Happy Halloween!

Ta-dah! My finished pumpkin as promised and a picture of my very put-together-last-minute halloween costume that I wore to the Monsterpalooza after-show party. My costume was pretty lame compared to some of the amazing efforts made by the make-up and prosthetics folk who work in the industry, but it was fun to dress up all the same! Happy trick or treating everyone!

Halloween LA style!

Halloween is such a big holiday here in the US. When I left the UK, the shelves where becoming packed with Christmas things - but not here! So exciting to see people decorating their yards and choosing prime pumpkins for carving! I have this beast to get going on!...Got an evening of sketching some designs tonight. Will be sure to post the after shot when it's done!

So in the spirit of Halloween, I did a doodle of course! Will be Twitter pic until the end of the month.

New chapter, new home.

Quite a lot has happened over the last few weeks, which has resulted in me being a little quiet on the old blog front. I left my job and I left London to embark on a new adventure, to try new things and make new art. I packed my computer and my trusty screen printing screen and headed out to live with some family in Los Angeles. I'm living in an environment where you can't not feel creative and get creative and learn more about being creative! We are surrounded by people whom we can learn a great deal from and I hope to tell you all about it on here as I go along! 

Before Gaz and I moved here, we were very lucky to stay with our friends up in Liverpool for a few weeks to catch up and say bye to family etc. I meant to blog about Amy and Dan's house while I was there but Frankfurt book fair got in the way! According to Dan, Amy has a borderline unhealthy obsession for anything with hearts on and very cute vintage looking items. I say there is no such thing! Their house is lovely and on it's way to becoming extremely stylish. I snapped some picks and did some doodles of a few items dotted around the house, for inspiration.

 

Ta-dah! Introducing you to vicky-barker.co.uk

So after 5 and a half years, I left my job at Usborne Publishing last week. It was a great 5 and a half years in which I learned lots, worked on some beautiful books and made some wonderful friends. I take with me a great deal of knowledge, which I hope will help me as I embark on this new freelance life...

To begin the freelance ball rolling, I now have a website which I can finally show to everyone. It showcases some of the lovely titles that I worked on for Usborne (only a select few - I worked out that I had worked on over 80 books in one way or another, during my time there. We'd be here all night if I used all of them!!) - and also some bits and pieces I have been working on in my own time. 

Take a look next time you are having a cuppa break and let me know your thoughts! You'll find it here at vicky-barker.co.uk

Back to School

*Spotted in Waterstones*

Summer holidays are coming to a close and the start of term is looming! For your little ones, why not buy this new Sticker Dolly Dressing title, designed by myself and illustrated by Steven Wood! Available in bookshops now or at www.usborne.com

Trip to the beach

So Gaz and I took a trip out to Herne Bay on our day off. Was lovely to be by the coast. Munched good pub food and doodled on the beach. 

Really loved the cute coloured beach huts that lined the shore.

Sunday doodles

Did anyone else notice how bloomin' HUGE the raindrops were this morning?! 

They were GIANT, I tell you!

Super screen printing stuff

Been a tad quiet on the blog front recently, so apologies. Preparing to leave your job and move to America leaves no time for fun stuff!

Thought I would share these two sets of screen printed cards I've done in my kitchen recently. Enjoy! Hopefully available to buy from my Etsy shop shortly.

All designs and photos Copyright ©vickydoodles

Alternative lunchbox

Bit of a boring post, but thought I would share...Got caught out last week with no food containers to carry fruit in. Used this alternative which I think you will agree is far prettier! Not sure I'll be able to go back to the boring plastic version. It didn't leak and kept the contents fresh. It made the fruit look far yummier and inviting to eat too. Try it! Some really pretty jars out there...

Diamond Jubilee

Well, I'm a little late for the actual anniversary, and a little early for the other festivities, but anyways - here is a pic of our Queen in celebration of 60 years on the throne. 

Happy Easter!

Wedding doodles

Some illustrations I did for a friend's 'Save the Date' card, and her wedding invitation.

Gemma Correll's What I Wore Today

I've been meaning to do this for a few weeks...Look what arrived in the post!!

The lovely people at Octopus Books sent me a brand spanking new copy of Gemma Corrells long awaited book! For those of you who don't know about this book - or are familiar with Gemma's work, (where have you been??) I should tell you that she is a super doodler who's work is everywhere! I've been a fan of Gemma's simple yet unbelievably quirky style (and also the regular updates of one of the loves in her life - her Pug, Mr Norman Pickles...) for some time. Gemma was inspired by fashion forward websites and other platforms were people can post pictures or blog about their favourite outfits etc. She thought while some people may not like to post pictures of themselves, doodling might be a fun alternative. 

(Copyright - Gemma Correll)

What I wore Today started off as a Flickr group that Gemma set up to allow people to upload drawings of their outfits from that day. The response has been huge over the past few years attracting people with all ranges of artistic skills and different mediums. Men, women, young, old - everyone was getting involved.  

In May last year Gemma announced that her wicked idea was being transformed into a book and that she would be chosing 32 people to appear in the book with her. I was over the moon to learn in early June that mine was one of the first 16 to be chosen! Woohoo!!!

So a year on here it is - this 122 page hardback, part sketchpad, part journal is packed with ideas and top tips, plenty of doodling space to record your favourite outfits, quirky styles and generate ideas to allow your style and collections to grow. Design your own accessories, tote bags and even hairstyles. Cleverly sectioned into seasons so you can record and plan the seasons styles. Gemma's illustrations pop up throughout the book for a little inspiration and guidance...

All in all an awesome book for all levels of artistic ability, ages, genders, shapes and sizes. It was an absolute honour to be chosen to be included in something as exciting as this. It's a great gift for any aspiring fashion fanatic and I highly recommend it! 

Check out all the wonderful pieces of submitted artwork on the what I wore Today Flickr stream here

Gemma's What I wore Today book is priced at £9.99 and available from most bookstores and also Amazon.

If you would like to find out more about Gemma Correll and her lovely 

doodle-y world and also see pictures of her handsome pug- check out her website and blog.