A Hybrid Design

Ok, so this is why I wasn't sure about creating a blog... I actually have to post regularly.

Well anyway - the irregularity of this blog is very similar to my creative process... but here I am and here's what I've got... :-)

So, about a month ago I ran across an opportunity to enter a design contest.  Note - I haven't entered any sort of contest/competition... probably since I was in college.

The design contest I found is coordinated by Talenthouse & SIGG for the annual SIGG bottle design contest.  Every year SIGG asks artists from around the world to submit their best design to be entered for a chance to have their design printed on a SIGG water bottle as part of the 2012 design series.  I thought... 'How cool would it be to have one of my designs printed on SIGG bottles to be sold throughout the country?!?!'

I've always thought my signature "squiggle" line designs look good on many different surfaces,   So, I set out to come up with a design - but I only had 17 days and I of course wanted it to be "perfect".  And as always that is also what slows the creative process - the perfectionist.  I then found myself, two days before the deadline, finally putting the base design together.  And because of the format requirements I found that the only way to make this work was going to be figuring out how to transform my hand-drawn design into an appropriate digital format.  This ultimately meant several hours in front on the computer screen... and a very tedious process.  My entire hand-drawn design had to be scanned and traced into a digital format and then filled in to meet the color format requirements.  This was not a place I ever expected to be with my "squiggle" designs!  They've always been hand-drawn, painted, etched, etc...  These designs have never been in a digital format - and I'm not sure I'll do it again, but who knows!?  This process was very frustrating - mostly by the fact that I had to use a digital art format with this specific design in order to be eligible for this contest.  I understand why from a print process, but as someone who started in acrylics and canvas... it's a challenging transition.


All that said - I didn't let the road block stop me.  I pushed through, finished the design and met the deadline.  Ten days of voting have since occurred and now we wait for the winner to be announced on April 23 - I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  I can't thank all of my friends and family enough.  I appreciate the fact that so many of you voted for my design and helped spread the word and gather additional votes for me - it means the world to have so many people take an interest.