C'est Belle

..and Boo.  Mandy Sutcliffe's beautiful illustrations take the form of many creations and go under the name Belle and Boo.  I really love the new cushions which I found via Sweet Memories the other day.

Telle - Illustrator and Designer

Before I got carried away with my birthday and my fabulous cake, I had been posting about great illustrators, which I had been inspired by when I was in Paris.  

A while back I found Telle on the internet, a french illustrator who is the creator of these fantastic characters and plush toys. I really love looking at her great sketch book pages as well - such cute images!! She contacted me again recently and so I took the opportunity to ask her more about herself and her work.   I like her story as it shows you can follow your heart when it comes to your career, you just need persistence and also opportunities come along when you least expect it.

Telle didn't make it into art school and initially did German instead.  She worked in various jobs; hotels, banks and cinemas. When she lost her job, she told her boss that he given her a great opportunity as now she was going to become a children,s book illustrator. But things were not plain sailing as she didnt get as much illustration work as she had hoped but some time later when Telle showed her work at the Playtime show ( a great trade fair specialising in children's goods in Paris) she met a company called Trousselier who fell in love with her work! 

After meeting Trousselier she then worked for 6 months on the collection and in January 2009, the prototypes were shown on Maison & Objet, in Paris and now you can find her lovely plush toys in many stores - check her website to find out more.  

Whats next for Telle?  Well, she has lots of ideas and apart from finishing her book, which was her original idea she now also wants to design postcards, posters, coloring books and more!  Telle doesn't rest on her laurels - she is in the process of finishing a comic book to be available later this year and she is also thinking of more children's books using her characters Ninon and the Wolf who has been very successful in shops ( and who I adore!!).  

Illustrations - Meomi

OK, last post today as Im dashing off for a weekend at Grandma's - lots of tea and cake - woohoo!  befre I go though, here are some wonderful illustrations by Meomi, aka Vicky Wong and Michael Murphy who are based in Vancouver and create these lovely illustrations and also Vicky is the author and designer behind the great series of Octonauts books!

Illustration - Johnny Yanok

Great illustrations by Johnny Yanok

Illustration - Flip Flop Design

Another fantastic French illustrator is Caroline of Flip Flop Design - I am absolutely in love with these fantastic designs - such adorable characters and so much fun stuff going on in each picture.  Caroline has also just designed the website for Belgian company, Achille [la petite] Marmotte, which is lovely - go and check it out!  If you are lucky enough to be in Paris from 4-6 July this year you can see Flip Flop's work at the Playtime exhibition.   Hopefully, next year I might be able to go to this!

Illustrations - Helen Dardik

I'm a huge fan of Helen Dardik who is such a talented illustrator and designer (I've already eatured her on the blog previously but couldnt resist blogging about her work again!) - her website is fantastic and shows so many of her great designs - I could spend hours looking at her work!