Cathy Slarks

A bird in the Hand...

2010-10-19T02:56:00.000-07:00

This is a concept I designed for a friend's t-shirt. Her magazine store in Newcastle is called "Bird in the Hand"

Hen Pecked & Magazine Hill PR

2010-10-19T02:49:00.000-07:00

This is the logo, postcard & business card I designed for a new company in Newcastle called 'Hen Pecked'. As the name suggests, they plan hen's events & wanted their look to be both fun & sophisticated. Here are the initial concepts:

And here is the finished art:

I have also just completed a logo/ business card/ postcard design for a new PR company called Magazine Hill PR. Here are the initial logo concepts:

And here is the finished artwork:

Newcastle Roller Derby Poster

2010-07-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is the latest Newcastle Roller Derby poster for their upcoming bout against Sydney in August. The theme is "1950's Rock N Roll" with a derby twist.

I have also been busy designing NRDL's new logo which will be launched at the above bout. The league voted on two options & this one was the resounding winner.

bag2bag Corporate identity

2010-07-23T19:31:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a new logo for a local Newcastle company that has just started up called 'bag2bag'. It is run by the lovely Angelica Sherman & I was so thrilled to be asked to design her logo & stationary. Not just your average bag organiser, bag2bag uses gorgeous fabrics with contrast lining making it the stylish way to change from bag to bag. I must confess I have one & I love it! I think her logo incorporates everything she & her new company stand for.

Newcastle Roller Derby League- Flat Track Attack Poster

2010-05-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited about roller derby bout that is coming up in a couple of weeks. The two teams that are bouting are the "Old School Brawlers" & the "Modern Day Divas." When I first discussed the imagery for the poster with Dino La Rouge (NRDL's secretary) I thought, what a fantastic concept, to have the Brawlers in black, white & grey, & the modern day divas in the leagues colours of purple & yellow.

They wanted a clash down the centre, & I thought, what better way to have the Brawlers clash, than with 'the Bump' & when I heard the name "Flat track attack" I couldn't help but use a "Mars Attack" look for the font. So here it is...

Pyjama Prints

2010-05-13T23:46:00.000-07:00

Spotlight also asked me to work on some prints for kids & teens flannelette pyjamas, I can't tell you how much fun this was, I think I'll have to make some for myself! Here are some of the designs I did for them:

I found this fantastic book of old fabrics from the 1920's-1950's- Fabulous Fabrics of the 50's- & found inspiration from there for the above circus print.

Muslin Prints

2010-05-13T23:29:00.000-07:00

Being freelance definately has it's ups & downs, but here is an up! I was thrilled when Spotlight asked me to design some baby muslin prints. It was one of the first projects I worked on after leaving full time work, & having full creative control, was certainly a change. Here are some of the prints I worked on at the end of last year, I think they're due in store this month:

Wedding Menu & Order of Service

2010-05-13T22:48:00.000-07:00

Well it has been a while, but here are the professional shots from Sarah & Ben's Wedding of the Order of Service & the Menu I designed. It was an absolute stunner of a day & I received a beautiful thankyou from the happy couple & some great feedback from their guests.

At the reception, it was great to see the guests at their tables filling out the games & quizzes in the menu. Each table name was a clue to one of the puzzles, which I thought was so cute, & a lovely personal touch.

At the ceremony, I also met a lovely bride to be whose wedding was the very next Friday. She was panicked about doing the table names, menu & seating arrangement as she did not have a graphic designer. Excited to know that I designed Ben & Sarah's stationary, she asked me if I wouldn't mind stepping in to design hers. It was very close to the deadline, but I did manage to pull it all together to create the Parisian look she was after, & I will post the photos from this wedding in the next few days.

7 - 10 Range for Target

2010-03-04T21:07:00.000-08:00

One of the last ranges I worked on for Target Girls 7 - 10 contained probably one of the most challenging, funny & cute prints I had worked on during my full time work. Every time one of us in the office looked at it we would just laugh! It is on sale now at Target, so, obviously, I had to go and buy a T-shirt for myself (not that I'm planning on squeezing into a size 9) or am I...

Anyway, it is a cute Chihuahua print & has some real diamante bling (not shown below) added to the collar & necklace. It was a Photoshop triumph, let's put it that way:

Sketch

2010-02-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

Another gorgeous wedding to attend in April, I just received the invitation in the mail & so I can now share with you what I have been working on over the past couple of weeks.

This was quite an involved invitation with a lot of sketching, all produced in Adobe Illustrator; still a menu & order of service to go! This invite includes an RSVP card with sketches representing meal requirements (vegetarian, meat, no nuts) & map for the guests on the reverse.

I loved Sarah's vision for the invitation which incorporates elements of both her & her partner plus key theme colours & graphics representing the venue (Sketch).

The result is one very happy Bride (which is most important) & a stunning invitation that has set the mood for a beautiful day to come.

I love my Grandad...

2010-02-11T16:39:00.000-08:00

...seriously I do, he was a great character, with a fantastic laugh, he kinda looked like one of the grumpy old men from the Muppets (he would hate me saying that) but it's true. He loved art & especially

liked painting/ sketching nudes (tehehe).

I love the fact that he took these amazing photographs of my Mum when she was a little girl. I love that he didn’t just take 1 shot, but took a series. And I love that he took them all those years ago, not knowing that one day, in the future, his granddaughter would post them on something called the ‘internet’.

(I also love my Mum for looking so adorable)

I'm totally going to use these in my house, but my creative juices are flowing & (with my mother’s permission) would love to use them for some card designs. For now, enjoy my favourite series:

Target Baby

2010-02-04T11:47:00.000-08:00

Before turning freelance in November 2009, I worked for a company in Melbourne that produced ranges for Target; baby wear, girls 1-6 & girls 7-10. I was very excited to see theTarget catalogue contained some pictures of the last two baby wear ranges I worked on:

Pictured in the catalogue page above left is the "Woodland Ranger" story developed for Target Winter 2010, above right is one of the prints I developed for the range.

Pictured above left is an applique/ embroidery I developed for the knitted dress (centre page) in the "Folkatle" story for Target winter 2010.

Whimsical Wedding

2010-01-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

Good evening cyber space, I'm pleased to introduce myself, Cathy Slarks, to you in my first Blog entry ever. Tomorrow is my brother's wedding day & to show you a taste of what I do, I thought I would share the stationary I designed for their special day. I absolutely loved their theme; think whimsical, 50's kitsch, cottage garden & pastel colours. The invitation consisted of three postcard sized cards each with a separate but related image on the front with specially designed floral & details on the back.