I started with gold - I'm a sucker for gold bling and I feel like it embodies both qualities of luxury and kitsch; two juxtaposing elements that are present in my designs. I also think that a general theme that runs through my designs is the sense of the garments being unique, yet quite wearable - gold is a precious material that, when you consider only items made from a pure form of gold, is not as prevalent in the market as say, silver or even gold plate/vermeil; yet it is very easy to incorporate into a wardrobe.
Next, a pony because of the feminine and masculine qualities that it represents. Some little girls have soft, ethereal dreams of riding a horse through the mist on a beach; and the lean musculature of a horse can certainly be related to a lean, chiseled male physique. Many of my designs incorporate elements of soft draping and structured, tailored silhouettes, so finding an image that also had "soft" and "hard" qualities was essential.
Using Adobe Illustrator, I found an image of a carousel horse that I liked, traced it and tweaked a few aesthetics - curved the tail upwards to give a sense of movement, removed the saddle and draped a riding blanket over the back with my logo on it; I was trying to keep the incorporation of my logo simple as the rest of the illustration was fairly detailed.
Then, I outlined the entire tracing and filled the outline with a gradient of dark browns, golds and creams. After I had the "shine" pattern that I wanted, I played around with some different effects, like glass, crystalize, ink outlines, and paint daubs, and finally, I used Shape Builder to draw an extended outline that included a tab for a hang string.
Now, where can I have these printed and cut without being charged an arm and a leg...?
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