Peplum + Pretty Interiors

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Cobaltcafe

The SS’12 trend that I’m completely in love with at the moment is the Peplum. If you’re curious, Vogue’s trend report here gives you a mini explanation and lovely examples on the catwalk.

My take is that it’s a pretty frill that covers your shape gracefully and gives you a beautiful silhouette. Having said that, it’s freezing at the moment and I’m padded out in a funky jumper, scarves, fingerless gloves and very thick socks, so in true wishful thinking style, I have drawn a quick sketch in honour of the cute SS12 shape to come:

I hope you like it! It’s interesting what can happen when you let the inks flow and do their own thing. Apart from the pencil sketch, I just let the brush do what it wanted to do and decided not to be controlling. It needs a bit more work but for now, I’m ok with it >_<

And now on to pretty interiors…

Over the weekend I visited a friend’s flat in West Hampstead. To my utter surprise her flat was decorated beautifully around some of my art prints. I loved it all so much I thought I’d share you photos of her beautiful flat! Enjoy and see if you can spot my prints! >_<*

If you like her style why not catch on her Twitter? Or visit her Tumblr x

 

 

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Winter Brights…

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Cobaltcafe

I feel like I’m in two minds when it comes to what to wear at the moment: part of me still wants to hibernate in black and greys, trudge around in my boots, but the other part of me (mainly due to SS12 commissions) wants to go all bright and summery.

So, to pick up a happy compromise I present a super quick sketch of five fun ways to feel like summer, but dress for winter. It’s not rocket science, it’s winter brights!

OK, maybe no 5 is a bit OTT >_<”

Here’s my first contribution to winter brights and it’s so easy to do – ombre nail art!

Hope you enjoy! x

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2012 Resolutions – Illustrated >_<

Posted on January 2, 2012 by Cobaltcafe

Happy New Year everyone!

I thought I’d do a fun comic sketch of some of my resolutions for you.

Enjoy! >_< x

PS I’m sorry Carlos of Nipponaisuki for drawing you in Alita’s cosplay in point 4, but, I couldn’t resist! x

Posted in Illustration of the day! | 2 Comments

My A4 Art Print – available in time for Christmas!

Posted on December 19, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

Hi all,

I thought I’d quickly update you to let you know that I still have some of my A4 art prints left and if you’re UK-based you can buy them in time to get to you before the end of week, so in time for Christmas! I will be sending these out daily until Thursday 5pm to ensure that they get to you.

EACH PRINT IS £10 EACH – Please buy them HERE and in the comment box on checkout, let me know which one you would like. 

As I process each order, the number of prints left will go down so you’ll know which ones are available. The print illustrations and names are below.

SHOP NOW

My shop is via PayPal and is payment secure:

SHOP NOW

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Holiday Romance – My Twitter Competition

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

Roll up! Roll up! It’s competition time!

I’ve had an amazing year and really feel that so much has changed in the last 12 months for me professionally and artistically. Of course I couldn’t have done this without everyone’s support, encouragement and love so as a big thank you to everyone I would like to give my Holiday Romance print away to a lucky Twitter follower:

This canvas print has exclusively been gifted to me by YourImage2Canvas. I love it, it’s been beautifully printed and set, and it’s the first time I’ve seen my work printed this way. I’ll be sorry to see it go, but I have had such an amazing year, I would love someone out there in the Twittersphere to enjoy it as an early xmas present :)

Here are some photos of this 12 x 12 inch canvas from my dodgy-camera-quality phone:


So how do you enter the competition?

Easy! Simply:

1) Follow me on Twitter @cobaltcafe

2) Re-tweet any of my tweets about this competition!

3) Remember to use the hashtag #CobaltcafeComp to be in with a chance of winning.

While the competition is open I’ll be tweeting reminders and you’re welcome to RT them!

The competition closes Midnight (GMT) 14th Dec ’11.

This competition is only open to Twitter users.

If you have any questions, just tweet to me @cobaltcafe

Good luck! X

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Terms & Conditions: This competition is open to Twitter users only. Anyone on Twitter can enter and if you’re the lucky winner, I will send the print out to you wherever you are. As long as you add the hashtag #CobaltcafeComp you won’t need to keep re-tweeting the message, and re-tweeting the message 100 times won’t increase your chances of winning, it will only upset your own followers (!).

This competition ends at Midnight GMT (11:59pm) 14th Dec ’11. If you are the winner I will DM you on Twitter. If you don’t reply back to me to confirm that you accept the prize within 24 hours of my DM, I will have to pick another winner. So keep a look out  after the 14th Dec for my DM >_<

YourImage2Canvas specialise in canvas printing. For more information about them please visit their website here.

