Title page designer: Nikki Donald
Nikki Donald has a raft of skills - interior design educator, artist, textile designer and... Conversations with Creative Women: Volume Two title page illustrator! Nikki took on the task of illustrating a title page for Georgia Hobart of Hobes. Today we chat about the design and her larger body of work...
What is your art/design/career background? From sign-writing, graphic design, design education and now surface art and design - it keeps evolving! I love doing things by hand and on the computer.
What drew you to the work of your interviewee? Anyone who designs something shiny in leopard print (for example, the Sparkler Hobe) is my friend for life! I'm also really inspired by Georgia's leap of faith in starting her brand - it encourages me to keep focused on my design dream!
Tell us about the development of your title page design and how you arrived at your concept. Oh...I'm so bad at this! I'm really, ummm, "organic". Seriously, I just immerse myself in my subject matter and start playing with my favourite materials - papers, feathers, thread and stitching and a bit of mixed media. I always work on 3 or 4 ideas at the same time then see how they evolve. I LOVED doing this project - I was obsessed, every night for about 2 weeks I just played with the materials. It always comes together, and I've learned to trust the process and really enjoy it, not just the end result.
What materials or computer programs did you use to create the title page, and how did you then prepare it to be submitted for the book? I got the Mad Hatter from an old copy of Through the Looking Glass and the shoes are a photo from Georgia's website which I traced onto watercolour. The background colour is mixed media: pearlescent ink and bleach. I've also used some old wallpaper in there...um, I think there's a bit of a paper doily as well, ha ha! Then finished off with some metallic thread which I've hand stitched. I scanned the image into Photoshop and added the text, just really simple as there's alot going on in the image itself.
What other fun projects are your working on now? LEGGINGS! Part of my business, Coup De Foudre, is a fashion range called Art For Your Ass. I'm about to start work on the summer range - some long tube skirts, singlet dresses and maybe some cozzies.
The final product by Nikki.
