Helene-Marie Gilmour: It starts with a doodle..

Nearly all of my design projects start with a doodle..
I would like to share some of them with you & show you
how some doodles develop into finished pieces..

Floral Doodles

When I get a spare moment from freelancing, I have been developing my own collection

of textile patterns for cushions, bags & kitchen textiles..

This is where I start..

It is so therapeutic doodling, I wish I had more time to do it!

My favourite doodle tool is nothing technical or special...

just a bic black biro.

This is where the magic happens...

I like to combine florals & pattern..working into the bits that I like...

It's usually the quick scribbles that get picked for my final design..

I enjoy looking back at my doodles, because I

often find a little gem that I over looked..

I work in between the flower heads to create a pattern idea..

When I think I have some good ideas to work with, I start scanning

& trace my favourites on my computer....then things start to transform....

Below is a sneak preview of some samples
I had made up with my finished designs on.

Lilla Rogers Boot Camp

This is a project I did a couple of years ago when I first went

freelance, it really got my creative juices flowing again &

back into sketching & doodling..This particular project

shows the transition from doodle to finish concept..

The project was Cuckoo Clocks.. so I grabbed my favourite

pink feathery pen and began doodling...

There were so many pretty elements

I took from the reference I found...

when I was happy with the many doodles I had created,

I scanned them in & started to work them up in Illustrator

I decided not to design a conventional cuckoo clock shape

I wanted to create more of a pattern..

I liked the idea of a Tattoo syle clock

This is the colour pallette I wanted to use & it was great

to see they were one of the pallettes recommended by Lilla !

I love these colours together & I always have to

have a splash of my favourite colour pink in the mix!

This is the first layout I tried on a phone cover.

I had to re-arrange my design to fit, but I think it worked!

I wanted to develop this pattern further...

I wanted to look at another option & I quite like the tattoo style of this one

I thought this design would look great on a t'shirt too!

I isolated the bird element which I think worked as great co-ordinating pattern

with pastels or bright backgrounds.

Cupcakes & Houses

Most of my time is spent designing on the computer, so from time to time it's nice to get away from the screen and draw and paint freely. I have always enjoyed drawing and painting from a young age, I've played with many different mediums, but always felt more comfortable with acrylics so decided to stick with them! When I've had the chance, I've shown my work in local exhibitions and sold afew pieces which has been nice! It's an enjoyable hobby and any spare time I get, out come my paints and easel!.. I find painting so therapuetic and relaxing, I wish I could do it more often!

Before I start with a project, I roughly sketch my ideas on paper and after afew scribbles, I'm happy to go for it on the canvas!

This is my Cupcake collection which are currently in a little Gallery Shop called Dee Fine Arts in Heswall, Wirral.

If you are interested in any of my paintings please get in touch :0)x

Naughty But Nice

60cm x 30cm Acrylic, Collage & Pen on Canvas

With my cupcake collection, I wanted to experiment with collage,

so I tried adding wallpapers, which worked!

Cupcake hill

Acrylic, Collage & Pen on Canvas

This piece is hanging my Nieces' bedroom, I would like to do some more like this!

Balancing Cup Cakes

60cm x 30cm Acrylic, Collage & Pen on Canvas

Cup Cakes in a row

80cm x 30cm Acrylic, Collage & Pen on Canvas

Cup Cake in Pink Frame

30cm x 30cm Acrylic & Pen on Canvas

Cup Cake in Teal Frame

30cm x 30cm Acrylic & Pen on Canvas

Following on from my Cup Cake collection I have painted a collection of naive scenes with rolling hills, little houses and bubble trees with funny birdies. They all started life as a doodle..