Work it Out Part 2

So... we left off last week with me sending out the first draft. I wasn't 100% on it, but being the Brandilyn is such a sweet girl she said she loved it and the ideas. I had to step back and look at in in a couple of days and see what jumps out at me and what needs to be neutered (get it?) This is where we were...

... and here were my thoughts with fresh eyes.
• I'm not liking the layout of the header, I do like the feel and style, but it needs to be more balanced. It's just not a good use of that space. And I'm not crazy about the CAC logo, I think the idea is better than the execution.
• I think the idea of the orange sidebar is cool, I don't think it's going to fit this design.
• Adding an interesting but subtle background will do a lot for the overall feel and is doable now that I'm taking out the colored sidebar.
• Being that I'm going to add some hand drawn elements, I decided to make the buttons on the top hand drawn
• Add cat collar with tags hangin' off for social media links
• move the sidebar to the space between the buttons (my wife's idea)
• Oh my god Don, you are so clever... what about if there is a little simple hand drawn mouse that stays at the bottom right corner of the screen and as you scroll it moves down... brilliant, I tell you : )
I'm not sure if it's perfect, but it is much more appealing overall, we'll see how it sticks. This could be a keeper with just some more added embellishments.

Blog Design Pointers

So, I've decided to start a new little series here that will happen once a week. If you are in need of some ideas of how your blog design and layout could look better just email me a link to your blog with a little info about you and your blog to adelinesdaddy@gmail.com with a subject line of Addy Daddy Blog Pointers. I'm going to pick a blog or 2 each week and do a consult and post some images. Keep im mind, I'm not going to do the design and layout for you, but help guide you to do some changes on your own. Hit me up, I'm here to help.

Illustration from Start to finish

I was approached last week by Katie from Passive Juice Motel about helping her with an illustration/ logo that could be used on tags for her store and business cards etc. I've been wicked busy and backed up, but I really liked the imagery that she was describing... A fox, top hat, bow tie, monocle holding a tasty beverage. I took a quick look through her instagram account to see some of the dolls she had made and I saw these cute foxes.

 I was thinking, "when I get to this it's going to be fun, I'll use one of her dolls for inspiration on the look of the fox" and I closed the screen. Later, after I had finished some other work (building a site, not all that fun) I grabbed my sketch book and decided that it would be fun to mess around with the idea for the fox illustration as I sat in the living room with my wife and daughter. I liked the way the sketch was moving.

I didn't notice at the time, but I had actually mixed up the name, I was thinking of some yummy passion fruit drink, but it actually is "Passive Juice Motel" didn't notice until I had sent the first draft and put up on instagram. In any event, I was excited to see where this was going to go once I started working it more in illustrator.  SO... when Rach took Addy in to get her to sleep for the night I scurried into my office and scanned in my sketch. I really moved on it and was almost done when Rach emerged from the bedroom. I decided to be a good husband and stop for the night.

The next day I really wanted to see this thing done and previewed. It didn't take that much longer. She said they are going to be printed on a material like craft paper, so I set up the preview like that. The print was supposed to be just be 2 colors, but it was too much fun to color, so I had to send both. 

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