I am Shannon a 23 year old graphic designer from Newcastle UK. I have a degree in graphic design and have created logos and brand identities for small businesses on a freelance basis I have also worked on projects such as editorial, packaging design and illustrations.  Since graduating I have been working on more personal projects and figuring out what direction to take my designs and building my portfolio. 

 

My process of working for art projects is not too structured and usually I will see something that will spark and idea and from this I do a number of sketches to see what will work best. My illustrations are mostly digital and done using Adobe illustrator or procreate but I do sometimes use more traditional media. I find a lot of my inspiration through colour and will often decide on a colour palette before even starting a project. Nature plays a huge role in deciding colours for my work I often look for more natural colours that compliment each other well. This can be seen so often in nature that i find myself taking photos of sunsets, flowers and landscape to use as colour reference in the future. I tend to use a limited colour palette with 4-5 colours and use pattern on top to add detail but I have recently been experimenting with more realistic digital art in Procreate. If I am struggling with ideas and have an art bock I will mind map all possible ideas I have and then from each of the ideas expand on it, this give me way more options or I will use a colour palette generator and find one I like and sometimes this will make me think of new ideas. 

 

Most recently while in lockdown I drew a lot of plants and flowers to figure out drawing in procreate. The shape and colours in plants helped me to figure out more on colour mixing, shading and style. I have always been drawn to using nature in my work as it is so important in life for mental health and well-being, with so many aspects that can inspire creativity  With nature inspired pieces there is so many colours you can experiment with and different shapes to use and there are so many more options for being creative. 

 

My main focus for my design work recently has been on my Etsy store @autumnmoondesignco . This started as a uni project but I have continued posting products and sending them out to customers because I love sharing my work with others. Here we sell quirky greeting cards and prints, I have just created a pride collections for pride month to support the LGBTQ+ community. I have plans to expand with more products and designs in the future alongside all of the existing products. All of the products are designed packaged and printed by me. My intent with my Etsy store is to create something more inclusive and expressive of more audiences, I stick with a similar illustration style but explore many themes to fit with all types of people.