston shading.

 The white horse much like the Long Man of Wilmington is a chalk outline in the hills, I actually prefer the shape of the horse to the Long man its a lot thicker so its bolder and more fluid.

 Landend is another landmark investigated- I love the sign and think that it could work well as an element within a repeating tile, having said that the text element could be considered to busy on a print- it would also allow me to integrate a coastal element that wouldn't replicate the seascape prints already in the Kidston line.

Overall I think the landmark option is a viable idea/concept path but having said this I dont think it instantly screams 29 year woman which is the target audience so I plan to research a few of my other concepts before fully deciding. I also think that landmarks (although they are London landmarks) have been done so I'd worry about the originality of producing a landmark based print.

Initial Ideas/Thoughts...

Ideas for a concept- I don't want to do anything thats been done so a lot of the iconic british themed ideas are going to have to be disregarded.

So to include- 29year old female TA, British history/cultural roots, 40s influences in colour and style

Concepts I've come up with so far:

British Coast- light houses/boats- already been done, although there would be room to play in this area if I included a deck chair bad weather theme of some description. Mermaids and various sea creatures could be included within this somehow- as a part of British folklore.

Fairytales- would allow me a theme and give me something to work from- not necessarily British- would need to research.

Castles- already been done

Birds- coastal birds- Although birds have already been explored birds could be integrated into my design ideas and could help to keep the designs grounded in Kidston's theme.

Tea Pots-  Tea is inherently British- it would be good to include a teapot/teacup/teaparty of some description especially since I think it would really work in the Kidston style.

Morris Dancers- British country side- dark morris dancers - possibility although it needs to be looked into and would it appeal to the TA?

Stonehenge- An iconic british landmark that has yet to be explored- but there is little to draw around them and the shape of stone henge itself isn't exactly intricate and engaging (may not fit stylistically)

Pride & Prejudice/ Downton- At the moment period dramas are hugely popular particularly with middle aged women- there would be a theme that I could draw inspiration from and the time frame would also look iconically vintage- definitely my strongest theme to date

Conversational Print Cath Kidston Mood Board

After looking into the Cath Kidston conversational prints referenced in the brief I decided to make a mood board of all of the prints that I considered conversational within her range. 

Before doing so I looked up the term conversational print in order to ensure that I fully understood its definition:

 "Any print with a recognisable picture in it, like cats or dogs or fairies or toothbrushes–something you might strike up a conversation about, as in “hey, are those frogs with fishing rods on that fabric?"

To my mind this implied that there had to be a clear theme, a collection of images that conveyed a sense of story, that allowed the target audience to look at it and engage.  

Cath Kidston Conversational Prints...

The Cath Kidston brief specifies that any print created must be conversational. The examples of conversational prints given were: Garden Birds, Cowboys and the Guards of London so it made sense to look into these examples.

I prefer these prints to the generic Cath Kidston designs already looked into because theres more to look at, a sense of story that makes the prints more visually interesting and engaging. I'm not a massive fan of the garden birds option because unlike the cowboy design below there is only one form really in the pattern. Having said this the birds themselves design wise adhere to a more realistic style. The mix of colours used on the birds help to instigate a physicality and a softness that actually helps to create a sense of texture. 

The cowboys print is one of my favourites- although I'm not entirely sure how this references Britain (Britishness as a key inspirator to Kidstons prints). I like the face that theres more to look at, the horse running have a great sense of movement which is once again provided through shapes of colour. Even the faces remain incredibly colour shape based something to consider if I incorporate any people. I mostly really like the background details, the cactus's help to fill up the negative space and really exemplify the cowboy wild west theme of the print.

The Guards of London is probably my favourite out of all the Cath Kidston prints researched, I love the hints of red within the black and white detailed world (an aspect I plan on considering within my own design), I actually prefer the detail introduced through the buildings, complicated line drawings that are contradicted by the simplistic and bold shapes that create the guards.  Its important to note that each building is its own self contained design so it doesn't matter how they are put together since we have to put our designs into a repeating tile it would be wise to generate small self contained designs as well. 

I am actually surprised by the cartoony nature of the guards in the print above, a black outline has been introduced which changes the whole style. Although I like the repeating  guard character because of the bold block colours the simple faces.I think that this print is an outlier to the Cath Kidston style so I don't plan on using this as a basis for my own design.