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Everything is happening this Saturday!

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

Well, not everything, but some things centred around my small-press work and bf’s band, Parallel Animals. So if you’re a free spirit in London this weekend, read on to find out where our creative selves will be…

Comica Comiket @ Bishopsgate Institute, Liverpool St (11am – 6pm)

I will be selling my small-press snacks, art prints and postcards at this year’s long awaited Comica event at the Bishopsgate Institute. I’ll be sharing a table with Van Nim from Capes & Drapes and will be happy to chat to anyone with any queries about my work and view your portfolio for advice if you’re a budding artist. It’s quite a relaxed event so do pop by to say hello!

Bishopsgate Institute is right by Spitalfields market so it’s the perfect place to browse around for early holiday shopping and view original artworks.

For more information please visit the Comica Comiket site here.

Alternatively email me here.

This is a free event.

Parallel Animals @ Cargo, Old Street (7pm-late)

In the evening, Parallel Animals will be playing live at the Cargo club, supporting Lux Lisbon. My bf is the lead singer so I’ll be there to show my support! Again, it’s a pretty relaxed event (until it turns into a club after midnight!), the band will be there quite early and are happy to chat and talk music over a bier or two.

To buy tickets beforehand, visit their website here.

Tickets are £5 each.

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What to wear? For Notes from a Stylist

Posted on October 10, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

I recently illustrated stylists Ellen Lobler and Sara Delaney for their site’s “What to Wear” decks – for their Notes from a Stylist blog, here.

These were fun illustrations to produce as I already worked with the duo on their site banner and cards earlier in the year. The tricky part was to make sure that I depicted them in their lingerie, in a tasteful way, not revealing too much, but keeping it luxe.

So here are the illustrations and in context:

To view more of their weekly decks and stylings visit their site here. Alternatively follow them on Twitter or Facebook.

Enjoy!

Zx

 

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It’s a wrap! London Fashion Weekend with ShopStyle

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

London Fashion Week has long been and gone (actually we’re practically at the end of the SS12 fashion week now…), but before it said goodbye, it hosted London Fashion Week-end, to celebrate all things shopping related!

Working with ShopStyle for this who were one of the main sponsors of London Fashion Weekend I created a set of illustrations capturing the fall look and feel:

It was a great pleasure to work with ShopStyle again, I really enjoyed this project and wished that I was in the country at the time to visit their stand and see my artwork live in a happy retail environment!

Here are some more images of my illustrations for ShopStyle:

^^ BTW, that’s not me :)

Thank you ShopStyle for such an amazing opportunity!

Visit ShopStyle here!

Enjoy x

 

Posted in Featured!, Projects | 2 Comments

My A4 Art Prints…

Posted on August 1, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

Hi – just a quick update – these prints have all sold out! But don’t worry, I will update my print-run later in the year and will keep you updated.

Thanks,

Zx

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I’ve been moving some of my artwork round in the studio and I recently came across these A4 prints from my last Expo. They’d be lovely framed and now that I’ve finally figured out how to set up a shop online, you can buy them here for £10 each.

Simply click through here and note the prints that you’re interested in the message box, and I’ll do the rest. If you have seen some of my work (only personal work, not commercial illustrations) on this blog or my site and you’d like me to provide a bespoke print of that, just email me.

Happy Monday browsing! >_<

BUY ONE OF MY A4 PRINTS HERE – £10 (note the one you’re interested in)

My shop is via PayPal and is payment secure:

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Berlin Fashion Week cool – for ShopStyle.de

Posted on July 20, 2011 by Cobaltcafe

I was super-excited when Berlin Fashion Week started a few weeks ago (not because Berlin is one of my all time favourite cities) but because my illustrations for ShopStyle.de were about to make their début in the form of their fashion schedule, iphone covers and tote bags!!

I have been holding out sharing the illos I created for their Fashion Week campaign but alas, I can finally share them with you! And a photo of the final thing, courtesy of ShopStyle >_< So, enjoy!

Visit ShopStyle UK here, or ShopStyle DE. ShopStyle is like google for all things fashion related. If you’ve never visited it and you love trawling sites for fashion shopping, go now and explore the site! If you’re a shopaholic, it will make life so much easier for you >_<

The Clothes Whisperer has some great write-ups and photos of Berlin Fashion Week that I recommend – view her Wandering Whisperer write ups here.

Over and out x

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