sneak peek: pinecone fish onesie

what is a pinecone fish?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pinecone+fish

i've been reading etsy's quit your day job series like there's no tomorrow, and have found them chock full of excellent advice. do what you love - if you don't, people can tell. treat your work like a day job and it will be. listen to your customers, they're giving you relevant and timely feedback. tags and photos are "location location location!" on etsy. build a cohesive brand.

to the last point, you'll notice that i reshot the main photo for my entire inventory yesterday. i'm loving the results - would love your feedback.

to the first point, well, i feel like i'm really coming into my own on this piece.

starting it was intimidating - the blank onesie, knowing i had to fit a strange and complicated design onto this wonderful if awkward canvas. but i dove in - how this project has strengthened my resolve and jump-in abilities! i am loving every second of it, and expect it to be my best work yet.

Here it is!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/99184927/pinecone-fish-onesie-for-baby-boy-or

story behind the name: seadog design

paris
summer of 2007
the tiniest apartment
me + four other girls
studied and toured and ate and absorbed that which is french
together
spend enough time together and nicknames arise, mine ranging from "C" to "punk" to "c-dawg"
:)

i love my memories of that trip and those friendships
they were key to my story
key to who i am becoming as a person

in naming my etsy shop, i wanted to bridge past friendships and travels with new dreams and ambitions.

thus, seadog designs was born.

cheers!

story: red rosettes

i love patterns. looking at my closet, you would be surprised to hear it - i wear a lot of solid colors. but that's only because i'm so picky about patterns - i have to really "buy into" a pattern to, well, buy it. connect with it, feel it reflects who i am, etc. possibly i overthink patterns...

this onesie, though - i was won over before i started drawing. flowers are instantly great in my mind, especially for babies, because nothing is cliche on a baby. just sweet and delicate and - sigh - lovely.

the abstract rosettes were partially inspired by work from a good friend of mine. she's done a series of oil paintings (like this) that bridge - beautifully - the gap between free-wheeling swirls and tiny rosebuds. translating the concept to onesies was meant to be.

if they were done with a scented marker, i'd say you should all take time to smell the roses.

i haven't run into any scented fabric markers yet, though. let me know if you find any ;)

cheers!

sneak peek: blue imaginary skyline

so i sold my first onesie on friday - HUZZAH! ...and promptly realized that i'd sold my only boy-appropriate onesie. (unless you count the blue rose. i could see that working as formal wear, almost. you know, for a wedding. with a cute little tux. ...no, you're right. not so much.)

the need was desperate, the time was now.

i was going to do a moose. there's nothing better than a moose. but i wasn't feeling the freehand, so i googled "masculine pattern". and found this aztec quilting design.

hello, inspiration.

freehanding, i created a similar concept that took a skyline-esque turn. a line drawing with a life of it's own. the charlie brown stripe for cool kids. a baby boy's imaginary playground skyline.

yes, something like that.

enjoy!

why onesies?

friends of mine, katrina and drew (ok, his wife), were expecting their firsts last summer, so the office threw a happy-first-baby shower for them. beyond the normal games and cake, we had a pile of plain onesies in a bunch of sizes. our job was to each decorate one with the fabric markers provided. YES!


well - some of us were thrilled, some skeptical, some totally checked out. all told, about half of them got done that afternoon, and the rest sat in a pile. waiting. calling to me. 


so i volunteered to take them under my wing, give them all some love. 


the next week was a blur of happiness. whenever i had downtime, i'd grab another onesie and start drawing. some of them were simple - a purple banana, a houndstooth design, a little mondrian or rothko. some were more involved, like the mom tattoo at left, or the swirling peppermints christmas onesie. 


in the months since, i've been looking for a more substantial creative outlet, and this onesie illustration idea came back. what if i gave it a shot? shipped, as seth godin would say? 


we'll see.


cheers!

sneak peek: purple peony

i love creative editing when it comes to placing images on apparel. take an image, blow it up past life-size, and crop asymmetrically based on the shirt (or onesie!) space you're working on. reminds me of degas' work, influenced by the new cropping techniques he picked up from japanese work.

don't worry, i won't claim my work is at the degas level :) i'll just give him credit for continuing what the japanese (and photographers) were onto - creative cropping.

like this onesie!

hope you enjoy - cheers :)