Thursday 23 July 2009

An Interview With A Bright Young Talent (and a Gorgeous Gift Shop Girl)

Thursday 23 July 2009
Presenting to you, an interview with Natalie, our Gorgeous Gift Shop Girl. She is the genius responsible for all of our amazing design work here at Rose and Dylan, and we are very very lucky because she also works here part time! Our team really are so ridiculously over qualified for this work - I am a very lucky Gift Shop Owner (and I know it) - having such a talented bunch around me!



K(Me); What is your full name?

N (Nat); Natalie Dunne - no middle name - my sister has one, but me and my brother don't - don't know why...

K;How old are you?

N; Twenty Four

K; What do you do for a living?

N; I work here at Rose and Dylan (http://www.roseanddylan.co.uk/) and I also illustrate for a card company, Trinity Publishing, at the moment. (http://www.trinitypublishing.co.uk/page2.htm)

K; Tell me more about the illustrations...

N; They're called 'Earl Grey', this first range - and it is based on tea parties! Cakes... and tea cups...bunting...lots of muted colours - pinks, greens.... it's pretty!

K; Why did you choose tea parties?

N; Because we needed something summery, something very English. I brainstormed with Steff and Justine (the owners of Trinity Publishing) - and we came up with that! That is going to be the first range - the next one is going to be a collage, with buttons, and maybe more floral, I think. But still cakes - cakes are popular on cards at the moment. They seem to be a big seller. I don't know why - apparently it used to be shoes and handbags - now it is cakes, butterflies and dragonflies. And pets - cats and dogs are always good...

K; What did you like drawing the best?

N; Erm.... *stops and thinks* That's tricky... 'Cos its the image as a whole really, isn't it? Hmmm... 'Beach Hut' is probably the best one - I like the finished result the best.

K; Which took the longest?

N; Oh... I don't know... probably the 'sympathy' or 'thinking of you' card... just because it is a hard subject - you don't want it to be overly depressing, because of the subject matter anyway, you don't want it to be a sad image - well, I wouldn't, anyway, if I was sending it to someone. I wanted to brighten it up but not be - you know, you know what I mean! It's a tricky one. So yes, I suppose that took the longest - just trying to come up with the idea of what to draw...

K; Did the creative process sort of 'flow'?

N; Yes, most of the time it did. I would find that I would do three or four at a time, and then I would have to stop and think about the next ones. There are a few garden ones, some interior ones, a few cakey and teacups and others which are more floral.. so they come in stages really.

K; Was it all freehand drawing, or did you use your Mac? I know you love your Mac...

N; Freehand drawing. Then I would scan it in to colour it. It makes it bolder and flatter, rather than pencil colouring, which I don't think would have the same impact. It would have been too twee for the subject matter. Watercolours would have looked hideous, if I had done them!

K; So, had you done anything similar before?

N; In sketch books, but I'd never done anything with them before. People tend to prefer to use vector images, because of formatting. You can blow it up really big or have it teeny weeny and you don't have to worry about it going all pixellated. That's the only reason - cos an illustration is just for a particular thing, isn't it? So if someone need to draw it for something then thats the size you do it. Whereas if its going to be for logos and stuff you don't really want it to be hand drawn, because you can't really change the size very well.

K; Which do you prefer, drawing on the Mac or by hand?

N; A bit of both, I think. It's a completely different look for each. It's easier to draw by hand! But you get a different effect. It's a cleaner image if you do it on the Mac, so it takes a bit longer. You can get some good effects with layering and stuff which you can't do by hand.

K; Did you imagine yourself doing this whilst you were training at college?

N; Yes, I think I did. I got bored with graphic design... I just wanted to draw... rather than do magazine page layouts and all of that sort of thing. Thats not my thing really... I'm happier doing this...

K; So what are your plans for the future then?

N; Who knows??? The future is bright at the moment. I'm carrying on with different ranges for Steff and Justine, so hopefully I'll just get my name out there!




You can get in touch with Natalie through us here at http://www.roseanddylan.co.uk/, or you can email her directly at purple_shoe@hotmail.com






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