Grr's 2 Purr's logo design - The cat's whiskers, the dogs...

I had the pleasure of working with a great client recently creating a brand new logo for Grr's 2 Purr's. Grr's 2 Purr's (as the name suggests) specialise in services and products for both cats and dogs. They're based in The Langton Farm Shop just outside Market Harborough and provide a premium dog grooming service as well as selling loads of high quality products, accessories and treats for our favourite four legged friends!

You can see the full logo below and how it works across several colour schemes including black and white and the companies corporate colours. I've also added many of the initial early designs I created as alternatives to the one that was finally chosen. As usual I would love to know what you think, and if you have any comments feel free to leave your thoughts. Cheers and enjoy!

Woodsman beer pump clip design for The Langton Brewery

I've just finished a new pump clip design for The Langton Brewery. The beer is called 'Woodsman' and the axe weilding character featured in the illlustration is based on John Kemp who regularly enjoys a Langton brew. John specialises in creating custom made knives and leather work and also supply's split firewood. You can visit his website at www.knyph.co.uk to see all the wonderful things he creates and supplies. If you see him about then say hello. Enjoy!

Naturally Naked Logo Design

I've once again been working with a fantastic client of mine named Marcie DeWolf. Marcie runs 'The Healthy Mutt' which provides top quality and totally natural pet food for dogs. We have worked together on several projects and you can see examples of our previous work in my 'case studies' section by clicking on 'The Healthy Mutt'.

This time however we've worked on a logo for a new business venture and pet product range called 'Naturally Naked'. The brief was to create a dog character that could work independantly or as part of the logo with text. We tried several dogs and many different colour schemes to try to get the right look and feel for both the dog and the lettering. The dog needed to be fun and healthy looking but somehow convey the 'naked' message without being offensive in any way. The text needed to be friendly, healthy and natural but also professional. Here's the logo in full colour...

And here is the dog on his own (complete with a branch and leaf to cover his nakedness)... 

You can also check out the sketches I created for the dog in different poses and with different expressions across his doggy chops by visiting my 'sketches' album at the official Ant Creations Facebook page. Enjoy!

Check out my new sketches portfolio page

I've added a new sketches page to the 'portfolio' section of my website. It doesn't matter what you're designing, usually the first stages of any project are the initial sketches. It matters not whether they are doodles or scribbles or even how good they are, it's always good to let your brain run free and let the ideas flow.

Personally I start all my projects with a good old fashion pencil and paper. I love the freedom and feel of a sharp 2B on some crisp white sheets! You'll find some random examples of my sketches and early stages of designs. Many ideas never actually make it to a final piece of finished artwork so it's a shame to keep them hidden away.

Here they are in all their glory, rough around the edges but also containing that all important 'spark' of an idea. Enjoy!

England are out of the Euro's!

England's journey in this year's European Championships is at an end. My general thoughts are that the defence was strong but they majorly lacked in attack! I personally thought Ashley Young had a rubbish tournament and should never have played a whole game. Regardless of the shouting at the television he stayed on for the whole Italy match and even took a penalty (and we all know what happened there). Here is a sad dog crying over a St George's flag patterned football especially for all the England fans. Depending on who you support either do or do not enjoy! Cheers 

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebration beer and pump clip

The Queen will be celebrating Her Diamond Jubilee over this next weekend. The Langton Brewery have created a special beer to commemorate the occasion and I have had the pleasure of creating the artwork below. I'm not sure if Her Majesty enjoys a pint but I'm sure she would like this one! Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Bullseye Stout 500ml bottle label for The Langton Brewery

The Langton Brewery's latest offering 'Bullsye Stout' is now officially available in 500ml bottles. The bottles are available in selected places in the Leicestershire area. Here's how the new bottle label looks...

Also, just in case you missed them the first time around here is a link to my blog post for the pump clip and a little video showing how the artwork was created. You can also check out all the other Langton Brewery projects in the 'beer' section of my portfolio. Enjoy!

My latest time lapse video for Bullseye pump clip

Another one of my time lapse video! Here's 90 minutes of illustration and design work for The Langton Brewery condensed into a few minutes. The project was for a pump clip for the new beer Bullseye Stout. Be sure to check out my video's page and if you enjoy them, why not subscribe to my AntCreationsTV youtube channel. Enjoy!

My new style of illustration...(doggy)

Howdy folks! I've been playing with a new style (for me) of illustrating. I normally favour a more detailed and solid style of illustration as you can see from the examples scattered around this site. I usually get a bit too excessive when working on an illustration or cartoon, and I spend ages fussing with the lines, the highlights and the shading. All that means creating a new design takes me an absolute age!

So, I've decided to play with this new style of illustration in an attempt to speed up the creative process, whilst still keeping to my recognised way of creating characters. Here's my new way of illustrating. Still vectors of course, but far more loose...

Let me know what you think. I will post some new images when I get a bit of time to create some more!